By Faridat Salifu, Abdullahi Lukman and Rasheeda Hamidu
The Federal Government has launched a 10-year framework targeting the mobilisation of about $1 billion in blended finance to restore degraded forests, reduce deforestation, create green jobs and strengthen climate resilience across Nigeria.
The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, disclosed this on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, at the national launch of the Securing Nigeria’s Forest Future (SNFF)u Country Package held at the Reiz Continental Hotel, Abuja.
Lawal said the framework targets the restoration of two million hectares of degraded forest, a 20 per cent reduction in deforestation, the creation of 1.5 million green jobs and strengthened climate resilience for more than five million Nigerians.
He described the SNFF as a national framework for managing Nigeria’s forests, restoring degraded land, protecting biodiversity, building climate resilience and mobilising investment at scale.
“This is not another policy document,” Lawal said, adding that the framework was designed to move Nigeria from fragmented interventions to coordinated, financed and measurable action.
According to him, the SNFF was developed under the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership through a government-led, multi-stakeholder process and formally validated at a national validation workshop in Abuja on April 9, 2026.
The minister said Nigeria’s forests underpin the country’s environmental, economic and social wellbeing by sustaining livelihoods, protecting watersheds, supporting agriculture and biodiversity, and contributing to the country’s climate response.
He, however, said the forests remained under sustained pressure from agricultural expansion, unsustainable resource use and urbanisation.
Lawal said the country must move from fragmented interventions to coordinated, financed and measurable action to address the challenges facing its forests.
He stressed that delivering the SNFF was not a task for the forestry sector alone, saying it required coordinated action across agriculture, finance, budget, planning, water resources, justice, industry, investment and climate institutions.
The minister also called for deeper engagement with state governments and communities, noting that most implementation would take place at the subnational level.
Lawal said public resources alone could not finance the framework, calling for stronger private-sector participation through private investment, blended finance and carbon finance.
He said the government would work to ensure that investments translated into tangible benefits, including conservation-linked livelihoods, commercially viable forest value chains and meaningful participation of women and young people in the green economy.
The minister also called for forest-dependent communities to be recognised as partners rather than bystanders in sustainable forest management.
On forest monitoring, Lawal said reliable data on forest loss, degradation and restoration would be fundamental to determining whether interventions were achieving their objectives.
He said the Federal Ministry of Environment, through the Department of Forestry, would continue to strengthen Nigeria’s forest monitoring systems and feed relevant information into national climate and sustainable development reporting in coordination with the National Council on Climate Change and other relevant institutions.
Lawal said the success of the framework would not be measured by the quality of the document launched but by what was delivered on the ground.
He identified clear institutional responsibilities, bankable investment pipelines, mobilised resources, strengthened technical capacity, monitored results and accountability as essential to implementation.
The minister urged ministries, departments and agencies to treat the SNFF as a cross-cutting economic and climate priority rather than a forestry-only initiative.
He also called on development partners to move from project-based support towards coordinated and scalable investment programmes, while urging the private sector to identify areas where commercial investment and innovation could support sustainable forest management.
Lawal urged civil society organisations, academia and research institutions to continue providing evidence and independent perspectives, stressing that the participation of communities and subnational partners remained fundamental to achieving results.
He acknowledged the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership for supporting the development of the Country Package, as well as Conservation International and the Seed Fund for supporting the launch.
The minister described the launch as both a milestone and the beginning of implementation, saying Nigeria now had a validated 10-year framework for securing its forest future.
Supporting the initiative, the European Union Head of Partnerships, Massimo De Luca, said Nigeria’s forests were critical to the country’s environmental and economic future but faced increasing pressure from deforestation, unsustainable land use and climate change.
De Luca said experiences from the Amazon, Congo Basin, Southeast Asia and the Sahel demonstrated that strong institutions, community engagement, sustainable agriculture, restoration and international cooperation could deliver positive change.
He said forest protection could not be separated from agriculture, livelihoods, trade and economic development, noting that how commodities were produced and land managed had direct implications for the future of Nigeria’s forests.
De Luca highlighted EU support for conservation initiatives in Nigeria, including efforts to protect Gashaka Gumti National Park and Cross River National Park.
