Inadequate funding major obstacle to actualization of GGWSSI goals - FG

From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja

The Federal Government has attributed the inability of

Great Green Wall initiative ( GGWSSI) to be impactful to poor financial provision and human mobilization.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Hassan Musa stated this at the technical committee of experts meeting, at the 8th ordinary session of council of ministers of the Great Green Wall (GGW) member countries held in Abuja, yesterday.

The Permanent Secretary who was represented by the ministry’s Director of Press,Saghir el Muhammed, stressed that the conceived and documented initiatives must match with the financial and articulated human resources before it can be achieved.

He explained that the billions of US Dollars pledged by a coalition of Technical and Financial Partners (TFPs) at the 4th edition of the “One Planet Summit” on Climate Change and Biodiversity held in Paris, France on 11th of January, 2021,is yet to be accessed.

“The need for mobilization of financial resources to actualize the vision of the Great Green Wall is glaring. Poor financial provision and mobilization has been a major obstacle to the effective and impactful implementation process of the activities of the laudable Great Green Wall Initiative in virtually all the participating member states.

“The recognition of the paucity of financial resources for the implementation of the Great Green Wall initiative led to the several billions of US Dollars pledged by a coalition of Technical and Financial Partners (TFPs) at the 4th Edition of the “One Planet Summit” on Climate Change and Biodiversity held in Paris, France on 11th of January, 2021.

“The pragmatic efforts of GGW member countries to access these financial resources so pledged by the (TFPs) require necessary evaluation which I sincerely believe, would be the centre-stage of the deliberation of this technical committee of experts.

“The need to come up with a well-articulated and actionable strategies for its mobilization of these pledged financial resources is expected at the end of this technical session. This done, the development of impact and transformative programmes and projects to absorb the mobilized resources would no doubt build the resilience of the Sahelian people,he said.

The Executive Secretary of the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall, Dr. Brahim SAID earlier in his remarks said the agency is one of the most ambitious cooperation tools for solving the environmental challenges of the Sahelian strip.

He lamented that the main constraint of the ( GGWI) goals is lack of mobilization of both internal and external resources.

“The effectiveness of the achievements is linked to the significant efforts of our countries with limited means but with tangible results in the areas of restoration, development, management and conservation of natural resources as well as income generating activities for the benefit of the communities at the grassroots level.”