Nigeria pledges land rights, forest action at London meet ahead of COP30
Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, reaffirmed the country’s commitment to strengthening land tenure rights and forest conservation at a high‑level meeting in London hosted by the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP). The gathering, which prepared negotiators for COP30 in Brazil and COP31 in Türkiye, brought together forest‑rich nations, donors and climate partners to review progress toward halting and reversing deforestation by 2030. Lawal highlighted Nigeria’s Great Green Wall project and the National Clean Cooking Policy as key initiatives, and reiterated support for the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment (ILTC) that aims to secure land rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities as a climate strategy. The meeting also saw new pledges: Norway committed 500 million Norwegian kroner (about $55 million annually for three years) to fund civil society work on sustainable forest management and land‑use programmes; Indonesia highlighted its peatland and mangrove protection; Ghana reported progress on forest carbon credits under its Jurisdictional REDD+ programme; Peru became the 16th government to endorse the ILTC; and Brazil announced plans to allocate three million hectares of undesignated federal land for 67 Indigenous territories and nine Quilombola communities. For Nigerians, stronger land rights and forest finance could unlock carbon‑credit revenue, support sustainable livelihoods, and bolster the nation’s green‑economy ambitions ahead of the upcoming climate summits. With Nigeria pushing for land‑rights‑based climate finance, what opportunities might arise for farmers, investors or community groups to benefit from emerging forest‑carbon markets, and how should they prepare to participate?