Nigeria Forest Restoration: New Plan Targets Degraded Land

Nigeria has launched a new national framework aimed at improving forest management, restoring degraded land, protecting biodiversity and strengthening the country’s resilience to climate change.

The Securing Nigeria’s Forest Future (SNFF) Country Package was launched by Environment Minister Balarabe Abbas Lawal in Abuja on September 2, 2026. The Federal Government describes the package as a policy document designed to support forest restoration, biodiversity protection, climate resilience and investment in Nigeria’s forests.

The initiative comes as Nigeria continues to deal with land degradation, deforestation, desertification and pressure on natural ecosystems.

Rather than treating forest protection as the responsibility of the forestry sector alone, the government says implementation will require cooperation between federal agencies, state governments, communities, development partners and sectors including agriculture, finance, water resources and industry.

What Nigeria’s new forest framework covers

The SNFF Country Package is intended to provide a framework for managing Nigeria’s forests while supporting restoration of degraded land and conservation of biodiversity.

The Federal Ministry of Information said the framework also seeks to mobilise investment at scale and build climate resilience.

At the launch, the environment minister said forest protection should be connected with wider economic and social priorities rather than treated solely as an environmental issue.

That approach places forest restoration alongside issues such as agriculture, rural livelihoods, climate adaptation and investment.

The government also identified private investment, blended finance and carbon finance as potential sources of funding for forest-related activities.

Why degraded forests matter

Forest degradation can affect more than the number of trees in an area.

Healthy forests support biodiversity, help protect soils, influence water systems and provide resources and livelihoods for communities.

The Federal Ministry of Environment has identified ecosystem restoration and biodiversity preservation as part of its broader environmental mandate.

When vegetation is removed or degraded, communities can become more exposed to erosion, declining soil quality and other environmental pressures.

In northern Nigeria, land degradation is also closely connected with desertification and drought.

The National Agency for the Great Green Wall, NAGGW, was established specifically to address land degradation and desertification in Nigeria’s dryland regions.

Great Green Wall remains part of the restoration effort

The new forest framework comes alongside existing restoration programmes.

NAGGW’s mandate covers 11 frontline states: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara. Its activities include afforestation, reforestation, agroforestry, shelterbelts, orchards, woodlots and restoration of degraded land.

The agency’s approach also includes Farmers Managed Natural Regeneration, which encourages the natural regeneration of existing trees and self-sown vegetation on agricultural, forest and pasture lands.

These programmes are intended to address environmental degradation while also supporting rural livelihoods.

2026 tree-planting activities continue

Nigeria’s Great Green Wall programme has continued its tree-planting activities in 2026.

NAGGW said the Federal Government flagged off the 2026 Great Green Wall Day and nationwide tree-planting exercise in August as part of efforts to combat desertification, restore degraded landscapes and strengthen climate resilience.

In September, the agency reported that its Director-General, Saleh Abubakar, had begun monitoring 2026 tree-planting activities in Kano and Jigawa.

At the Federal College of Education (Technical), Bichi, in Kano State, NAGGW said it provided 3,000 tree seedlings and inspected plantations established during the 2024 and 2025 planting seasons to assess seedling survival and the effects of the interventions.

The agency also said it is promoting gum arabic cultivation in suitable areas as part of an approach that combines environmental restoration with economic opportunities for rural communities.

Restoration is not simply about planting trees

Environmental restoration can involve more than planting seedlings.

NAGGW’s afforestation and land-management programme includes shelterbelts, indigenous tree plantations, agroforestry, orchards, woodlots, nurseries, oasis development and sand-dune stabilisation.

The agency says its nurseries include both central and community facilities for producing seedlings for restoration projects and distribution.

Community participation is also built into the programme.

NAGGW says it has established Community Implementation Committees in selected affected communities to provide links between communities, local governments, state authorities and the agency during project implementation.

That is important because planted trees require protection and maintenance after the initial planting exercise.

Communities are central to forest protection

The Federal Government’s new forest framework also places emphasis on communities.

At the SNFF launch, the environment minister said forest-dependent communities should be treated as partners in sustainable forest management rather than as bystanders.

The government also highlighted the potential for conservation-linked livelihoods, forest value chains and greater participation by women and young people in the green economy.

This reflects a wider challenge facing conservation programmes.

If communities depend on forests for fuel, farming, livestock or income, environmental policies need to account for those economic realities.

Restrictions without alternative sources of income or energy can be difficult to sustain.

Funding will determine implementation

One of the major questions surrounding the new framework is how restoration plans will be financed and implemented over time.

The Federal Government has identified private investment, blended finance and carbon finance as possible sources of funding.

NAGGW also has a resource-mobilisation function focused on developing partnerships and attracting financial support for sustainable land management.

The challenge is turning policy commitments into projects that can be measured on the ground.

That means tracking issues such as the number of hectares restored, the survival of planted trees, protection of restored areas and the participation of local communities.

Wider land-restoration programmes are also expanding

Forest restoration is taking place alongside other environmental programmes in Nigeria.

The Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes, ACReSAL, project is focused on addressing land degradation and climate challenges across northern Nigeria.

In September, ACReSAL announced that the Federal Government and World Bank were considering additional financing to expand climate-resilience and land-restoration interventions across 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The project describes its approach as addressing land degradation through multiple interventions rather than relying on a single environmental measure.

This creates an overlapping network of programmes addressing different aspects of environmental degradation.

Biodiversity is another priority

Restoring forests can also contribute to biodiversity conservation.

Nigeria’s forests contain habitats for numerous plant and animal species, while indigenous vegetation can provide ecological functions that may not be replicated by a single tree species planted across large areas.

NAGGW says its land-management work includes the use of indigenous tree species and conservation of biological diversity.

The SNFF framework similarly identifies biodiversity protection as one of its central objectives.

This means successful restoration cannot be measured only by the number of seedlings planted.

The condition of restored ecosystems, the survival of vegetation and the protection of habitats are also relevant indicators.

The challenge of maintaining restored areas

Nigeria has conducted tree-planting and land-restoration programmes for years, but maintaining restored areas remains an important challenge.

NAGGW has identified issues including funding delays, insecurity in some operational areas and vandalism of infrastructure as challenges affecting implementation.

This highlights why restoration programmes require long-term management.

A newly planted tree may take years before it becomes established.

Without adequate maintenance, protection from fire or grazing and community involvement, some planting efforts may not produce lasting restoration.

What the new framework could mean

The SNFF Country Package gives Nigeria a new national framework for coordinating forest protection and restoration efforts.

Its stated objectives include restoring degraded land, protecting biodiversity, strengthening climate resilience and attracting investment.

But the Federal Government’s own launch messaging also points to the next challenge: implementation.

At the launch, Germany’s Head of Cooperation in Abuja said the success of the package would ultimately depend on what it delivers on the ground rather than the document itself.

That makes implementation, funding, monitoring and community participation important factors to watch.

Nigeria’s forest restoration effort is therefore moving beyond individual tree-planting campaigns towards a broader approach that connects forests with biodiversity, climate resilience, rural livelihoods and investment.

The effectiveness of the new framework will depend on whether those priorities can be translated into sustained restoration across degraded landscapes.