COP 30: Nigeria demands massive boost in global nature financing backed by $3 billion local plan

By: ThinkBusiness Africa

Africa’s most populous nation issued a strong appeal to the international community at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30) in Belem, Brazil, calling for a significant increase in global financing to protect and restore nature’s economic value.

Representing Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice President (VP)  Kashim Shettima stated that the protection of shared global resources—including forests, landscapes, and oceans—demands global solidarity and predictable, equitable, and accessible funding mechanisms.

VP Shettima, speaking at a high-level thematic session titled “Climate and Nature: Forests and Oceans,” lamented that despite nature being the world’s most critical infrastructure, it has been primarily treated as a commodity to exploit rather than an asset for investment.

Underpinning Nigeria’s demand for global action is its own commitment to integrating nature-positive investments into its climate finance architecture.

“Through our National Carbon Market Framework and Climate Change Fund, we aim to mobilise up to $3 billion annually in climate finance,” He said. Adding  that these substantial resources would be strategically reinvested in community-led reforestation, blue carbon projects, and sustainable agriculture.

He urged global partners to recognize this economic value and channel significant finance toward protection and restoration efforts through concrete funding mechanisms.

The Vice President argued for climate justice, contending that Global South countries, which have contributed the least to the climate crisis, are currently bearing its highest costs.

“Nations that have benefited more from centuries of extraction must now lead in restoration,” he insisted, emphasizing that this leadership is essential for climate justice to be seen as served.

To achieve this, Senator Shettima outlined specific financial interventions, calling on the global community to:

• Scale up grant-based finance for nature-based solutions.
•  Implement debt-for-nature swaps to free developing countries to invest in conservation.
•  Operationalize Blue Carbon Markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
• Strengthen community-led governance to reward indigenous peoples, farmers, and fisherfolk for their stewardship.

VP Shettima acknowledged the immediate threats Nigeria faces, which necessitate its front-row participation in these global discussions.

“We, too, are under siege,” he said, citing danger signs in deforestation, illegal mining, coastal erosion, and rising sea levels. He highlighted the dramatic advance of the Sahara Desert, which “advances by nearly one kilometre each year, displacing communities and eroding livelihoods.”

In response, Nigeria is taking “bold, coordinated steps to restore balance between climate, nature, and development.” These include:

• The Climate Change Act 2021, which enshrines nature-based solutions as a legal obligation of the state.
• Implementation of the Great Green Wall Initiative, which has involved planting over ten million trees across eleven frontline states and creating thousands of green jobs.
• The National Afforestation Programme and Forest Landscape Restoration Plan, targeting the restoration of over two million hectares of degraded land by 2030.
• The launch of the Marine and Blue Economy Policy to sustainably harness the vast potential of the seas, promoting climate-smart fisheries and marine biodiversity conservation.

The Nigerian Vice President vehemently rejected the “outdated narrative” of portraying Africa as merely a victim of climate change.

Instead, he positioned the continent as a crucial source of solutions, noting that Africa’s rainforests, mangroves, peatlands, and oceans constitute some of the planet’s largest untapped carbon sinks. Furthermore, he highlighted the continent’s youth as “the world’s greatest untapped source of innovation and resolve.”