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The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) on Friday launched a $222 million regional fund to boost climate resilience, restore degraded lands and strengthen rural livelihoods across the Sahel, with Nigeria emerging as the largest beneficiary. The initiative, known as the Scaling-Up Resilience in Africa’s Great Green Wall (SURAGGWA) project, was inaugurated in Abuja. Funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) with a $150 million grant and $72 million in co-financing, the eight-year programme will be implemented across eight priority countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. FAO Representative in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Hussein Gadain, said the project aimed to benefit about 8.7 million people across the region, including 3 million direct and 5.6 million indirect beneficiaries. According to Gadain, Nigeria alone will account for more than 1.9 million beneficiaries, covering 254,130 hectares of degraded lands earmarked for restoration. He explained that the project would focus on three mutually reinforcing components comprising landscape restoration for climate resilience, promotion of resilient, low-emission value chains for non-timber forest products; and the strengthening of national and regional Great Green Wall institutions. “The SURAGGWA project represents a bold and strategic investment in building climate resilience, restoring degraded ecosystems, and enhancing livelihoods across the Great Green Wall region. “We must actively engage and empower them, not only as beneficiaries but as leaders and innovators. Through skills development, green jobs, and entrepreneurship opportunities, SURAGGWA offers a unique platform to harness their creativity and resilience”, he said. In Nigeria, implementation will be coordinated by the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW), the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), and the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Environment. Also, a National Steering Committee will oversee execution and ensure policy alignment, while a regional Programme Steering Committee will be hosted by the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall. Representing the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, the Director-General of NAGGW, Saleh Abubakar reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to the full implementation of the SURAGGWA programme under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. He noted that the initiative aligns with the National Drought and Desertification Policy, the National Restoration Agenda, and the Paris Agreement, while advancing Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). “Environmental sustainability is a key pillar for achieving national prosperity, food security, and social stability. We will deepen policy coherence and institutional coordination across all sectors. “We will expand opportunities for nature-based and climate-smart livelihoods that empower women, youth, and vulnerable groups, and we will mobilize sustainable financing to ensure tangible results for our people”, the minister said. Commending FAO for its technical leadership, Lawal assured that the government would provide the policy direction, institutional coordination, political will and enabling environment required to ensure the programme’s lasting success.
