COP26: Jeff Bezos Hails Nigeria's Resolve To Restore Degraded Lands

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement titled 'In Glasgow, American billionaire, Jeff Bezos, hails President Buhari's climate change actions.'

Bezos, on Monday, joined President Buhari, President Emmanuel Macron of France, President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritanian, and Prince Charles at a COP26 side event themed 'Accelerating land restoration in Africa, the case of the Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative'.

"We are fortunate to have President Buhari of Nigeria with us today,ÔÇØ Bezos was quoted as saying in the statement signed by Shehu.

''Nigeria plays a critical role in the restoration movement and has pledged to restore four million hectares of degraded lands. This kind of ambition coming from Africa's largest economy underscores just how vital this issue is.ÔÇØ

The Bezos Earth Fund has a $10 billion fund to allocate to projects fighting climate change.
(From L) President Buhari, Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and France's President Emmanuel Macron having a conversation prior to a meeting as part of the World Leaders' Summit of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow on November 1, 2021. ALAIN JOCARD / AFP

According to Shehu, Nigeria is due to assume the leadership of the Conference of Heads of State and the Government of the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall.

President Buhari, in his address at the event, appealed to fellow leaders to continue to make concerted efforts at land restoration.

"I am optimistic that Africa's ambition of restoring over 100 million hectares of degraded landscape for productive agriculture is achievable,ÔÇØ he said.

The President also pledged Nigeria's commitment to expanding the achievements of the GGW programme in Africa under the leadership of President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritania.

"Together, we commit to the transformative process of restoring the African degraded landscape and ultimately the continent's environment,ÔÇØ he added.