By Dele Ogbodo
The Federal Government on Wednesday called for a robust and innovative financing mechanism through issuance of Green Bond, Carbon Pricing and Public Private (PPP) vehicle.
Government underscored that it is therefore imperative to think more outside the box, be more transparent, evidence driven and be result oriented in order to attract the needed fund to our sector.
Speaking at the 2024 National Council of Environment (NCE), in Abuja, the Minister of Environment, Alh. Balarabe Lawal, said the need has become more compelling to mobilize more financial inflows for generating adequate resources in support of environmental sustainability efforts”.
He said: “Mobilizing more financial inflow for environmental sustainability is essential because it allows for the allocation of resources towards projects and initiatives aimed at protecting and preserving the environment.
“Environment Financing is capital intensive, to mobilize more financial inflow for environmental sustainability there is the need to implore innovative financing mechanisms, such as Green Bonds, Carbon Pricing, and Public-Private Partnerships.”
According to the Minister, this will help in generating the resources needed for effective environmental protection and conservation efforts, adding: “I therefore urge members of this Council to intensify exploration and implementation of financing mechanisms at their disposal.
“As we convene amidst pressing global challenges, from climate change to biodiversity loss, our duty as custodians of the environment has never been more paramount.
“Each decision we make within these walls reverberates far beyond, shaping the health and sustainability of our planet for generations to come. Our nation stands at a critical juncture, where the urgency to act boldly on environmental issues is undeniable.
“Climate change threatens ecosystems, livelihoods, and biodiversity, swift and decisive actions are needed to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.
“We must redouble our efforts to mitigate Green-House-Gas (GHG) emissions, embrace renewable energy solutions, and foster sustainable practices across all sectors. As guardians of biodiversity, we must safeguard our precious ecosystems from degradation and exploitation.
“Protecting our forests, wetlands, and marine habitats is not merely an environmental imperative but a moral obligation to preserve the rich tapestry of life on Earth.”
The Minister said ensuring that investment on environmental protection is not wasted, environmental justice must be enforced and the benefits of conservation and sustainable development must be protected and equitably distributed among all segments of society.
He said: “Environmental degradation disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, exacerbating inequalities and perpetuating social injustices.
“We must strive for inclusive policies that empower all individuals to participate and benefit from environmental decision-making processes. Innovation and collaboration will be our greatest allies in confronting these challenges.
“By harnessing the power of technology, fostering partnerships across sectors, and engaging with diverse stakeholders, we can forge a path towards a more resilient and sustainable future.
“Let us seize this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to environmental conservation and lay the groundwork for a thriving, harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.”
In his remark, the Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Salako, acknowledged that in the face of emerging climate environmental disruptions, it is therefore imperative that government and the private sector continue to place the highest premium on the health and sustainability of the environment.
He said: “Despite the obvious fact that our environment is our existence, humanity has tended to pay less than optimal attention to the environment until in the 1960s when concern about air and water pollution heightened.
“In 1987, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development coined the term sustainable development with environment being one of the 3 key pillars. Since then, and with the holding of the first world climate change conference in 1979 at Geneva, Switzerland, humanity began to pay the needed attention.
“Today, we are facing a climate emergency requiring bold and ambitious actions from all of us as leaders and indeed from all members of the human race. Our interaction with nature, our consumption and development activities over the years have greatly depleted our God given resource and distorted the equilibrium in our environment.
“We are faced with global warming fueling environmental degradation, natural disasters, extreme weather conditions, food insecurity, water and land crisis, economic disruption, armed conflict, banditry and terrorism.
“The level of seas are rising as the arctic ice is melting, coral reefs dying, oceans acidifying, our biodiversity getting lost and our existence threatened. Clearly, we must tackle these planetary crisis headlong with high ambition and concerted action.”
On the overarching role of finance, he added that it is a widely accepted maxim that without money, ambitions are prone to become wishful thinking and intended actions paralyzed, adding that this year’s NCE meeting will examine innovative ways of funding our ambitions and actioning our thoughts is therefore a critical imperative.
Salako, said: “As important as the environment sector is, we still have to compete with other sectors for the limited fund available in both the public and private sectors.
“We therefore need to think more outside the box, be more transparent, evidence driven and be result oriented in order to attract the needed fund to our sector.
“I enjoin all of us, stakeholders in the public and private sectors to see this gathering as an important platform to forge strategic partnership in order to mobilize scarce funding and create innovative models to combat this hydra-headed menace steering us in the face.”
The Ministry, he added is well prepared to take leadership in this regard and has been implementing innovative financing mechanisms like the issuance of the Nigeria Sovereign Green Bond to drive private sector funding into the system.
He said: “I invite state governments to come on board and examine the opportunities for climate financing through the issuance of their own green bonds.
“Let me state that the need to galvanize more financial windows for environmental sustainability efforts is not just an aspiration but a commitment that will define our era.
“In our drive to build a sustainable future for our generation and the ones yet unborn, mobilizing funding for climate and environmental actions is a core imperative.
“In doing this, we need to emphasis our areas of comparative advantages and present such to the global community as our contribution to addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
“One such area that Nigeria is emphasizing is nature based solutions. The global north who are the greatest contributor to the environmental challenges being faced by the world is offering us all kinds of technologies, some of them controversial as the solution to the crisis.
“As we evaluate and consider these technologies, let us not lose touch with nature based solutions that offers us natural advantages and possess a higher potential to reduce capital flight and improve the livelihoods of our people.”
According to him, the Ministry at COP 28 in Dubai last December championed and launched the Ministerial Alliance for Ambition on Nature Finance to give us a voice in promoting ambition on biodiversity finance in global south countries like Nigeria where most of the biodiversity performing critical ecosystem services for the entire world is located.
“As the developed world comes around with their technologies and carbon credit schemes where they almost exclusively determine the pricing, let us also put forward our rich biodiversity worth trillion of dollars.
“I urge us to continue to fostering more robust collaborations with our development partners and philanthropists to enable us leverage on shared resources, expertise and funds to fortifying our collective response to environmental challenges” he said.
