Buhari seeks support for One Planet Summit Initiative, activation of $19bn fund

President Muhammadu Buhari has implored the World Bank, African Development Bank and other partners to support the One Planet Summit initiative.

He spoke yesterday in Abidjan at a side event he convened at the UN Conference of Parties, COP15, in his capacity as the President of the Conference of Heads of State and Governments of the member states of the Pan African Great Green Wall Agency (PAGGW).

This was Buhari’s first assignment at the PAGGW Conference of Heads of State and Government following his election to head the institution in December last year.

He also asked them to activate the $19bn pledge, which will be utilised for land restoration, tree planting, development of climate resilience infrastructure and investments in small and medium sized farms.

Buhari stressed the significance of recharging Lake Chad, now down to 10 percent of its water volume, as eleven Sahel African states discuss ways and means of accessing and utilizing $19bn pledged by donors for the activities of the PAGGW.

Speaking at the Summit of Heads of State and Government COP15 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, he said Nigeria had successfully forested over 6,191, 363 hectares of land through the green bond project, while targeting to increase the nation’s forest cover to 25 per cent in line with global best practices.

He urged the international community to pay more attention on the war between Russia and Ukraine which, he said, would hurt the efforts of a more peaceful world and aspirations for a healthy society.