He also cited the EU’s €700 million investment in the Great Green Wall Initiative, saying the programme demonstrated the bloc’s long-term commitment to combating desertification, restoring degraded landscapes and strengthening climate resilience across the Sahel.
He said Nigeria, as one of the countries affected by the encroachment of the Sahara Desert, stood to benefit significantly from the initiative.
De Luca also identified the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) as an important dimension of the EU-Nigeria partnership, particularly for the country’s cocoa sector.
He said EUDR presented both a challenge and an opportunity for Nigeria to strengthen forest governance, land-use planning, farm-level traceability and reliable geospatial information.
According to him, these measures could help ensure that cocoa production was not associated with deforestation or forest degradation while supporting Nigerian farmers and businesses to maintain access to the European market.
De Luca said the private sector would be critical to implementing the SNFF by providing capital, innovation, technology and markets.
He said predictable policies, secure land rights, reliable data, access to finance and appropriate incentives would be necessary to attract responsible investment.
The EU representative stressed that environmental protection must go hand in hand with livelihoods and economic opportunities, particularly for communities, women and young people.
He said climate finance and development cooperation could help catalyse investments that protect natural resources while creating jobs, strengthening local value chains and building resilience.
De Luca said the success of the SNFF would ultimately be measured by better protected and restored forests, stronger institutions, resilient communities, increased investment and lasting environmental and economic benefits.
He urged stakeholders to see the launch not as the conclusion of the process but as the beginning of a new phase of implementation and partnership.
Also speaking, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative in Nigeria and to ECOWAS, Dr Hussein Gadain, congratulated the Federal Government, particularly the Federal Ministry of Environment and Federal Department of Forestry, on the launch.
Dr. Gadain said the launch was timely, noting that Nigeria’s forests were not only environmental assets but fundamental to the country’s food systems, water security, biodiversity, climate resilience, rural livelihoods and sustainable economic development.
He said millions of Nigerians, particularly forest-dependent communities, relied directly on forests for food, income and resilience.
Represented Nifesimi Ogunkua, Climate Change and GEF Portfolio Support Specialist, the FAO Reps said the SNFF provided an opportunity to move from ambition to coordinated action by bringing forest conservation and restoration, sustainable land management, climate action, biodiversity protection, investment and sustainable livelihoods under a common national framework.
Ms Ogunkua said FAO welcomed the framework’s emphasis on mobilising investment and long-term climate and development finance, noting that the scale of the challenges confronting Nigeria’s forests required integrated programmes capable of attracting public, private and international financing.
She said FAO’s experience in Nigeria had demonstrated the importance of an integrated approach, with the organisation supporting sustainable forest and landscape management, mangrove restoration, biodiversity conservation, climate-smart agriculture, integrated landscape planning and the transformation of commodity value chains.
Ms Ogunkua stressed that securing Nigeria’s forest future must be closely linked to transforming its agrifood systems, saying agricultural production and forest conservation could not be addressed in isolation.
She called for sustainable commodity production, deforestation-free value chains, agroforestry, restoration and responsible private-sector investment to increasingly become part of the same development agenda.
She also stressed the importance of placing local communities at the centre of implementation, saying women, young people, Indigenous and forest-dependent communities should not only be beneficiaries but active partners in the management, restoration and sustainable use of forests.
The Support Consultant said the challenge was not simply to launch the Country Package but to translate it into bankable programmes, coordinated investments and measurable results on the ground.
According to her, the FAO was ready to continue supporting the Nigerian Government through technical expertise, global partnerships and its role in facilitating access to international environmental and climate finance.
She identified opportunities through the Global Environment Facility, Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund and other financing mechanisms.
Ms Ogunkua said FAO looked forward to strengthening its partnership with the Federal Ministry of Environment and other stakeholders to ensure that the SNFF translated into healthier forests, restored landscapes, resilient communities and sustainable economic opportunities.
The launch brings together government institutions, development partners, financial institutions, private-sector representatives, civil society, academia and other stakeholders to advance implementation of Nigeria’s forest and climate investment priorities.
