Nigeria's forests, which currently extend over 9.6 million hectares, have been dwindling rapidly over the past decades. The current deforestation rate is estimated at 3.7%, which is one of the highest in the world. The Federal Government of Nigeria, reinforced by pioneering efforts from Cross River State, started to engage in REDD+ in 2009, and became a partner country of the UN-REDD Programme in February 2010. The Nigeria REDD+ Readiness Programme envisions a two-track approach to achieve REDD+ readiness in Nigeria, based on: (i) the development of institutional and technical capacities at Federal level, and (ii) carrying out intense institutional, strategy-building and demonstration activities in Cross River State.

Nigeria Advances its Participatory Governance Assessment for REDD+

March 2013

At a recent consultative workshop in Nigeria, government officials, civil society actors and experts reached consensus on the way forward for the country’s Participatory Governance Assessment for REDD+.
 Read full article…

Nigeria Engages Further in Forest Conservation and Green Development

September 2012

Nigeria, Cross River State and the United Nations sign Nigeria’s UN-REDD National Programme, with an innovative two-track approach, and gear up to implement it.
Read full article…

By: Josep A. Garí 

Nigeria Hosts Innovative "REDD+ University"

March/April 2012

A new course at the University of Calabar in Nigeria's Cross-River State brought together an international group of experts to teach the basics of REDD+ to more than 200 participants from across the country. Read full article…

Read press release...

UN-REDD Programme Approves US$4 million in Critical Funding for REDD+ in Nigeria

October 2011

At the Programme's recent Policy Board meeting, UN-REDD partner countries share valuable lessons learned in implementing their National REDD+ Programmes.
BERLIN, GERMANY, 17 October 2011— During its seventh Policy Board meeting 13-14 October 2011, the UN-REDD Programme approved US$4 million in funding for Nigeria's National Programme for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+), bringing the total amount of approved funding for UN-REDD National Programmes to US$59.3 million. Read full release...

Download documents from the meeting.

REDD+ Participatory Governance Assessments Piloted in Indonesia and Nigeria

July 2011

The UN-REDD Programme together with government counterparts and UNDP country offices in Abuja, Nigeria and Jakarta, Indonesia have initiated pilots on the Participatory Governance Assessments (PGAs) for REDD+. Read full article...

Nigeria Signs its REDD+ Readiness Programme

Officials from Nigeria's ministry of environment and Cross River state and the UN resident coordinator sign declaration endorsing Nigeria's REDD+ Readiness Programme. Read full article ...

Report : "A Preliminary Assessment of the Context for REDD in Nigeria"

The Federal Ministry of Environment, the Cross River State's Forestry Comission and UNDP have released "A Preliminary Assessment of the Context for REDD in Nigeria". Download it here.

  Supporting REDD+ Readiness in UN-REDD Partner Countries

Acacia albida, with the Niger river in the background

UN-REDD Programme Regional Coordinator in Asia-Pacific, Tim Boyle, and West-Central Africa Regional Technical Advisor, Josep Garí, explain how the UN-REDD Programme is developing effective support to new partner countries, building on the activities underway in the Programme’s nine initial pilot countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Read full article ...