A non-governmental organisation, Building Blocks for Peace Foundation (BBFORPEACE), says it has trained 250 youths on tree planting, nursing and other climate change adaptation strategies in Illela Local Government Areas of Sokoto state.

The group’s programme officer and project team lead, Gideon Ihuarulam, said this on Sunday in an interview with journalists in Sokoto.

Mr Ihuarulam said the organisation was implementing a project tagged ”Northwest Climate Peace Hubs”, a climate security approach to conflict prevention in border communities.

He said that the project was working toward preventing conflicts and initiating peace building strategies on addressing impacts of climate change along with associated activities.

“Climate security project means to neutralise the conflict and insecurity stemming from environmental degradation, desert encroachment, degraded pastures and other impacts of climate change in Northwest Nigeria.

“The project was borne out of the recognition of the dynamic ways through which the impacts of climate change stimulate conflict and insecurity in the region.

”Illela in Sokoto State and Jibia in Katsina State are the focus areas of the project,” Mr Ihuarulam said.

According to him, the project is supported by the United Nations Development Programme Nigeria and the Norwegian Embassy in Abuja.

He further said that three key activities had been identified in the project, including capacity-building training for youths on dialogue, mediation, reconciliation and climate action.

The other, he said, was to establish climate and conflict early warning and early response structures and supporting climate change activists to plant and nurture trees across the LGA.

Mr Ihuarulam also said that the core objective of the project was to support high-risk communities in the region, working with youths and women to address climate-induced conflicts and adapt to climate change.

In separate remarks, representatives of UNDP, Mansur Dambuwa and Serifu Lamidi, underscored the importance of the project and called for maximum community support.

They commended the NGO’s executive director, Rafi’u Lawal, for his commitment to ensuring the success of the project

Speaking on behalf of the benefiting community, the district head of Illela, Buhari Abdulrahman, lamented the adverse effects of climate change and the insecurity facing the north.

Mr Abdulrahman thanked the organisation for coming up with the initiative and expressed his community’s readiness to support the project and ensure its sustainability.

(NAN)