THE Minister of Environment, Mr Suleiman Hassan Zarma, has expressed delight over the implementation of Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), and its support for the Green Bond project.
He stated this during his visit to the NEWMAP National Office in Abuja, recently.
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The minister expressed his delight that the project has expanded from seven states initially in 2013, to 20 states in partnership. This came as a result of success stories achieved by the seven initial states.
The minister also commended the project for being the catalyst towards the issuance of Nigeria First Green Bond which would support projects in: environment (reforestation – jathropha); agriculture (climate smart activities – biofuel/ jathropha); power (off-grid solar); and Federal Capital Territory (energy efficiency-transportation).
A blog post by NEWMAP says that currently, there are 19 projects identified for funding from Green Bonds with a total cost of just over $100 million.
The National Project Coordinator, NEWMAP, Mr Salisu Dahiru, while giving a brief on NEWMAP’s implementation activities from inception, reiterated the role of the project in ensuring environmental sustainability by restoring degraded lands.
According to him, the project became effective in September 2013, and this was considered by many as timely when all past efforts had failed to yield the required purpose. NEWMAP authorities state that from the onset, many states applied to partner with the project.
Dahiru said the project’s performance has been satisfactory and is working in accordance to it development objectives.
According to the World Bank, the development objective of Erosion and Watershed Management Project for Nigeria is to reduce vulnerability to soil erosion in targeted sub-watersheds. This project requires additional financing to scale up successful gully restoration and watershed management activities and add new activities that have emerged from implementation experience, global commitments, and country initiatives.
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