Africa - part of its corporate citizenship activities

Name of thecandidateEdwin UsangName of theOrganization orNetworkNGO Coalition forEnvironment(NGOCE)Title Address/Country Telephone/Fax/e-mail Website Language(s)SpokenExecutive 65 Ndidem UsangDirector Iso Road, P.M.B1039, Calabar,Cross River State,Nigeria.Telephone Nos.: +234-803-450-2456; +234-808-020-1840; +234-817-923-5383E-mail:ngocenvironment@yahoo.comwww.ngocenigeria.org (currentlysuspended)1.English2. Efik3. Ibo4. EreiQuestion #1 Question #2 Question #3 Question #4The NGO Coalition for Environment (being anenvironmental network of NGOs and CBOswith about 48 members) has, as its primaryfocus the protection of the Cross River Stateenvironment, which encompasses the lastremaining tropical rainforest in Nigeria (90 percent of which is located in Cross River State),as well as the mangrove ecosystem. This iscaptured in both our vision and missionstatements: VISION - "NGOCE envision anenvironment where plants, animals and allother biodiversity of life co-exist in such amanner that the presence of one complementsthe survival of the other"; MISSION - "Tofacilitate the sustainable development of theenvironment through awareness creation,advocacy and capacity building of members tocarry out intervention programmes andprojects". The bottom line is poverty reductionin rural communities. The functions of NGOCEinclude community mobilization andsensitization; forest regeneration, includingtrees nursery and transplanting; naturalresources management, including land useplanning and formation of forest managementcommittees; cooperatives / income generatinggroups formation; provision of alternativemeans of livelihoods; climate changeadaptation / mitigation programmes; genderand HIV/AIDS mainstreaming; policy advocacyfrom local to national level. We are working inover 200 communities of Cross River State inNigeria, where we are very active.The NGO Coalition for Environment hasbeen very active in development work since1995 (17years of experience). Between 1995and 1997 we were supported by IUCN tocarry out community organizing for theprotection of the Cross River tropicalrainforest. This campaign was carried out ata time the forest was being destroyed at analarming rate, particularly through theactivities of logging companies such asWEMPCO. Our mobilization andsensitization cut across the chiefs, elders,women and youths of the forestcommunities. In 2000 we opened aResource Centre (an environmental library)as part of our environmental educationobjective. Till date, this centre attracts over500 researchers / students in month, and it isthe foremost environmental library in CrossRiver State. This activity was supported byGlobal Green Grant. Between 2002 and2003, NGOCE carried out forestconservation through communityempowerment, with support from MacArthurFoundation. We worked through CBOs andNGOs in the forest communities to providesuch livelihoods as Grasscutter and Afang(Gnetum africanum) domestication;Mushroom and Snail farming; Beekeepingand honey production; Cocoa farming andprovision of tree seedlings for regenerationof degraded land. The direct beneficiaries ofthese activities were mainly women andyouths particularly from the rainforestcommunities of Cross River State in Nigeria,while our network members have theircapacity increased around these livelihoodsoptions. From 2003 till date, we have beenworking on forest policy development,natural resource management andlivelihoods options for the tropical andmangrove forests communities in Nigeria.For instance it was our initiative that madethe Cross River State Government of Nigeriato establish a Forestry Commission which isa major driver of the REDD+ programme inNigeria. It is on account of our role inenvironmental protection that we receivedthe 2003 Goldman Environmental Prize.Today, NGOCE is a household name in allforests communities, particularly in CrossRiver State of Nigeria. Within this period, wehave received funding from the CanadianInternational Development Agency (CIDA)and the European Commission to carry outintervention in integrated forest forestmanagement. Our Executive Director, thecandidate for the AFRICA UN-REDDProgramme, served on the Advisory Board ofthe Building Nigeria's Response to ClimateChange (BNRCC) programme implementedbetween 2007 and 2011. As an institutionwith a functional office in Calabar, CrossRiver State of Nigeria, we coordinate anumber of networks and coalitions in Nigeria,including the Civil Society Network on Waterand Sanitation, Coalition of Eastern NGOs(CENGOS) and climate change network.Since its inception in 1995, NGOCE hadformed alliances and has been collaborating/ partnering with several multilateral agencyprogrammes. Our major alliances are withthe Rainforest Action Network based inUSA; Sierra Club; Earth Island Institute;International Rivers Network; the AtlanticCouncil for International Cooperation basedin Canada. Our experience in programmingparticularly, on social and environmentalissues related to the Cross River tropicalrainforest and the mangrove ecosystem,have been with support from theInternational Union for Conservation ofNature, Global Green Grant, MacArthurFoundation, CIDA, European Union,UNICEF, One-Sky - Canadian Institute ofSustainable Living, and Concern Universal(a British Charity). NGOCE has also beencollaborating with Nigerian-basedenvironmental NGOs such as NigerianEnvironmental Study/Action Team (NEST),Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF),Living Earth Foundation Nigeria (LENF),Development in Nigeria (DIN), and Centrefor Education, Research and Conservationof Primates and Nature (CERCOPAN). Ouractivities in protecting the forest againstdeforestation and regenerating degradedlands would help in no small measure totackle the climate change challenge in theworld. Also by our conservation efforts CrossRiver communities forests (tropical andmangrove) now serve as the pilot schemefor the UN-REDD programme in Nigeria.At the Nigerian national level, NGOCE isthe local environmental network that isproviding both technical an advisory role(particularly in mobilizing the forestscommunities towards the REDDReadiness programme). We are workingwith the Cross River Forestry Commissionin Nigeria, which is directly partnering withthe federal government of Nigeria on theUN-REDD programme. So far we havecarried out community sensitization onissues around climate change and itsnexus with REDD+ so that the people willappreciate the REDD programme. Inaddition we are mobilizing thecommunities and sensitizing them onissues around free, prior and informedconsent (FPIC) with respect to the REDD+programme in Nigeria.