#TrackNigeria: Insurgency, bombings and other human activities are accelerating the problem of desertification in the eleven frontline states in the country.
Official figure indicates that desertification is threatening the livelihood of 40 million people who depend on land resources in the country.
Already, 35 per cent of Nigeria’s land mass has been overtaken by desert conditions, thus requiring sustainable efforts to contain.
In the Northeast and North-west, governments and non-governmental organisations are pulling resources and expertise to tackle the problem.
In their responses on desertification, stakeholders in the two zones said the age-long tree planting campaign had been sustained, while tree seedlings were being distributed free for planting in schools, homes and public places.
However, Mr Dauda Isa, an environmentalist has raised alarm over the devastating effects of insurgency on efforts at checking desert encroachment.
Isa, an Environmental Protection Officer, said in Maiduguri that reforestation and tree planting programmes had been abandoned due to the decade-long insurgency in the Borno.
“Forest resources were depleted and in most places, completely destroyed as a result of bombings and indiscriminate feeling of trees by loggers.
“The trend caused serious damage to the environment and desert encroached further into the hinterland in central and northern parts of the state.
“It is desirable to incorporate tree planting and afforestation in the emergency recovery and rehabilitation programme, to check desert encroachment,” he said.
The United Nations Development Programme and the European Union had begun implementation of 8 million dollars Sustainable Waste Management and Environmental Protection project in the state.
The programme was designed to fast-track community clean-up, waste management and sanitation services, as well as provide means of livelihoods to conflict-affected communities.
About 12, 000 displaced persons were targeted to participate in the three-year programme, which would be implemented in collaboration with the Borno State Ministry of Environment and the State Environmental Protection Agency.
Also, the Food and Agriculture Organization had distributed over 11, 000 fuel-efficient stoves to families displaced by Boko Haram insurgency in the state.
The stoves were provided under the Norway supported Safe Access to Fuel and Energy programme designed to address the energy needs of displaced households, enhance protection, and control de-forestation.
The UN agency equally established three stove production centers in Maiduguri, Jere and Konduga Local Government Areas of the state, and engaged 100 artisans to facilitate smooth production of the stoves.
To achieve effective desertification campaign, Gov. Babagana Zulum, promised to create jobs and protect the environment through a waste-to-wealth programme.
The programme would recycle plastics, and process agriculture and food products.
In Gombe, Alhaji Sa’ad Hashidu, the Director, Forestry and Wildlife Management, said the state government recently planted over 87, 000 trees in selected sites across the states.
The state is also targeting to plant four million trees in four years.
He stated that several tree nurseries had been established in various communities and dormant ones were being resuscitated.
“ With the serious impact of erosion, desertification and other environmental challenges we are experiencing in Gombe State, we need no one to tell us that we need to act.
“ Gombe State is having its fair share of environmental challenges in desertification, erosion and land degradation, which the new administration is determined to mitigate.
“The Gombe Goes Green (3G) is an initiative of the state government to plant four million trees in four years because of the impact of desertification on our state.
“We have enough seedling of more than 500, 000 tree seedlings and we are partnering with non-governmental organisations to ensure we sustain our efforts.
“ To also ensure the success of our efforts, the state government is partnering with 11 NGOs within and outside the state to ensure the planting of four million trees in four years,’’ he said.
In Adamawa, Mrs Aisha Umar, Permanently Secretary, Ministry of Environment also said the government plans to plant about four million trees to check desertification.
She said that in the last 30 to 40 years, Adamawa had lost about 43 per cent of its forest to desertification.
“The effects of desertification had worsened in the northern part of the state, especially Madagali, Michika, Mubi North, Mubi South and Maiha Local Government Areas.
” In addition, Gombi, Song and Guyuk Local Government Areas are equally facing same forest devastation challenges,” Umar said.
Commenting on the matter, an Agriculturist and Environmental expert, Dr Hamman Walia, said lack of effective and strict control measures by government, contributed to desertification in the state.
Walia, a former Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, said that there was need for government to seriously view all matters pertaining to environmental challenges.
In his contribution, the Executive Director, Environmental Care Foundation, Mr Yohanna Moses, said the foundation plans to revive 21 plant nursery centres across the state, as its contributions to stemming the desert.
In Bauchi, the Director Forestry, Mr Ishaya Mbakis, said the state government had planted no fewer than 500,000 trees this year in an effort to check desert encroachment.
