Guardian

APPARENTLY to boost natural resource productivity and conservation,  frontline environment group, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) has advocated for a national institutional framework for the implementation of the Great Green Wall project, which will reduce erosion, enhance biodiversity and improve resilience to climate change.

The African Union Commission (AUC) is presently implementing two support projects in 13 countries to develop action plans and projects portfolio for the implementation of the Great Green Wall. The first project is funded and executed by Food and Agriculture Organization FAO, through a technical cooperation programme covering five countries, including Chad, Dji bouti, Ethiopia, Mali and Niger.

The second project for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative is co-funded by the EU, Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and executed by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and covers eight countries – Algeria, Burkina Faso, Egypt, the Gambia, Mauretania, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan. The project literally holds back the Sahara desert with a swathe of greenery, lessen the effects of desertification and improve the lives and livelihoods of communities.

In Nigeria, the project aims to address desertification, enhance natural resource management and promote ecosystem integrity in the dry land in the Northern parts of the Country. The Nigerian Project stretches from Zamfara and Kebbi States in the North West corner, straight in to a belt along the northern border of Nigeria to the extreme eastern border in Borno State. Eight States are involved in the Project.

In a statement issued by NCF, its Executive Director, Dr. Alade Adeleke called for a National Institutional Framework for implementation, which target expected benefits. This multi-purpose project, according to NCF, needs effective follow up and action based on the principles and actions highlighted in the strategic plan.

“However, a conflict mitigation and management strategy should be put in place by participating States so as to guide against actions that can punctuate or slow down the process of implementation in the participating States. The project should be seen as a solution rather than a problem for communities, States and people of the benefiting areas”, said the foundation.

Adeleke noted that science and adaptive field research should be inculcated into the implementation plan of the project. This should be fashioned out in collaboration with key Universities and Research institutions in the project implementation areas. Community involvement in project planning and participation is crucial. Major resource user groups should be seen as actors and not only receivers of process in the project planning and implementation.

The programme aims to support the efforts of local communities in the sustainable management and use of forests – a key theme of the tenth session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF10), currently taking place in Istanbul – as well as other natural resources in dry lands.

Among other things, the planting of trees is expected to provide a barrier against desert winds and will help to hold moisture in the air and soil, allowing agriculture to flourish. It is also expected that the Wall will reduce erosion, enhance biodiversity and improve countries’ resilience to climate change.

“NCF, being the foremost and oldest environmental protection NGO in the country has been witness to similar government / donor projects in the past, which unfortunately, through neglect and improper implementation, often excluding community participation / ownership, became dismal failures, allowing the sands of the desert to ravage thousands of square kilometers of former pasture lands, turning them into uninhabitable desert and hundreds of thousands of pastoralists into environmental refugees, thus greatly exacerbating the grave insecurity scenarios in this region that we are faced with today”, Adeleke said.