Environmental experts have urged Nigerian businesses and financial institutions to take a stronger role in protecting biodiversity and financing nature-positive economic growth.

The call came in Abuja at the launch of Nigeria’s National Business Action Plan (BAP) for Biodiversity, a framework designed to translate the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) 2025–2030 into practical actions for businesses.

The initiative is being developed by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) and Natural Eco Capital (NEC), in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment and with support from Business for Nature.

Under the theme, “Mobilising Private Sector Leadership and Finance for Nature-Positive Growth in Nigeria,” the event attracted representatives of the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE), the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), other private sector organisations and the Federal Government through the Ministry of Environment.

NCF Director-General, Dr Joseph Onoja, warned businesses that environmental damage could ultimately undermine their activities, urging them to integrate biodiversity into their policies and operations.

Onoja, citing the devastation recently witnessed in Nepal, said: “When nature decides to act, when nature gives us her invoice, it destroys whatever we have made.”

He said Nigeria’s commitment to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, domesticated through the Nigeria National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), also required greater private sector participation.

According to Onoja, NCF, Natural Eco Capital, Business for Nature, and other partners are working with the Federal Ministry of Environment, through the Department of Forestry, to develop practical measures to help businesses ensure their activities do not harm nature.

He described the initiative as Nigeria’s first Business Action Plan for Biodiversity and said its launch marked the beginning of its implementation phase.

Chief Executive Officer of Natural Eco Capital, Dr Eugene Itua, said the plan would provide businesses with a clear pathway for participating in the implementation of the National Biodiversity Action Plan.

Itua said biodiversity had received less attention from businesses than climate change despite its importance to their operations.

According to him, “The private sector wasn’t really doing anything in this sphere, and we saw that as a need.”

“The plan will support the private sector in being part of those implementing the National Biodiversity Action Plan,” Itua said, adding that the document “creates an easy route for entering this and, indeed, for integrating it into their business institutions.”

He said businesses depended on nature for raw materials and other resources and therefore needed to understand their “impacts and dependencies on nature” while managing risks associated with biodiversity loss.

Source: Guardian