Nigeria’s showing at UNCCD COP 12

At the recently concluded 12th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 12) held in Ankara, Turkey, the Great Green Wall Side Event was organized by the Africa Union Commission (AUC), UNCCD and FAO on 15th October 2015.

The event which brought a multitude of partners involved in implementing numerous initiatives in support of the GGW was designed with the two-fold aim of sharing with the international community the results so far attained under the PanAfrican Initiative and sharing thoughts on the way forward.

Nigeria delegation to the event was led by Alhaji Goni Ahmed, Director General of National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW). Other members of the delegation were S.M Katsina (NAGGW), Mr. Babatunde Musiliu (NAGGW) and Mr. Patrick Esene (UNCCD National Focal Point).

The side event commenced with Mr. Dampha Almani, Africa Union (AU) Policy Officer for Forestry and Land welcoming participants and presentation of a summary of the key achievements of the initiative to date. Presenting the background of the initiative, Dr. Elvis Paul, AU GGW Coordinator, pointed out that GGW had become a global platform for combating land degradation and desertification. Dr. Paul further reiterated the general call for a similar initiative in other regions of Africa and taking best practices to the Caribbean and Pacific regions.

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