Environment
UN Climate Plans, Too Narrow To Save Forests —Study
World efforts to slow deforestation should do more to address underlying causes such as rising demand for crops or biofuels.
This has become imperative to widen the UN focus on using trees to fight climate change, a study said last Monday.
It said that series of projects to protect forests had had limited success in recent decades with UN figures showing that 13 million hectares of forest were lost every year from 2000 to 2009, an area equivalent to the size of Greece.
The report by the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) suggested that the current UN-led efforts to protect forests had too narrow a focus on promoting trees as stores of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.
“Our findings suggest that disregarding the impact of forests on sectors such as agriculture and energy will damage any new international efforts whose goal is to conserve forests and slow climate change,’’ said Jeremy Rayner, who chaired the IUFRO
panel and is a professor at the University of Saskatchewan.
Deforestation accounts for perhaps 10 per cent of all emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities, and trees soak up carbon as they grow but release it when they burn or decay.
The IUFRO study said a key problem was that deforestation, from the Amazon to the Congo, was often caused by economic pressures.
Just as a popular global brand of cookies, for instance, uses palm oil grown on deforested land in Indonesia.
IUFRO urged policies of “embracing complexity” to help protect forests, including educating consumers, rather than rely on a one-size-fits-all mechanism such as carbon storage.
It called for better efforts, for instance, to aid indigenous peoples, whose livelihoods depend on healthy forests.
“Among promising measures are amendments to the U.S. Lacey Act, which makes it illegal to import wood known to come from stolen timber.
“Brazil, for instance, has enacted procedures to tackle deforestation in the Amazon,’’ it said.
The IUFRO report will be issued at UN talks in New York this week marking the start of the UN’s International Year of Forests.
Almost 200 nations agreed at a meeting in Cancun, Mexico, last month to step up efforts to protect forests with a plan that aims to put a price on the carbon stored in trees, while helping indigenous peoples and promoting sustainable use.
Authors of the IUFRO study said that the UN plan, known as REDD+, was promising.
“Our worry is that this won’t be enough,”Benjamin Cashore, a forestry expert at Yale University and an IUFRO author, told reporters.
He said that governments often simplistically placed too much faith in the latest idea, like carbon markets.
He said many past schemes had failed to brake deforestation, such as boycotts of some timber in the 1980s by rich consumers, or an international tropical timber agreement that sought to unite producers and consumers.
The Ministry of Environment on Thursday in Abuja, advanced its National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process, validating a comprehensive plan aimed at tackling climate-related challenges in the country.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Alhaji Mahmud Kambari, said this at the Stakeholders Consultative Workshop on the Development of the concept notes to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for NAP in Nigeria.
Kambari, who was represented by Mrs Victoria Pwol, the Deputy Director in the Department of Climate Change (DCC) in the ministry, said that the workshop is a collective resolve to confront the realities of climate change with purpose, strategy, and coordinated action.
“Over the past years, the Federal Government of Nigeria, with crucial support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has made significant progress in advancing the NAP process.
“As a nation, we stand at a critical juncture where climate risks ranging from extreme weather events to environmental degradation continues to threaten our socio-economic stability, food systems, public health, infrastructure, and national development aspirations.
“Through extensive technical work, we have completed a Climate Risk Assessment across all geopolitical and agro-ecological zones, developed an Economic Appraisal, an Adaptation Finance Strategy, and a robust Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.”
Kambari said that these foundational elements now guide Nigeria to identify priority adaptation needs and investment opportunities.
“Let me mention that we are at the tail end of this NAP Formulation Process and looking forward to the implementation phase.
“This workshop therefore serves as a strategic purpose to harmonise perspectives across key MDAs; refine project ideas into strong, evidence-based concept notes.
“It will ensure that proposed interventions align with national priorities and the investment criteria of the GCF and position Nigeria to competitively access the resources required to strengthen resilience across vulnerable sectors,” he said.
Dr Iniobong Abiola-Awe, the Director DCC in the Ministry said that the engagement would enhance achievements by collaboratively developing bankable, climate-resilient concept notes that align with national priorities and meet the GCF’s investment requirements.
Abiola-Awe who was represented by Dr Jonah Barde in the Ministry said that the workshop represented an important step in Nigeria’s ongoing efforts to strengthen climate resilience.
She added that the workshop would advance sustainable development, and mobilise the climate finance needed to safeguard Nigeria’s communities, ecosystems, and economy from the growing impacts of climate change.
Effective communication, transparency, and science-based risk assessments are the cornerstones of Nigeria’s approach to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
Mr Bello Bwari, the Director-General, National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), gave the assurance during a media interaction in Abuja on Friday.
“Where there is communication, you reduce conflict. Effective communication is key, effective engagement with stakeholders is paramount and key to making Nigeria better.
Bwari said anti GMO’s critics keep participants and practitioners on their toes.
“We value them and we expect that their criticisms, suggestions and recommendations will make our operations in the entire spectrum better.
“Where we are not doing so well, we will hear from them, where we can advance explanations, we will advance explanations. Where they are not doing well, we will tell them. We will not run away from doing that.
“But I want to assure you that we are bold enough to face anybody who is not fact-based,” he said.
He reassured that sometime before the end of the second quarter of 2026 there would be a retreat where all stakeholders would be invited.
“And also, the impact we are bringing is going to be measurable by the end of 2026. And going forward, what we do by the end of 2026 will form the basis of our five-year plan.
“There’s a five-year plan which will start at the end of 2026. So, I enjoin the media to please report what you know as a matter of fact, not as a matter of opinion.
“We all have different opinions, but some of our opinions are not facts. From the quality of what I see on papers, reportage, I think largely I’m impressed with what the press is doing in Nigeria so far,” he said.
Bwari stated that Nigerians deserved to understand what NBMA regulates, why they regulate it, and how decisions were made.
“Part of my focus going forward will be strengthening engagement with the media, researchers, policymakers, and the public because regulation works best when it is understood.
“We are not promoters of any technology, and we are not opponents of innovation. We are regulators.
“But at its core, biosafety is about prevention, caution, and preparedness. It is about ensuring that innovation does not outpace safety, and that national development never compromises public health or environmental integrity,” he said.
He promised to uphold the law without fear or favour, communicate more clearly with the public and ensure that every regulatory decision was transparent, evidence-based, and accountable
“NBMA is not an advocacy agency. Our duty is to assess risks, enforce safeguards, and ensure compliance with national and international biosafety standards.I also want to emphasise that public trust matters.
He further urged the media to help Nigerians understand biosafety and biosecurity in a better way.
-
Sports2 days agoArsenal Women End Man City’s Invincibility
-
Sports2 days agoU-20 WWC: Falconets claim qualifier win
-
Sports2 days agoInsurance Deepen Enyimba’s Trouble
-
Sports2 days agoYouth Olympics preparation Gears up
-
Sports2 days agoCologne Youth Team Set Crowd Record
-
Sports2 days agoTornadoes Set For NPFL exit over Stadium Ban
-
Sports2 days agoPalmer Stars As Chelsea Compound Wolves Woes
-
Environment2 days agoRivers State Government Suspend Fire Service Collection Levies