Gloria K Bulus

There is no #ClimateJustice without #SocialProtection for those impacted by the #ClimateCrises. #ReducingVulnerability #BridgeThatGap ~GKB~

Communities must hold the pen, the purse, and the power to decide. Yesterday I joined fellow panellists on the Green Zone Main Stage at #CBDCOP17 in Yerevan, Armenia, for the session "Community-Led Biodiversity Conservation: Scaling Nature-Based Solutions for Ecosystem Restoration and Climate Resilience." My talk was on Community Stewardship and Inclusive Nature-Based Solutions for Ecosystem Restoration. From Bridge That Gap's work, I shared three points: Ownership starts at the first conversation. Communities must co-design restoration, not just be consulted. People protect what feeds them. Fodder, fuelwood, fruit trees, honey and water must benefit everyone, including women and young people, not only elites. Traditional knowledge is often the most locally tested science we have. Farmer-managed natural regeneration, sacred groves, and agroforestry with shea, locust bean and baobab should be strengthened, not replaced. Women hold much of this knowledge. Policy matters too. Kaduna State's climate change law mainstreams community participation, so stewardship can outlast any one project cycle. This is what the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework calls for under Targets 2 and 22. My thanks to the organisers, GECCI and IgCTL, to our moderator Kaje Rodrigue, and to my fellow panellists Abdulhamid Tahir Hamid, Beatrice Cyiza and Basele Stephen Galgesa for a rich conversation. #COP17 #Biodiversity #NatureBasedSolutions #EcosystemRestoration #KMGBF #CommunityLed #WomenInClimate #BridgeThatGap #Nigeria #Africa – at Armenia

Proud to have participated in the 5th UN Ocean Decade Conference on Mega Deltas and the International Decade of Sciences Workshop on Coastal Sustainability, held at East China Normal University, Shanghai, from 18–21 October 2026. I had the honour of delivering an oral presentation on our paper, “Governing Resilient Coasts in Africa’s Mega Delta: Multi-Level Climate Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Governance in the Niger Delta, Nigeria". My work examined why Nigeria’s reasonably comprehensive climate and disaster-risk policy architecture has not yet translated into reduced exposure for Niger Delta communities, drawing on the 2012 and 2022 floods, land subsidence, and mangrove loss as evidence, and pointing to community-anchored practice, like Ogoni women’s mangrove restoration, as proof that locally grounded adaptation delivers real results. We closed with five concrete entry points for more coherent governance across the delta. It was a privilege to share the Niger Delta’s experience alongside researchers working on mega-deltas across Asia, Africa, and the Americas, and to open conversations toward the kind of South-South cooperation this moment calls for. Grateful to the organizing committee and East China Normal University for convening such a rich gathering under the UN Decade of Ocean Science and the UN International Decade of Sciences and to everyone who engaged with my work in Shanghai. Looking forward to carrying these connections into future collaboration. #OceanDecade #MegaDeltas #ClimateAdaptation #DisasterRiskReduction #NigerDelta #ClimateGovernance #CoastalResilience – at Armenia

Join the conversation! – at Armenia

Join the conversation #BridgeThatGap #CBDCOP17 – at Armenia

Climate change is interacting with conflict, forced displacement, water scarcity, food insecurity, gender inequality and rapid urbanisation. Increasing pressure on land and water resources affects livelihoods and can intensify tensions, while displacement and poverty increase the vulnerability of women, children and other at-risk groups. #BridgeThatGap #ReducingVulnerability – at Formal, Nigeria

Nigeria @66 – at Formal, Nigeria

Climate justice without accountability will only become another funding slogan. Yes, the world must act, but countries like Nigeria must also prove that climate finance will protect people and not disappear into corruption and political waste.