Mbakis said that the trees were planted as part of the 2019 tree planting campaign, adding that all the 20 Local Government Council Chairmen in the state were directed to replicate same in their respective areas.
According to him, the ministry has worked out short and long term practical solutions to environmental challenges, through aggressive and sustained planting of trees.
Mbakis said that the ministry would also improve seedling production in all the nurseries, in addition to providing working tools needed to patrol and protect the environment from degradation and destruction.
The director disclosed that several plantations had been established in various parts of the state under the “Great Green World” programme, initiated by 11 African countries.
He added that Shelter belts were also established to serve as wind and desert breakers in the Northern part of the state.
On his part, Yobe Governor, Mai Mala Buni, said his government would establish shelter belts, woodlots and plantations to combat desertification.
“Government would set up a high powered advocacy committee, under the chairmanship of the Deputy Governor, to sensitize the people and distribute assorted tree seedlings for planting by the communities,” Buni said.
The governor spoke at a ceremony to mark the 2019 World Desertification Day.
He appealed to the implementors of the Great Green Wall programme to support the efforts of the state in combating desert encroachment.
“Yobe is geographically located on a fragile ecological zone that is most often prone to threat posed by desertification and therefore needs support and collaboration with all stakeholders to effectively combat the menace,” the governor said.
On its part, the Federal Ministry of Environment said it was partnering Yobe government to plant three million trees in three years to fight desertification in the state.
Mr John Alonge, Director, Environmental Assessment of the ministry, said Yobe was one of the 11 frontline states threatened by soil degradation and desertification, in which the livelihood of 40 million people who depend on land resources was under threat.
He disclosed that 35 per cent of Nigeria’s land mass had been consumed by desertification, with more being threatened.
In Jigawa, a non-governmental organisation, Green Network Forum, has commenced this year’s tree planting campaign, under the theme ‘One Man, One Tree.’
Coordinator of the forum, Mr Sulaiman Tijjani, said
since its creation in 2016, the forum had planted at least 12, 748 assorted tree seedlings in schools, health facilities, public buildings and strategic points to check desertification.
Also, the Birninkudu Youths Association in Jigawa said it had planted over 4,500 assorted tree seedlings to control erosion and desert encroachment in the area.
Chairman of the association, Malam Kabiru Ya’u, told NAN that the seedlings were planted in 2018 at various locations across the state to complement the State and Federal Government’s reforestation efforts.
In Kaduna State, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has established 10,000 hectares of assorted trees plantations in nine local government areas to fight desertification.
Asmau Adamu, the state Director of Forestry, told NAN that fast growing trees were planted and 50 farmers trained to provide shade and windbreaks as steps to control the menace of desertification and climate change.
Adamu mentioned the LGAs as Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Jema’a, Ikara, Lere, Chikun, Kaura, Soba and Zango Kataf.
According to her, desertification is being fueled by poor land use, unsustainable grazing practices, deforestration and the consumption pressure associated with a booming population.
“As such people must be made aware of their environment and the importance of planting trees in saving the environment.
“To discourage felling of trees, there is need to involve people from different communities and encourage them to plant trees for commercial fuel wood business.
” For the sustainability of the tree planting project, it is very important for government to involve local farmers and key rural stakeholders to ensure stewardship, ownership and sustainability of the project.”
The director said the ministry has taken its sensitisation campaign to schools, markets and communities across the state on the importance of tree planting, to restore the culture of nurturing trees to maturity.
” We are planning to introduce climate change education for school children to educate them about the effect of global warming and health challenges associated with climate change.”
She said the government had reviewed the state’s forest laws to enhance conservation and protection of its forest resources.
Adamu called on environmental groups to be more committed in supporting the fight against adverse effects of climate change and other environmental challenges.
An environmental expert, Dr Piman Hoffman, Director, African Climate Reporters, called for tougher punishment against deforestation to combat the effects of climate change.
According to him, government cannot do it alone hence the need to engage more NGOs and CSOs to save communities from issues that had to do with combating climate change and desertification in relation to humans and wildlife.
“Environmental issues are big issues now, to which everyone must be aware and give their positive efforts to solve.
“The world has already began to see the repercussions of climate change through increase in natural disasters, extreme weather events and shifting ecosystem characteristics,” he noted.
