COP17: Cross River woos investors, partners to tackle land degradation

Cross River State government delegates at the ongoing 17th session of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Conference of the Parties (COP17) in Mongolia say they are using the global conference to attract potential investors and development partners to address the state’s worsening environmental challenges.

The delegates—Martins Achadu, Chairman of the Cross River State House of Assembly Committee on Education and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Environmental Matters, and Catherine Ubi, Clerk of the State House of Assembly—said they had leveraged their participation at COP17 to draw international attention to the state’s land degradation, erosion and flooding challenges.

They disclosed this in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on the sidelines of the conference in Ulaanbaatar on Thursday.

On Monday, PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Cross River State Government had taken its July-August 2026 landslide and flood disasters to COP17, seeking $25 million in international support for emergency response, ecological restoration and long-term resilience.

The state government made the appeal through its proposed Cross River Restore Hope Initiative, a report currently being presented to potential investors and development partners at COP17.

Seeking investment and partnerships

Across meeting rooms at the COP17 venue, PREMIUM TIMES observed the Cross River delegates distributing pamphlets and copies of the report highlighting some of the ecological challenges confronting the state, including disasters that have affected lives and livelihoods.

The Cross River delegates, alongside representatives from Yobe State, were also seen participating in several side meetings and engaging with high-level delegations during the second week of the conference.

The Yobe delegation, however, declined to disclose the purpose of its participation when approached by PREMIUM TIMES.

“We will talk to you after the meeting,” a member of the delegation told our correspondent.

On Tuesday, the Cross River and Yobe delegations held a meeting with Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, and the Director-General of the Nigeria Climate Change Council, Omotenioye Majekodunmi.

During the meeting with the Cross River delegation, Mr Lawal expressed the Federal Government’s willingness to work with the state government to address some of the environmental concerns raised by the delegates.

The minister, however, raised concerns over persistent illegal logging in the state and urged the delegates to strengthen efforts to reverse the deforestation crisis.

“The previous administration did not do so much with addressing illegal logging in your state. Most of the trees are being cut down. You have to go back and enforce laws to address these. The federal government can step in to address some of the issues you have raised,” Mr Lawal told the delegation.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that at least 65 delegates were approved by the federal government of Nigeria to attend the UNCCD COP17 from Nigeria. Although it seems not all the delegates successfully made it to Mongolia. Unlike the annual UNFCCC COP, Nigeria had no pavilion at the ongoing COP17 conference.

‘We need additional intervention’

Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, Mr Achadu said his participation at COP17 had exposed him to the gaps in Nigeria’s environmental policies and demonstrated how stronger legislation could improve land restoration, biodiversity conservation and environmental management.

He said the erosion crisis in Cross River had expanded significantly, with the scale of damage now exceeding what existing funding mechanisms could adequately address.

“We need additional intervention. He accepted that, and we assured him that even if our governor had to personally engage him, he would visit Calabar.

“We also met with the World Bank Country Director and many other stakeholders, and all of them were very positive,” he said.

He added: “No one hears the story of Cross River without expressing sympathy. But it all boils down to national interest.”

According to the lawmaker, Nigeria can address many of the environmental challenges facing Cross River if they are treated as matters of national priority.

He said the delegation had also used its presence at COP17 to explore opportunities beyond emergency assistance, particularly investment in agriculture and water management.

“It is all very promising. We have their contacts, and when we return home, we will sit down and initiate formal discussions with them. The engagement will build from there,” he said.

Biodiversity under pressure

Cross River is widely regarded as one of Nigeria’s most important biodiversity strongholds, with extensive tropical rainforest and a significant concentration of the country’s remaining forest biodiversity.

The state is also home to the critically endangered Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli), as well as chimpanzees, drills, forest elephants and other flora and fauna species found within the Nigeria-Cameroon border region.

Its forests form part of the wider Guinea-Congolian rainforest belt and the Cameroon Highlands ecological region, making the state important to regional biodiversity conservation.

However, illegal logging, agricultural expansion, extreme weather events, including floods and landslides, and infrastructure development among others, continue to place pressure on its ecosystems.

COP17 negotiations

The 17th session of the UNCCD COP, which began in Ulaanbaatar on 17 August, is scheduled to conclude on 28 August, subject to agreement among parties.

The conference is being held under the theme, “Restoring Land. Restoring Hope.” It is also taking place during the UN-designated International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.

The negotiations have focused on efforts to combat land degradation and drought, strengthen land restoration and mobilise the financing needed to support vulnerable countries and communities.

With parties entering the final hours of negotiations, delegates are still working to bridge differences over how to strengthen global action on land degradation, drought and sustainable financing.

For Cross River, however, the conference has also become an opportunity to turn its environmental challenges into a case for international investment and partnerships.

Concerns & Nigeria’s target at COP17

Aside from the situation in Cross River, increasing competition over shrinking land and natural resources, have created long-standing conflicts among pastoralists and crop farmers across Nigeria. Data show that Nigeria has about 417 grazing reserves covering a land area of about 4.5 million hectares, spread across the Northern region and parts of the South West Oyo and Ogun states).

Of this figure, 273 have been officially gazetted. However, over the decades, the physical network of routes and rangelands has become increasingly dysfunctional due to anthropogenic pressures driven by population growth, urbanisation, and the Land Use Act of 1978.

Meanwhile, extreme weather events such as rapid desertification, recurrent droughts, and pasture degradation have reduced the availability of grazing land in northern Nigeria and other parts of the Sahel.

As pastoralists move in search of water and pasture, they increasingly come into contact with sedentary farmers whose livelihoods depend on cultivated land. At the ongoing COP17 negotiations, Nigeria/Africa bloc are pushing for a sustainable financial mechanisms to address rangeland concerns, as well as a legally binding framework on drought management.