The federal government and World Bank have unveiled nine catchment management plans to combat desertification in northern Nigeria.
The federal government has intensified efforts to halt worsening desertification and environmental degradation across northern Nigeria with the validation of nine Strategic Catchment Management Plans aimed at restoring degraded landscapes and protecting water resources.
The plans are being developed under the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes Project (ACReSAL), a major climate resilience initiative supported by World Bank and implemented by Federal Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with other key federal agencies.
At a high-level validation workshop in Abuja, government officials, development partners, and environmental experts warned that millions of Nigerians in the northern region were already grappling with severe ecological pressures that threatened food security, livelihoods, and community stability.
Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, said the environmental crisis confronting the region was no longer theoretical but a daily reality for farmers, herders, and rural communities.
Lawal said advancing deserts, erratic rainfall patterns, shrinking water bodies, and degraded farmlands were steadily eroding agricultural productivity and deepening poverty across the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“These are not abstract environmental concerns. They threaten the food on our tables, the income of our farmers and herders, and the stability of our communities,” Lawal said.
According to the minister, the ACReSAL project represents Nigeria’s most comprehensive response yet to the growing environmental emergency, bringing together Federal Ministry of Environment, Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to drive coordinated climate resilience interventions.
He explained that the Strategic Catchment Management Plans formed the backbone of the intervention, providing a detailed roadmap for restoring degraded landscapes, protecting watersheds, and strengthening sustainable resource management across vulnerable ecosystems.
Representing Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev, Director of Hydrology, Abohwo Ngozi, said the workshop was convened to review and validate the final nine catchment management plans developed under the ACReSAL framework.
Ngozi stressed that the plans will guide integrated management of critical water catchments, while addressing growing environmental threats facing communities across northern Nigeria.
She warned that desert encroachment, degraded soils, and unpredictable rainfall were already undermining food production and threatening the livelihoods of millions of farmers and pastoralists.
“As we meet here in Abuja, millions of citizens across the northern states are battling advancing deserts, unreliable rains, and shrinking water bodies,” she said.
“These are real pressures that threaten the food on our tables and the economic survival of our rural communities,” she added.
National Coordinator of ACReSAL, Abdulhamid Umar, represented by Shettima Adams, said the validation exercise marked a critical step in translating years of environmental planning into concrete actions on the ground.
Umar disclosed that the nine catchment plans covered Malenda, Oshin-Oyi, Gurara-Gbako, Aloma-Konshisha, Benue-Mada, Sarkin-Pawa-Kaduna, Zungur-Gongola, Gaji-Lamurde, and Hawul-Kilange.
According to him, the catchments cut across several states, including Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara, as well as FCT.
Umar stated that the catchment boundaries were designed around ecological systems rather than political borders to ensure more effective environmental management.
He said the plans were developed through extensive consultations with communities, farmers, and other stakeholders to ensure that the solutions reflect the realities on the ground.
“These plans are more than policy documents. They capture the voices of communities and identify the real environmental challenges they face — deforestation, eroding soils, shrinking water sources and overgrazed lands,” he said.
He added that the framework will guide future investments in tree planting, climate-smart agriculture, improved water management, and other rapid-impact restoration initiatives designed to deliver immediate benefits to rural households.
In a goodwill message on behalf of the World Bank Task Team Leader, Joy Iganya Agene, the bank’s representative, Henrietta Alhassan, said the validation of the catchment plans was a major milestone in efforts to strengthen climate resilience across Nigeria’s fragile semi-arid landscapes.
Alhassan emphasised that effective catchment management was fundamental not only for environmental protection but also for sustaining livelihoods, stabilizing ecosystems, and supporting long-term economic development.
“The work being validated here reflects the voices of communities, the insights of experts, and the commitment of government and development partners to safeguarding these critical landscapes,” she said.
Alhassan reaffirmed the World Bank’s commitment to supporting Nigeria in advancing integrated catchment planning, climate adaptation, and sustainable management of natural resources as the country moves towards implementation of the strategies.
