Nigeria has officially adopted its updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) 2025–2030, cementing its role as a frontrunner in Africa’s commitment to halting and reversing biodiversity loss. This move is more than symbolic, it signals a critical pivot toward systemic environmental governance across West Africa and reinforces Nigeria’s alignment with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (K-M GBF), the landmark international agreement adopted at COP15 in 2022.
The revised NBSAP is built around 23 national targets, each carefully mapped to corresponding global goals under the K-M GBF. Unlike previous iterations, the 2025–2030 plan has been validated as a whole-of-government and whole-of-society policy, integrating ministries, civil society, indigenous communities, academia, and private sector actors in a coordinated push for environmental restoration.
Nigeria’s Environment Minister, represented by Dr. Amah Moses of the Forestry Department, acknowledged that implementation will be a complex undertaking—but one that is non-negotiable. The urgency is grounded in data: Nigeria is one of the most biodiverse countries in Africa, home to over 5,000 species of vascular plants, more than 940 bird species, and nearly 300 mammals. Yet, according to the IUCN Red List, nearly 15% of Nigerian species are threatened with extinction due to habitat loss, land degradation, poaching, and the pressures of rapid urbanization.
This strategic overhaul of the NBSAP builds upon Nigeria’s instrumental role in shaping the K-M GBF negotiations, where the country and the broader ECOWAS bloc successfully advocated for provisions that emphasize equity, sustainable use, and fair benefit-sharing. The new NBSAP goes a step further by localizing those priorities into actionable pathways for conservation and restoration. Nigeria is now under pressure to demonstrate that these commitments are not just diplomatic victories but practical roadmaps for ecological renewal.
UNESCO, a key partner in the process, emphasized the importance of the NBSAP as an anchor instrument for the Convention on Biological Diversity. Through the Nigerian UNESCO Biodiversity Business Project, the agency is exploring ways to stimulate green enterprises around protected areas, creating both conservation outcomes and livelihood opportunities. Nigeria’s four biosphere reserves, recognized under UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves, are being positioned as living laboratories where biodiversity protection and sustainable development are mutually reinforcing.
From a financing perspective, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a major backer. The GEF Small Grants Programme, run through UNDP, has already supported over 60 biodiversity-focused projects in Nigeria and worked with more than 150 civil society organizations. These projects span Nigeria’s national parks and biodiversity hotspots, blending conservation with community resilience. Yet the GEF’s coordinator in Nigeria, Mrs. Ibironke Olubamise, warns of a growing funding gap. As climate change increasingly dominates the global environmental finance agenda, biodiversity must not be relegated to the background. In her view, the twin crises of climate and biodiversity are inseparable: the degradation of ecosystems weakens carbon sinks, accelerates desertification, and diminishes climate adaptation capacities.
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To address this, Nigeria’s updated NBSAP not only sets targets for protected area expansion and species conservation but also outlines a broader integration of biodiversity into national planning frameworks—agriculture, forestry, infrastructure, and biotechnology among them. The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has signaled its readiness to collaborate with both state actors and private companies in biotech and agribusiness, with a focus on incorporating biodiversity protection into corporate environmental responsibility strategies.
Significantly, the NBSAP champions grassroots participation. Universities, indigenous knowledge holders, and youth-led organizations are seen not as peripheral actors but central to implementation. This localization strategy aligns with mounting evidence that community-managed conservation areas often outperform state-run parks in terms of biodiversity outcomes, especially when backed by rights-based frameworks and sustained investment.
The stakes are high. Biodiversity underpins Nigeria’s food systems, water security, traditional medicine, and climate resilience. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that over 70% of rural Nigerians depend directly on biodiversity for their livelihoods. The disappearance of pollinators, wild crop relatives, and medicinal species would not only deepen poverty but also unravel vital safety nets.
With a population projected to reach 400 million by 2050, Nigeria’s ability to conserve and restore its land- and seascapes will directly influence West Africa’s environmental stability and food sovereignty. The country’s decision to treat the NBSAP as a governance priority, not just a conservation plan, marks a critical shift.
The next challenge will be ensuring accountability, financing, and periodic review mechanisms that are robust enough to sustain momentum. If Nigeria succeeds, it could become a continental model for how biodiversity action plans can serve as engines for both ecological recovery and sustainable development. If not, the costs, in ecosystem loss, economic instability, and human vulnerability—will be profound.
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