Climate Change and Forestry Commissioner Commends UNDP Efforts in the Environment Sector Calls for more support

By: Blessing Enagu

The Commissioner for Climate Change and Forestry, Ntufam Donatus Etim has lauded the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for her collaborative efforts in addressing development challenges in the State, especially in the environment sector.

The Commissioner, who gave the commendation during a courtesy call on him by independent UNDP consultants,  acknowledged two environmentally sensitive development projects driven by the forestry sphere - the United Nations Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD+) and the Sustainable Fuel wood Management (SFM) Project.

According to him, the partnership with UNDP has been sustained by the present administration because of Governor Ayade’s  goodwill and passion as a renowned environmentalist as evident in his appointments of a Commissioner for Climate Change and Forestry, Special Advisers on Afforestation and Forestry, Biodiversity and Conservation.

Ntufam Etim called for concerted efforts to be made in the expansion of the State forest cover, as well as the recovery of the mangroves through afforestation across the State.

The Commissioner sued for more support in the area of economic growth, stating that the locals should be actively and practically engaged with livelihood alternatives, while also highlighting crucial areas such as security and information.

In like manner, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Timothy Akwaji, affirmed that the State Government has made conscious effort on forests conservation in line with global trend and should duly benefit from the international community.

He buttressed that “policing the forest takes a lot of resources; therefore, there should be provision of resources to support Government's feat in conservation.”

Akwaji observed that the bureaucracy in UNDP and the mode of financial operations discourages service providers of projects domiciled in the cluster.

The Permanent Secretary recommended that local consultants should be mostly engaged because they are at home with the happenings in the communities and would be able to advance interventions based on the peculiarities of the people, emphasized that “there should be less consultancy in the projects and more actions on the field”.

Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Afforestation and immediate past Chairman of  Forestry Commission, Hon. Bette Obi, harped on capacity building and more opportunities for the forest bearing communities, adding that security support is needed to checkmate the alarming rate of illegalities on the field.

Hon. Obi maintained that UNDP should deal directly with projects implementing partners for a more effective collaboration.

Stating the objective of the call, the UNDP independent consultants Dr. Richard Chiwara and Dr. Fatima Busola Ahmed informed that they were engaged to carry out a mid-term review (2018-2022) of UNDP projects and programmes in the State to ascertain level of progress, challenges as well as the way-forward to achieving strategic objectives.

According to the Consultants, the programme focuses on three components; namely: Government, Peace and Security; Economic Growth; and Environment/Climate Change.

As part of the visit, breakout sessions were held respectively with the working team of the Sustainable Fuel wood Management Project, headed by Dr. Edu Effiom and the CRS- REDD+ secretariat led by the Coordinator, Mr. Patrick Coco Bassey and the resident Consultant, Mr. Tony Atah.