NEST BIENNIAL GENERAL MEETING AND ANNUAL WORKSHOP

The Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST) is planning to hold her 6th Biennial General Meeting (BGM) and the 15th Annual Workshop in October, 2008. The BGM is an opportunity to appraise the activities of NEST in the past two years and also an avenue to lay out plans and activities for another two years. In addition to NEST members, key participants at these events are Trustees and Directors of NEST Board. Announcement of details on the BGM and Annual workshop will be made soon. The theme of the workshop is ‘Climate Change and Private Sector Involvement.’

Previous annual workshops of NEST held as follows:

• The Nigerian Environment: Non-Governmental Action, Lagos, Lagos State, 1989.
• Sustainable Development in Nigeria’s Dry Belt: Problems and Prospect. Kano, Kano State, 1990.
• Sustainable Development and Natural Resources in the Forest Belt of Nigeria. Owerri, Imo State, 1991.
• Women, Children and the Environment. Jos, Plateau State, 1992.
• SAP and the Nigerian Environment. Benin, Edo State, 1993.
• Waste generation and Disposal in Nigeria. Ibadan, Oyo State, 1994.
• Promoting Environmental Education. Calabar, Cross River State, 1995.
• Minna, Niger State, 1996
• Appropriate Technology and the Environment. Ibadan, Oyo State, 1997.
• Informal Sector and the Nigerian Environment. Aba, Abia State, 1998.
• NGOs, Popular Participation and Environmental Management. Kaduna, Kaduna State, 1999.
• Rural-Urban Linkages and Sustainable Livelihoods. Umuahia, Abia State, 2001.
• Nigeria Adjusting to Climate Change. New Bussa, kainji Lake, Kwarra State, 2002.
• Energy Systems and Climate Change,. Bauchi, Bauchi State, 2003.
• Biodiversity and Climate Change. Asaba, Delta State, 2004.

Following an external review and auditing of its operations in 1998, ten years after establishment, NEST grouped its activities into defined programme areas, namely:

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• Policy Research and Advocacy

  • This programme area most closely describes much of what NEST has been doing since its establishment. It remains relevant because of the continuing importance of policy failures in explaining many actions and attitudes that account for environmental degradation and unsustainable natural resources management. Because adaptive and participatory procedures have not been used in their formulation, many policies on environment and natural resources management remain unimplemented. NEST is committed to continuing to inform public policy on the environment and sustainable development through adaptive and participatory policy research, and to calling attention to policy lapses through advocacy. Our general aim is to engage in constructive, informed and analytical reviews of public policies which have implications for environment and development, and to be involved in research for policy development, coordination, implementation, evaluation and review.

• Grassroots Livelihoods Development

  • This programme area is new. It is being developed to correct the impression that NEST deals in the abstract and has little to show on the ground for all her research and publication. Further rationale for developing this programme area includes NEST's desire to contribute to redressing the many anomalies or concerns that affect environmental stability, e. g. widespread illiteracy and poverty, decades of developmental inequality between the urban and rural sectors, marginalization of rural communities in national decision-making process, the use of unsustainable practices in coping against poverty, and the weak development of local economic structures for income generation outside the farm sector. 

• Consultancy and Training

  • This programme area provides an opportunity for NEST to offer services for a fee in its areas of strength, to a wide spectrum of clients, thereby generating income.  The programme thrust not only helps NEST to market its expertise (reflected in the experience and caliber of its membership), but also enables the organization to make desired contributions towards sustainable development, by propagating environment-friendly strategies while satisfying the needs of its clients.  The income-generating advantage of the consultancy and training programme area cannot be underplayed, given the inherent instability in external funding, due to uncertainties, donor fatigue and winding down processes.  The programme area is designed to provide built-in resilience against external shocks, and is evidently critical to the long-tern survival of NEST.

    NEST can provide services in such areas as:

    • training workshops; 

    • community based hands-on training in natural resources management and conservation in such fields as erosion prevention and control by primary environmental care; water harvesting and storage, fuel-efficient wood stoves, waste sorting and recycling;

    • environmental information packaging and dissemination;

    • project formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; 

    • environmental impact assessment;

    • environmental resource management and action planning;

    • participatory methodologies;

    • community organization for local environmental governance;

    • establishing community-based cooperatives for enhancing group benefits in pricing and marketing

    • multilateral environmental agreements - on climate change, biodiversity conservation, combating desertification, the Ramsar Convention, etc.

• Information and Publications

  • Information and publication are tools for the empowerment of society at large. This is in the context of the critical roles they play with respect to awareness raising on topical or virtually all issues, attitudinal change and decision-making.  This implies that one who receives information is empowered, and any one or any organization that gives out information empowers others, all things being equal.  NEST, therefore, perceives information from both the perspectives of building capacity that enables it to gather or receive information from a variety of sources, and that of serving as an information broker, as it processes and repackages information at its disposal for dissemination to those who require them.

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  • NEST information gathering and dissemination can be targeted at specific stakeholders, including policy/decision makers at all levels, executives, the Organized Private Sector, the Informal Sector, civil society organizations, rural communities, opinion leaders, academia and the media.

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  • For dissemination of information, we make use of effective media - electronic, print, workshops, meet-the-people interactions, environmental competitions and awards, traditional media outlets and general promotions. NEST hosted a worldwide chat on the environment on the internet on June 5, World Environment Day 2000.