By Peter Adelowo
Federal Ministry of Environment says is working towards ensuring a strong policies and practices that will ensure ecological restoration and a climate change resilient community across nineteen northern state in the Country.
The National Coordinator of the Project, known as Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes, ACReSAL, Abdulhamid Umar stated this in Sokoto state at a stakeholders engagement meeting aimed at address environmental challenges arising from Climate Change and poor land-use practices in Northern Nigeria.
The Project coordinator said ACReSAL project is a six-year World Bank assisted Project committed to landscapes restoration in Northern Nigeria.
Umar stressed that the region is characterized by high poverty rates, low literacy, fragile environment, conflict, degradation of natural resources, poor agricultural productivity, climate risks, desertification, poor penetration of modern technology, and weak institutional capacity.
He noted that addressing these issues will require effort in multiple sectors.
The coordinator who explained that ACReSAL project is a multi-sectoral and multi-institutional scheme, covering Environment, Agriculture and Water stressed that it was designed by the Federal Government to combat desertification, restore degraded lands, and special ecosystems for agriculture and biodiversity conservation.
He added that the project would further Develop an agro-climatic resilience in semi-arid Landscapes in a bid to increasing the implementation of sustainable landscape management practices in targeted watersheds in northern Nigeria.
In his speech, the representative of Sokoto state government and Commissioner for Environment, Alh. Nura Shehu Tangaza Commended the efforts of the Federal government, assuring that the state will provide the needed support to achieving the desired objective.
