The Centre for Peace Advocacy and Sustainable Development (CEPASD) has skilled 300 neighborhood environmental defenders in three communities in Kaduna State on environmental safety, private safety and early-warning mechanisms.
The coaching, held from October 27 to 29, 2026, lined Unguwar-Rimi, Television and Sabo communities beneath the organisation’s Community Environmental Defender Protection and Early-Warning Training undertaking.
The initiative is a part of the CIVIC-GUARD Nigeria Project, a consortium undertaking led by Young Advocates for Sustainable Future (YASIF) with assist from CIVICUS.
According to CEPASD, the coaching was designed to assist contributors establish and reply to environmental and climate-related dangers, enhance their private and digital safety, recognise potential threats and contribute to community-based early-warning and response techniques.
The programme additionally addressed the hyperlinks between environmental challenges and neighborhood tensions, significantly these related to air pollution, flooding, water shortage and different climate-related pressures.
Representatives of the Kaduna State Environmental Protection Authority (KEPA) and the Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KASUPDA) participated within the coaching.
The General Manager of KASUPDA was represented by Bashir Suleiman, whereas Victor represented the General Manager of KEPA. They highlighted the significance of cooperation between authorities establishments and native communities in addressing environmental challenges.
Speaking on the initiative, CEPASD Executive Director, Augustine Igweshi, stated environmental defenders play an vital position in figuring out environmental issues, elevating consciousness and selling accountability.
He famous, nonetheless, that their work might expose them to threats, making private safety, digital safety and early-warning abilities crucial.
As a part of the undertaking, CEPASD performed neighborhood engagement and stakeholder consultations within the three communities and carried out a baseline evaluation of dangers going through environmental defenders. The findings knowledgeable the coaching content material.
The evaluation confirmed that 57.4 per cent of respondents had skilled or witnessed threats within the previous 12 months, whereas 58.5 per cent reported experiencing a digital safety incident.
It additionally discovered that 65.3 per cent of respondents believed environmental or climate-related pressures contributed to disputes or tensions of their communities.
The coaching lined local weather safety, environmental safety, danger identification and administration, digital security, private safety and early-warning approaches.
CEPASD stated the undertaking would proceed with simulation workout routines, the institution of WhatsApp and SMS reporting channels, and follow-up monitoring and analysis to evaluate how contributors apply the data acquired.
The organisation stated the initiative was meant to strengthen neighborhood capability to establish environmental dangers, enhance the safety of environmental defenders and assist forestall environmental challenges from escalating into wider disputes.
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