Gilbert Ekugbe
The United Kingdom has announced a £500 million fund to support the implementation of the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) roadmap to protect forests while also promoting development and trade in Nigeria and 27 other countries across the globe.
The announcement was made during the world leaders summit even as an additional £65 million has been committed to support a ‘Just rural transition’ to help developing countries shift policies and practices to more sustainable agriculture and food production.
At the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, commitments made by countries are expected to help implement the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use which is now endorsed by 134 countries, including Nigeria, covering 91 per cent of the world’s forests.
The Declaration aims to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.
In the same vein, Nigeria, 44 other nations and 95 businesses from a range of sectors have committed to being ‘nature positive’ agreeing to work towards halting and reversing the decline of nature by 2030
Governments and businesses joined farmers and local communities at COP26, securing new agreements to protect nature and accelerate the shift to sustainable agriculture and land use practices by making them more attractive, accessible and affordable than unsustainable alternatives.
Nigeria was represented by the Minister of State for the Environment, Ms Sharon Ikeazor, and the Minister of Agriculture and rural Development, Dr Mahmood Abubakar.
Twenty-six nations set out new commitments to change their agricultural policies to become more sustainable and less polluting, and to invest in the science needed for sustainable agriculture and for protecting food supplies against climate change, laid out in two ‘Action Agendas’ as all continents were represented, with countries including Nigeria, India, Colombia, Vietnam, Germany, Ghana, and Australia.
Examples of national commitments aligned with this agenda include Brazil’s plan to scale its ABC+ low carbon farming programme to 72m hectares, saving 1 billion tonnes of emissions by 2030; Germany’s plans to lower emissions from land use by 25m tonnes by 2030 and the UK’s aim to engage 75 per cent of farmers in low carbon practices by 2030
In his remarks, the COP26 President, Alok Sharma said: “If we are to limit global warming and keep the goal of 1.5C alive, then the world needs to use land sustainably and put protection and restoration of nature at the heart of all we do. The commitments being made today show that nature and land use is being recognised as essential to meeting the Paris Agreement goals, and will contribute to addressing the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Meanwhile, as we look ahead to negotiations in week two of COP, I urge all parties to come to the table with the constructive compromises and ambitions needed.”
The World Bank also said it will be spending $25 billion in climate finance annually to 2025 through its Climate Action Plan, including a focus on agriculture and food systems.
In a show of similar commitment from the private sector, almost 100 high-profile companies from a range of sectors committed to becoming ‘Nature Positive’. Commitments include supermarkets pledging to cut their environmental impact across climate and nature-loss and fashion brands guaranteeing the traceability of their materials.
Representatives from Indigenous and local communities will be participating in events throughout nature day. As stewards of 80 per cent of the world’s remaining biodiversity, Indigenous Peoples are leaders in how to develop nature-based, resilient and effective solutions to climate change.
Nature day also follows the announcement on Ocean Action Day on 5 November of over ten new countries signing up to the ‘30by30’ target to protect 30 per cent of the world’s ocean by 2030. These were: Bahrain, Jamaica, St Lucia, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, India, Qatar, Samoa, Tonga, Gambia and Georgia. Over 100 countries now support the target.
The Glasgow leaders’ declaration on forests and land use full package of commitments and action will also include agricultural reform and innovation, a new global initiative launched to reach 100 million farmers at the centre of food systems transformation with net zero and nature positive innovations by 2030 via a multi-stakeholder platform convened by World Economic Forum (WEF) involving farmers’ organisations, civil society, businesses and other partners
Others include the New UK funding of £38.5m over 2 years to the CGIAR, the world’s leading agricultural science and innovation organisation, which will create and scale new crops and technologies yielding climate, nature, health, gender and economic impact.
