The federal government has benefited a $4million grant from United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD) to help it reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, the Minister of Environment, Hadiza Mailafia, has disclosed.
This followed the full admission of Nigeria as a REDD ready country.
The minister said this in her remarks at a review hearing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 17 held at the House of Representatives, Abuja.
According to the minister, the grant will be used for building capacity, carbon mapping and other activities that will encourage Nigerians to cater for the forest, adding that Climate Change was no longer perceived as an environmental phenomenon, but also as a development, social, economic and even a political issue.
In appreciation of Nigeria's peculiar vulnerability, alongside the magnitude of danger posed to the nation as a result of climate change, the minister appealed to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Civil Societies, Organised Private Sector and other development partners to join hands with the Federal Government to mitigate climate change effects.
