Brief Profile on NASPA
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 “National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action” (NASPA) project is designed to assist in this process.

The National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action (NASPA) 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).

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 and gave rise to the development of the BNRCC project (Building Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change). The BNRCC project includes four components: pilot projects, research, communication and outreach and policy.

Recent changes to the climate change landscape in Nigeria include an increase in the number of state and non-state actors involved in climate change adaptation. These developments, together with early work by BNRCC created the possibility of a major collaboration with government and civil society partners in the development of a National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action for Nigeria (NASPA).

Following a preparatory phase to plan the process for preparation of a NASPA, a  memorandum of understanding was established among key partners that included the Federal Ministry of Environment, NigeriaCAN the Heinrich Boell Foundation and BNRCC represented by the Nigerian Environmental Study Action Team.
Then a multi-stakeholder forum was established, a secretariat was set up, and multi-stakeholder working groups were also set up. NAPSA will carry out background research on existing climate change policy; and support a development phase to develop draft assessments and draft strategies on a sectoral basis.

The NASPA Secretariat Team is made up of the following people:
Austin Uganwa (PhD) (Program Coordinator) austin.uganwa@naspanigeria.org
Abdullahi Umar (Environmental Scientist) abdullahi.umar@naspanigeria.org
Sarah OKeefe (Policy Advisor) sarah.okeefe@naspanigeria.org