… UN, World Leaders call for urgent steps to limit temperature rise below 1.5°C
By Edward Oseghe
Nigeria has renewed its call for increased global financing to protect and restore natural ecosystems, urging world leaders to adopt fair and predictable funding mechanisms to safeguard forests, oceans, and other shared natural resources.
Vice President Kashim Shettima made the appeal in Belém, Brazil, at a high-level thematic session on “Climate and Nature: Forests and Oceans” during the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30).
Shettima described nature as “the world’s most critical infrastructure,” lamenting that it has long been treated as a commodity rather than an asset to invest in. He said Nigeria was integrating nature-positive investments into its climate finance framework through the National Carbon Market Framework and Climate Change Fund, aimed at mobilising up to $3 billion annually for reforestation, blue carbon projects and sustainable agriculture.
“We call on our global partners to recognise the economic value of nature and channel significant finance towards its restoration through equitable and accessible mechanisms,” he said.
The vice president noted that countries in the Global South, which contributed least to climate change, were now suffering its harshest effects. He called for grant-based finance, Blue Carbon Markets under Article Six of the Paris Agreement, and debt-for-nature swaps to allow developing nations to reinvest in conservation.
Shettima also highlighted Nigeria’s domestic efforts to restore balance between climate, nature and development, citing the Climate Change Act 2021, which makes nature-based solutions a legal obligation. Through initiatives such as the Great Green Wall, National Afforestation Programme and Forest Landscape Restoration Plan, he said, the government was reforesting degraded lands across 11 states, planting over 10 million trees and working to restore two million hectares by 2030.
He warned that environmental degradation was already threatening livelihoods in Nigeria, with the Sahara Desert advancing by nearly one kilometre each year.
“Each piece of land lost invites conflict and deepens poverty. This is why Nigeria will always take a front-row seat in global conversations on forests and oceans,” he said.
At the same session, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world had failed to stay within the 1.5-degree Celsius limit, describing it as “a dangerous overshoot.”
He urged countries to act swiftly to reduce emissions and limit the duration of the overshoot, warning that “every fraction of a degree means more hunger, displacement and loss.”
Host president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil called for collective global effort, saying climate justice must align with the fight against hunger and inequality.
Representing King Charles III, Prince William urged leaders to act decisively.
“Our children and grandchildren will stand on the shoulders of our collective action,” he said.
