Positive Changes in Countries, Part 46 of a Multi-part Series – Grateful Governments, Grateful Citizens: Nigeria, Norway, Oman

Boasting more than 250 ethnic groups and 500 spoken languages, she is blessed with rich and diverse cultural heritage and houses two UNESCO sites. The wise Nigerian Government empowers smallholder farmers, who produce 70% of the nation’s food. In addition, the International Organization for Good Leadership and Agricultural Development (IOGLAD), supports approximately one million farmers across 22 states in Nigeria through an interest-free loan program for the extensive production of organic crops to enhance nutrition security and improve people’s health and wellbeing. Despite the challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, 60 million children had access to primary/secondary education due to the Universal Basic Education Programme, Girl Education Project, and Safe School Initiatives.

Nicknamed the "Land of the Midnight Sun", its northern border resides within the Arctic Circle so has 24 hour daylight during summer time. Norway is also home to the amazing natural wonder known as the Northern lights. In 2020, 98% of its electricity generation was from renewables. With generous subsidies to green vehicles and widely available electric charging stations, in 2021, the share of zero-emission car sales was 64.5% , with 16% of all cars on the road electric. The most in the world. On June 13th 2019, the Norwegian Parliament passed a Fur Farming Prohibition Act which bans new fur farms and mandates that existing fur farms be phased out by February 1, 2025. Veganism is growing rapidly in Norway, ranking 9th in Europe during 2018.

Nicknamed "the Jewel of Arabia," the Sultanate of Oman is a beautiful country located on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The Sultanate has established 20 nature reserves, of which 13 are marine. Recently, Oman launched many ocean conservation initiatives, such as artificial coral reefs planting and recovery, planting millions of mangrove seeds along its coast, the implementation of an emergency plan to combat oil pollution, and the banning of single-use plastic bags to protect precious marine lives. PlantBasedMuscat, a local Instagram group, has nearly 2000 active members and there are many posts of inspiring plant-based activities and vegan recipes.