Cross River State government delegates at the ongoing 17th session of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Conference of the Parties (COP17) in Mongolia say they are using the global conference to attract potential investors and development partners to address the state’s worsening environmental challenges.
The delegates—Martins Achadu, Chairman of the Cross River State House of Assembly Committee on Education and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Environmental Matters, and Catherine Ubi, Clerk of the State House of Assembly—said they had leveraged their participation at COP17 to draw international attention to the state’s land degradation, erosion and flooding challenges.
They disclosed this in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on the sidelines of the conference in Ulaanbaatar on Thursday.
On Monday, PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Cross River State Government had taken its July-August 2026 landslide and flood disasters to COP17, seeking $25 million in international support for emergency response, ecological restoration and long-term resilience.
The state government made the appeal through its proposed Cross River Restore Hope Initiative, a report currently being presented to potential investors and development partners at COP17.
