The United Nation has tasked 11 member countries of the Great Green Wall (GGW) initiatives, to firm up her intra-agency partnership as well as strengthen her inter-state collaboration to approach the global resources pledged for efficient implementation of the Great Green Wall objectives in the countries of benefit.
Representative of the Executive Secretary, of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Mrs Birgui Lamizana, said this at the 8th Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers, on-going in Abuja.
She said while the UN was committed to make the $19 billion pledges by donors a reality for implementation it was critical for selected states to ensure cooperation locally and internationally
She pointed out that the funds to countries are released to Ministries of Finance, which may implement the Great Green Wall programme without the knowledge of the agency established for the same purpose. This robs off on the cohesion expected in project implementation.
Therefore, intra-state partnership was important. The UN Representative also said partnership between member countries in the 10 year plan of implementation of the programme aimed at restoring 100 million hectares of degraded land, sequestering 250 million tons of carbon and create 10 million green jobs.
Lamizana said that the 11 countries selected as intervention zones, Burkina Faso, Chad Djibouti, Eritrea Ethiopia and Mali. It also included Mauritania Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan should firm up the cooperation towards meeting the objective.
In an interview with Nigerian Tribune, Lamizana recalled that the ‘one earth summit held in January 2021 witnessed $19billion pledge by contributing nations to boost the implementation programme in the areas.
She said: “You are aware of the One Planet summit pledge at one planet summit in January 2021, $19 billion has been pledged. But it is a pledge.
“So what we are doing at UNCCD is really to help the country and support them to mobilize these funds, and working also with the financial partners so that the pledge won’t remain at the pledge, but to turn these pledges into a concrete action on the ground, she clarified to the Nigerian Tribune at the 8th Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers.
It was for the successful access to the funds and efficient implementation that has informed the UN call for a harmonized approach by the countries locally and internationally.
Permanent Secretary, Engr. Hassan Musa said it would amount to futile efforts, if the resources garnered at the One Earth Summit, are not actionable and challenged member nations to expedite action on the areas of commitments to boost implementation.
His words: “it will be a painful and futile exercise if initiatives conceived and are documented on paper without a matching financial and articulated human resources provided so as to concretize these initiatives through impactful actions.
“The need for mobilization of financial resources to actualize the vision of the Great Green Wall is glaring.
“Poor financial provision and mobilization has been a major obstacle to the effective and impactful implementation process of the activities of the laudable Great Green Wall Initiative in virtually all the participating member states.
“The recognition of the paucity of financial resources for the implementation of the Great Green Wall initiative led to the several billions of US Dollars pledged by a coalition of Technical and Financial Partners (TFPs) at the 4″ Edition of the “One Planet Summit” on Climate Change and Biodiversity held in Paris, France on 11” of January, 2021.
“The pragmatic efforts of GGW member countries to access these financial resources so pledged by the (TFPs) require necessary evaluation which I sincerely believe, would be the centre-stage of the deliberation of this technical committee of experts.
“The need to come up with well-articulated and actionable strategies for its mobilization of these pledged financial resources is expected at the end of this technical session.
“This done, the development of impact and transformative programmes and projects to absorb the mobilized resources would no doubt build the resilience of the Sahelian people,” the permanent Secretary, who was represented by the Director Press, Mohammed el-Sagir, stated.
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