Bel©m: The Federal Government has implored the international community to significantly increase global financing to protect and restore nature’s economic value through predictable, equitable, and accessible funding mechanisms. The Vice-President, Sen. Kashim Shettima, made the demand in Bel©m, Brazil, at a high-level thematic session titled ‘Climate and Nature: Forests and Oceans.’ The event was held on the margins of the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30).
According to News Agency of Nigeria, since forests, landscapes, and oceans are shared resources outside the jurisdiction of any single nation, their protection requires global solidarity. Shettima regretted that while nature is probably the most critical infrastructure in the world, it has long been treated as a commodity to exploit rather than an asset to invest in. The vice-president stated that Nigeria is integrating nature-positive investments into its climate finance architecture through its National Carbon Market Framework and Climate Change Fund, aiming to mobilize up to three billion U.S. dollars annually in climate finance.
These resources will be reinvested in community-led reforestation, blue carbon projects, and sustainable agriculture. Shettima called on global partners to recognize the economic value of nature and to channel significant finance towards protecting and restoring it through predictable, equitable, and accessible funding mechanisms. He contended that the Global South countries, which contributed least to this crisis, are today paying its highest price. For climate justice to be seen as well-served, nations that benefited more from centuries of extraction must now lead in restoration.
He urged the international community to increase grant-based finance, operationalize Blue Carbon Markets, and implement debt-for-nature swaps to enable developing countries to invest in conservation. Such investment, he noted, would enable indigenous people, farmers, and fisherfolk to get rewards for their stewardship, rather than be displaced by it. The vice-president remarked that countries taking their forests and oceans for granted have always paid dearly for it.
Shettima explained that Nigeria would boldly participate in any global forum where these twin determinants of ecological order are discussed. The nation is under siege from deforestation, desertification, illegal mining, coastal erosion, and rising sea levels. The Sahara advances by nearly one kilometer each year, displacing communities and eroding livelihoods, inviting conflict and compounding development challenges. He highlighted Nigeria’s Climate Change Act 2021, which enshrines nature-based solutions as a legal obligation of the state.
He outlined that Nigeria is taking bold, coordinated steps to restore balance between climate, nature, and development. The National Council on Climate Change provides the institutional backbone for integrating climate actions into all sectors of governance. Nigeria is implementing the Great Green Wall Initiative, reforesting degraded lands across 11 frontline states, planting over ten million trees, and creating thousands of green jobs for youths and women. Through the National Afforestation Programme and Forest Landscape Restoration Plan, Nigeria aims to restore more than two million hectares of degraded land by 2030. Additionally, the country has launched its Marine and Blue Economy Policy to sustainably harness the vast potential of its seas, promoting climate-smart fisheries, coastal protection, and marine biodiversity conservation.
Shettima reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to working with partners across the globe to advance a global agenda where climate action becomes synonymous with nature restoration and human prosperity.