The federal government has taken an important step towards ensuring sustainable management and utilization of the nation’s water resources with the signing of the Strategic Catchment Management Plan (SCMP).
The Strategic Catchment Management Plan (SCMP) is a vital component of the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project, a World Bank sponsored programme.
Speaking at the signing ceremony on Monday, the Minister of Environment, Hon. Balarabe Lawal said it was a great honour and privilege to sign the agreement for a crucial initiative that will impact the lives of the citizens and the health of the environment.
He said: “Today marks a significant milestone in our collective efforts to safeguard the environment and ensure sustainable development. The Agreement Signing Ceremony for the Development of Strategic Catchment Management Plan (SCMP) for ACReSAL is a crucial step towards responsible management of our natural resources.”
He explained that Catchments, are areas where water is collected and drained into natural or man-made outlets. They are the lifeblood of our ecosystems, supporting livelihoods, agriculture, and biodiversity.
He further said that: “As we all know, catchments are vital ecosystems that support livelihoods, provide high-quality water, and sustain biodiversity. However, they face numerous challenges, including soil erosion, poor waste management, and climate change. The SCMP is designed to address these issues through efficient, effective, and sustainable management practices.
“Integrated Catchment Management Plan provides a long-term strategy for sustainable development and utilization of water and related resources. It ensures that land, water, and related resources are developed and managed in a coordinated manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.”
He disclosed that: “The purpose of this CMP is to provide a number of agreed investments in infrastructure and other interventions and actions meant to help resolve conflict, conserve and protect the catchment and its natural resources, and ensure equitable access to and use of water resource.”
He said: “The ministry of Environment under my watch has promised Nigerians of improvement in environmental sustainability interventions and initiatives. Indeed, what we are witnessing today is one of the hallmarks of President Tinubu’s administration love for the restoration of nature and its attendant protected ecosystems.
“By implementing the SCMP, the ministries of Environment, Agriculture and Water Resources, will not only ensure sustainable agro-climatic and land management but also improve the living standards of communities in northern Nigeria. This catchment plan will help reduce poverty, promote sustainable agriculture, protect the environment. supporting livelihoods for generations to come.”
Earlier, the consultant in charge of the project and the Managing Director of Mecon Geology and Engineering Services Ltd, Chuka Offodile, explained that strategic catchment management plan study of the northern parts of Nigeria begins firstly by the scientific delineation of the entire northern Nigeria into 20 mega-Catchments, then the scientific assemblage and analysis of data in that framework as a planning tool with its component natural and environmental resources in an integrated manner in line with the various interacting characteristics of each notable element that should lead to the recommendation of knowledge-based infrastructure and investment implementation guided by a community-based sustainable, climate-resilient solution to environmental challenges or problems that may already exist or may occur due to socio-economic and /or natural phenomena, within each catchment in the northern parts of Nigeria.
He added that: “At the core of environmental issues is Water! In many areas in northern Nigeria, it is either too little available, hence desertification and deforestation with badland topography or too much water, hence flooding, gullying, soil leaching/erosion and maybe water pollution due to contaminants in the air, on the surface or groundwater resources, therefore minimal to none available water resources for livelihoods, a skewed biodiversity and other socio-economic land uses, leading to lower agricultural productivity, shrinking usable land for commercial activity and habitation, with results of negative migration. It could as well be very little surface water, yet abundant groundwater or vice versa with all the interacting components within the communities of each catchment !!!”
He said: “In other words, we would identify and study the very notable water resource or resources within each catchment or the challenges/ environmental problems associated with the anthropogenic (socio economic activities) and natural phenomena, evaluating the geospatial relationship or interplay of the entire factors within each catchment.
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