Stakeholders Push for Stronger Monitoring System for Climate Pollutants

The National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), in collaboration with Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) yesterday met to advance the operationalisation of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems for short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) across key sectors.

Delivering her opening remarks at the event in Abuja, SDN Country Director, Florence Ibok-Abasi, said strengthening Nigeria’s MRV systems was essential to reducing emissions of short-lived climate pollutants such as methane.

Ibok-Abasi noted that SDN, which has worked in the Niger Delta for more than 20 years, continues to support all levels of government through technical assistance. She added that multi-stakeholder collaboration remains central to the organisation’s approach.

In his goodwill message,  an Assistant Director at the NCCC, Okebugwu Chukwuemeka, commended SDN for its partnership and urged sustained momentum in Nigeria’s MRV development efforts.

“Progress has been made, so we encourage that this effort should be sustained. A lot of ideas are coming up, and we look forward to harmonising them to make sure our MRV system, especially for short-lived climate pollutants, is properly integrated and estimated,” he stated.

Also speaking, the CCAC National Coordinator, Bala Bappa, said the coalition remained committed to improving air quality and protecting the climate through targeted actions that reduce SLCPs. He reaffirmed Nigeria’s strong role as a CCAC partner.

“Nigeria has been a long-standing and valued partner of the CCAC, and over the years we have supported the country through a range of projects across several sectors,” he said.

Bappa explained that SDN had carried out comprehensive stakeholder mapping, consultative meetings, and a needs-and-gap analysis to guide MRV development. He said the workshop would allow participants to assess progress and outline next steps.

“We look forward to the outcomes of this workshop, particularly the comments and next steps for validating the results so far,” he added.

On his part, the Head of Environment and Climate Change at SDN, Jude Samuelson, praised the cooperation of the 16 ministries, departments and agencies involved in the project.

“Their adoption of the recommendations generated through the project has strengthened efforts to improve MRV for SLCPs. SDN remains committed to supporting the operationalisation of MRV systems and building the capacity MDAs need to implement them effectively,” he said.