By Abbas Nazil
Nigeria must not wait for a new global drought protocol before strengthening its drought resilience measures, Professor Olarewaju Oluseyi Ifatimehin has said, following the outcome of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD COP17, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Ifatimehin, an UNCCD Science and Technology Committee member for Nigeria, said the country should immediately establish or update a national drought resilience framework and connect it to investment planning, early warning systems and anticipatory action.
He made the recommendation in a rapid post-COP policy synthesis examining the implications of COP17 decisions and Nigeria’s priorities for 2026 to 2028.
According to him, COP17 did not produce a new global drought protocol or another substantive international instrument, but instead agreed that negotiations should continue at COP18.
He noted that drought would now remain a permanent stand-alone agenda item for COP18 and every ordinary COP thereafter, while the UNCCD Secretariat and Global Mechanism would continue supporting Parties and intersessional consultations.
The development, he said, provides Nigeria with an opportunity to strengthen its own drought preparedness rather than waiting for the conclusion of international negotiations.
Ifatimehin said Nigeria should organize its drought response around reducing risks before losses occur, rather than relying primarily on emergency responses after drought impacts have already materialized.
He identified drought-risk information, seasonal and sub-seasonal forecasting, trigger-based preparedness, water and soil-moisture management, resilient farming and livestock systems, landscape restoration, social protection and pre-arranged finance as components of the practical package required.
He also called for a rapid review of existing national and subnational drought policies, plans and institutional mandates to identify gaps and avoid creating parallel structures.
According to the policy brief, Nigeria should connect forecasts and drought indices from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency with agricultural advisories, preparedness activities by the National Emergency Management Agency, water-resource management, food-security surveillance and state-level triggers for early action.
Ifatimehin further recommended that drought planning should be transformed into an investment portfolio containing costed interventions, specific locations, beneficiaries, baselines and measurable resilience outcomes.
He said Nigeria also needs to use the period before COP18 to prepare a technical and negotiating position for the continuing international process.
The expert said the decision to make drought a permanent COP agenda item means that progress on drought resilience will continue to receive political attention even before Parties reach agreement on a global instrument.
COP17 also renewed the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Future Strategic Framework for 2026 to 2028, which will review existing indicators and develop proposals for post-2030 goals and targets.
Ifatimehin said Nigeria should coordinate rapidly with the Africa Group and provide evidence on indicators, implementation capacity, drought, land finance, rangelands and land degradation neutrality.
He said the country should act within the four-week window for confirmation of regional representation and pay immediate attention to the ten-week deadline for replacement or new nominations.
The policy brief further recommends that Nigeria complete a national review of its drought policies and early-warning systems within 31 to 60 days after COP17.
The review is expected to identify gaps in triggers, data, institutional responsibilities and financing while establishing prioritized remedial actions.
It also calls for the development of a screened pipeline of land and drought investments, with at least eight to ten concepts identified and three to five prioritized for full preparation.
Ifatimehin said Nigeria should ultimately prepare a concise negotiating and implementation paper ahead of COP18, covering drought instrument options, the post-2030 framework and financing.
Egypt is scheduled to host COP18 in 2028, which the expert described as a two-year African delivery deadline rather than merely another international conference.
He said Nigeria should arrive at COP18 with measurable restoration and drought results, a bankable project portfolio and a clear post-2030 negotiating mandate.
The policy brief concluded that COP17 has created a structured runway to COP18 and that Nigeria should use the 2026 to 2028 period to move from policy intentions to measurable implementation.
Ifatimehin stressed that Nigeria must prepare simultaneously for implementation and the next round of international negotiations, with drought resilience, land restoration, early warning, rangelands, reporting and finance brought together under a coordinated national approach.
