Brief Profile on BNRCC
It has been determined that global climate change will
have a strong impact on Nigeria, and West Africa more
generally, particularly in the areas of agriculture, land
use, energy and water resources. Nigeria’s long
term development priority of poverty reduction will be
severely constrained, if insufficient attention is paid
to the current and future impacts of climate change.
It is clear that an organized, systematic approach at
the national level in Nigeria is needed to address our
climate change problem. The core challenge for Nigeria
is to develop the framework and the capacity at the state
and local level to assess and respond to vulnerability
and resilience of sectors to predicted climate change
impacts. This will involve the development, assessment
and implementation of adaptation options. The “Building
Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change” (BNRCC)
project is designed to assist in this process.
The Building Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change
(BNRCC) Project was developed on the achievement of an
earlier initiative called the Canada-Nigeria Climate Change
Capacity Development Project (C-NCCCDP), implemented with
funding from the Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA), 2001-2004 and implemented by the Nigeria Environmental
Study/Action Team (NEST). That project had the positive
effect of raising awareness of climate change issues and
mobilizing a network of people willing, capable and prepared
to work on these matters. It also outlined some possible
follow-on project concepts that were made available to
donors and government agencies in Nigeria, including recommendations
that framed the BNRCC Project.
The previous project facilitated the first multi-sector
assessment of climate change impacts and adaptation in
Nigeria and resulted in five assessment reports being
prepared. These assessments gave rise to the framework
for the BNRCC project. They were in essence key aspects
of a strategic environmental assessment; they also noted
important ‘lessons learned’ and specific recommendations,
which have been integrated into the BNRCC Project. Other
products of the previous project included a Climate Change
Policy Brief. These Reports and documents are available
on www.nestinteractive.org.
The BNRCC project aims to help build informed responses
to climate change in Nigeria by enhancing capacity at
the individual, corporate and state levels to implement
effective adaptation strategies, policies and actions.
The BNRCC project is funded by the CIDA, and will be
managed by the consortium of CUSO and Marbek Resource
Consultants, both of Ottawa, Canada, see (www.cuso.org,
and www.marbek.ca,). It will be implemented in partnership
with the Nigeria Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST).
