Experts Advocate for Implementation of Belem Gender Action Plan, Seek Greater Finance and Inclusion of Women in Policy Planning and Implementation 



Environmental experts have called for the implementation of the Belem Gender Action Plan and the inclusion of women, youths and Persons With Disability as a pathway to mitigating climate justice in Nigeria.

The experts spoke at a webinar collaboratively organized by Women and Gender Constituency (WGC), Centre for 21st Century Issues (C21st) Gender Inclusive Climate Change Governance (GENCGOV) and the International Law Association Committee on Women, International Law and Development which held on Monday 14th of September 2026.

In her opening remarks, Ms Titi Akosa the Executive Director of C21st and Vice Chair of the Women's Committee of the International Law Association, said the webinar is aimed at transiting Nigeria's gender and climate commitments beyond policy statements into practical actions.

She said women and girls across Nigeria are at the centre of the climate crisis, facing disproportionate impacts while also fashioning out grassroots environmental solutions.

According to her, "Today, our goal is clear: to move from global policy commitments to transformative local actions". Speaking further, she said, "Over the course of this webinar, we will explore actionable pathways to operationalize the Belem GAP, enforce human rights standards and ensure that Nigerian women are not just protected from climate impacts, but empowered as leaders in shaping our sustainable future".

One of the key speakers Comrade Yussuf Olatunji Kelani, Special Adviser on Climate Change Matters to Nigeria's President, stated that the starting point for implementing the Belem GAP, was in recognizing that climate change does not affect Nigerians equally.

He made allusion to a woman farmer whose harvest depends on increasingly unpredictable weather conditions which he noted is quite different from the risks faced by someone with access to insurance, finance, technology and other alternative means of livelihoods.

He said, "This is why climate change is not simply an environmental challenge, it is a development challenge, economic challenge, a social justice challenge and a gender justice challenge".

The presidential aide noted that Nigeria's response must therefore be people centered and gender responsive. However, he cautioned against framing women as the sole victims of climate change.

He also identified the numerous contributions of women to climate solutions through climate smart agriculture, renewable energy, clean cooking, waste management, circular economy initiatives, food systems, ecosystem restoration, community resilience and green entrepreneurship.

To Comrade Yussuf Kelani, the policy challenge is how to move women from the protection of climate change to empowering them to lead Nigeria's climate transition.

He identified five priorities for Nigeria: localization, finance, participation, measurement and accountability. To him, "Climate impacts are local, therefore, the implementation must also be local". 

He advocated for the decentralization and localization of climate policies because the climate reality facing a woman farmer in Lagos, is not the same facing another woman farmer in katsina, a fisher woman in the Niger Delta or a displaced woman in the North East.

Another key note speaker Dr. Ped Obani, an Associate Professor of law at the University of Bradford, reinforced the fact that diversity makes localization essential while explaining the development and significance of the Belem GAP.

Dr. Obani traced the framework's evolution through the UN climate process beginning with the Lima Work Programme on Gender in 3014 and the first Gender Action Plan (GAP) adopted at COP23 in 2017.

She said the Belem GAP provides a more implementation focused framework for translating gender commitments into concrete action. She noted that women are not a homogeneous group, stressing that climate policies must take account of differences in geography, age, livelihoods, disability, economic circumstances and access to resources.

She called for implementation mechanisms to deliberately include state level organizations, community based organizations, women leaders, traditional institutions and grassroots networks.

In her presentation, Elizabeth Jeiyol, Feminist and founder of Gender and Environmental Risk Reduction Initiative (GERI), was concerned about women being the centre point of climate change.

She lamented that women should not merely be viewed and treated as victims, but that they should be involved in policy planning and implementation which is presently lacking. She claimed that climate justice demands that women and girls should be involved in the planning and implementation of programmes to cushion the effects of climate change.

According to her, displacement and vulnerability is key to climate justice, that women and girls should be seen as critical decision makers in climate justice and not just as victims.

Elizabeth Jeiyol also toed the line of previous key speakers in terms of localization of climate policy, because according to her, personal experience can become policy demands.

She called for more funds to be made available at the grassroots to implement climate policies. She also lamented that climate policies are usually domiciled at the national and sub national levels alone, while neglecting the grassroots where it is most needed.

She also advocated for the implementation of the Belem GAP into concrete actions.

The localization of climate change policy to address the challenges faced by women, girls and PWD's in the various homes, camps and communities as a result of climate change, formed the thrusts of the presentations by the key  speakers at the webinar which was well attended by government officials, environmental and gender experts, the academia, and the media.