By Esther Akaa

Members of Nasarawa state communities have begun planting economic trees and producing briquettes to mitigate climate change impacts. This followed a capacity-building training by the African Activists for Climate Justice Project (AACJ), White Water Digest gathered.
The AACJ project, supported by OXFAM through the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Partners, Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Mada Hills, and Association of Small Scale Agro Producers in Nigeria (ASSAPIN), had provided solutions-based knowledge and skills to nine communities in five  Local Government Areas (LGAs) to help deal with climate change issues.
These communities are: Agunji and Ngubi communities in Nasarawa Eggon LGA, Ntsakpe and Buhar Community in Akwanga LGA, Gidigidi Community in Kokona LGA, Gidan mai Akuya, and Barkin Abdullahi community in Lafia LGA and Musha community in Obi LGA.
The climate adaptive measures also include opportunities to financial platforms such as community-saving and loan groups.
A beneficiary of the project in Lafia, Terhemba Ajav who learned how to establish oil palm nurseries and plantations said YMCA and ASSAPIN through OXFAM donated 1,500 sprouted oil palm seedlings each to Gidan Akuya and Barkin Abdullahi communities in Lafia LGA to support their local community.
“In Barkin Abdullahi community, we were able to transplant 1,300 plants to the permanent site, while in Gidan Akuya, some seedlings were destroyed by livestock but we were able to secure the area to protect the remaining seedlings which were transplanted,” he said.

According to him, the plantation would help in mitigating and checking the incidences of flooding and other environmental challenges the people of the community have been facing over the years.

“When fully developed and harvested, the product would be veritable source of economic empowerment to people of the community.”
Beyond the economic benefit, the AACJ training, according to Ajav, is already recording a long term impact as it had changed the perception of the people towards cutting down trees. Instead, he said, communities have began planting economically viable trees such as mangoes, cashews, Guava and others to mitigate the negative impact of climate change such as hot temperature and erosion in their environment.
“We are very happy with the implementers of the AACJ project because we have so far received training on how to plant trees to mitigate the effects of climate change and also improve our livelihoods,” he said.
On his part, the leader of the Ntsakpe Community in Akwanga LGA area of the State, Magson Anthony Zarmo said the AACJ project taught the community members how to make briquettes as an energy source which serves as a veritable alternative to charcoal or firewood.
Zarmo said the introduction of an alternative source of energy for cooking has reduced the felling down of trees for charcoal production and reduced the stress on women when cooking.
“Briquette making is easier because what we do is to gather all husks from harvests like maize and rice stems for briquette production instead of burning them as we used to do.
“We have stepped down the training of briquette making to the members of the community, It is easy to use and cheaper when compared with gas which many people cannot afford due to the economic crisis Nigeria is experiencing at the moment. This has also helped the women, especially from going long distances to fetch firewood or buy charcoal, and has also minimised the cutting down of trees discriminately,” he said.
Also, a youth leader in Agunji Community, Nasarawa Eggon LGA of the State, Jonathan Attah Allu, said the AACJ project trained members of his community on how to Plant trees from a nursery and transplant them to the permanent site.
“We planted 1,500 palm seedlings at the nursery stage and later distributed them across the community for transplanting. Already individuals have planted 5,052 trees in the community, and about 120 cashew trees were planted recently by individuals in the community.
“People are now planting other trees on their own to checkmate erosion and flood unlike before when they were engaged in cutting down trees without replacement. The community stands the chance of benefiting from this AACJ project even in the future because the trees will begin to produce fruits. Cashew is an economic tree and so it will provide both income and food to the people” he enthused.

Esther Rize Katungu from Kokona LGA said the community members were trained on how to raise the palm tree nursery and that has made us to step-down the training to other communities.
Katungu said the AACJ project provided their community with 1,500 sprouted oil palm seedlings which they were able to raise 1,350 from the nursery to the permanent site while others did not germinate.
Speaking on the impacts of the AACJ project in Nasarawa state, the Director of Climate Change, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources,  Angbashim Ishaku, said the project had impacted positively on the various communities where it had been implemented.
Angbashim said OXFAM, YMCA and ASSAPIN with funding support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, have carried out activities such as capacity building and training on briquette production, which has provided a source of cooking fuel for the grassroots women and youths across the communities in the state.
The Director also said that the project developed climate change policy for the state and the government was working towards its implementation to address some of the climate change effects on citizens of the state, adding that the government will continue to support the AACJ project in the state for the overall well-being of citizens of the state.
On his part, Executive Secretary YMCA, Ango Adamu, stated that although the project will be ending by 2025, sustainable measures will be implemented to continue the project after its expiration.
These sustainable measures, he said, include the creation of climate change clubs in educational institutions, the involvement of women and young people and support from traditional leaders and climate change volunteers.
“The communities on their own have started a community and individual nursery establishments for domestic use and income generation, step-down training efforts, reached out to a wide range of audience, engagement of other organisations working on climate change in the state.
“The oil palm trees can live between 40 to 50 years after AACJ, its benefits will still be enjoyed by communities and their children to come. The project has promoted unity by bringing individuals and communities, unifying their thoughts to engage duty bearers representing them in parliaments, increased in confidence and public speaking abilities” he said.
The National AACJ Project Lead and Climate Justice Project Coordinator at OXFAM in Nigeria, told WhiteWaterdigest that the project which is currently running in Eight African countries, including Nigeria had involved partners, stakeholders, and communities in amplifying the voices of marginailised communities in Africa and strengthening their capacity to address climate change issues and adapt to it.

“AACJ project is involved in policy influencing to see how government and other stakeholders including private sectors, can take climate issues seriously and enact laws and policies that will help shape the state government’s preparedness and take actions on climate change.
“We have so far pushed for climate change act for Nasarawa State, which was co-designed by one of our implementing partners. We have also helped the people to build capacity in what we call community development plans. These plans help them to identify key issues and gaps and also identify stakeholders including how to engage with their leaders and hold them accountable which has yielded some positive results where communities mobilized and got the attention of government to improve their power source and built a bridge through community efforts, this has helped in showcasing their potentials in addressing some of these issues at community level” he said.
In order to help people maximize their space in the face of flooding and the increased incidence of insecurity in the nation, Akpan explained that the project has also supported the initiatives of planting trees and smart agriculture, including sack farming with special emphasis to People With Disability ( PWD) as a more friendly model to their contributing to food security.
He expressed happiness that the AACJ project was helping communities, saying that the beneficiaries of the project are already taking the lead by adopting sustainable practices in their own areas