Hoffman said the African Climate Reporters was planning to start the distribution of over 100,000 trees annually to remote areas with the aim of educating rural dwellers on the importance of trees in their communities.
Hoffman called on government to support recycling and to drastically cut down price of kerosene to make it more affordable so people could stop cutting down trees.
The Coordinator, Kano Afforestation Program, Alhaji Aminu Kabiru, said they have incorporated bee keeping into the tree planting campaign, because of the economic benefits derived from bee farming.
The strategy has yielded results over the years, he said.
“Under the program, we created over 40 Shelter belts at vulnerable sites to stop the environmental harzard from spreading to other parts.”
He explained that tree planting had been widely accepted by many communities, adding that the skills of agricultural extension workers was been deployed to educate farmers and communities on dangers of dessertification,
“People are being encouraged to embrace best practices of safeguarding the environment.
“Although the problem persists in some local governments like Ajingi, Dambatta, Gabasawa, Gezawa and so on, the government is putting more effort in reducing the harzard.
“The Gaduje led administration has placed a lot of priority in controlling climate change and has adopted bee keeping as a tool.
“Thousands of youths have been sponsored by the government to learn bee keeping and are doing wonderfully well in their areas, with support and close monitoring to achieve the aim. ”
The coordinator explained that bee keeping was a strong tool used in many parts of the world to tackle land degradation.
In Kebbi, the State Government has commenced planting of over one million trees to check desert encroachment.
It has also distributed 10,000 date palm seedlings and 5,000 seedlings of oil palm to 21 local government areas of the state, for planting.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Alhaji Mahmud Kalgo, said the aim was to combat desertification, improve afforestation and empower the people.
“We are diversifying from planting of Neem trees and eucalyptus to fruit fruits trees.
“It will undoubtedly lead to the creation of job opportunities as well as poverty reduction among our people in the near future; the socioeconomic advantages attached to the planting of fruit trees are enormous,” he said.
Kalgo said the ministry had sent its officers to Katsina state to acquire training and management skills to nurture the fruit trees to maturity.
“The ministry would be ready to assist in the planting and management operation of these seedlings to ensure their sustainability in the state,” he added.
The State Director of Environment, Alhaji Muhammad Maijega, said establishment of tree plantations was necessary in view of alarming rate of erosion and desert encroachment.
“Already vast area of scarce agricultural land is lost to these escalating problems which are detrimental to farmers,” he said.
Alhaji Usman Gwandu, Secretary, Kebbi Development Forum said they had planted over 6,000 trees to combat desertification in the state.
Also, state Coordinator of the National Environmental Standards and Regulation Agency (NESREA), Alhaji Haliru Muhammad, cautioned against illegal felling of trees by companies, saying it contributes to deforestation and desertification.
Muhammadu advised such companies to replace every tree cut, to regenerate the environment.
“We will not relent in our efforts in the enforcement of environmental laws to minimize desert encroachment and other environmental hazards that ravage the state and country.”
The state Director, National Orientation Agency, Mr Joseph Michika, said the agency has been working with relevant stakeholders to enlighten residents on best environmental practices.
In Katsina State, the government has reserved no fewer than 500,000 tree seedlings for distribution to people as part of efforts to address desertification in the state.
The Director Forestry, Alhaji Saminu Mohammed said that the tree seedlings were nursed for the 2019 planting season.
According to him, the tree seedlings could be collected free of charge at the forestry offices in Katsina, Daura, Dutsinma, Funtua, Malumfashi, Kankia and Mani.
The director urged people to desist from indiscriminate felling of trees and strive to imbibe the habit of planting more trees in their surroundings to protect the environment.
Also, more than four million trees have been planted in the state under a sustainable afforestation programme funded by the European Union in collaboration with Umaru Musa Yar’adua University.
The project Administrative Secretary, Mr Abubakar Tanimu, told NAN that over 2,000 private nursery owners were trained and boreholes drilled at various nursery sites to encourage the nursing of the trees to maturity.
He revealed that the nursery owners buy each matured tree seedling at between N30 and N80.
The official said that the project also opened processing centers for local trees that have economic value, to encourage farmers to plant and nurse such trees.
“We fabricated efficient mud stove to discourage people from felling trees for firewood. Over 15,000 mud stoves were produced and sold at N500 each,” Tanimu said.
In Zamfara, the lawmaker representing Gusau/Tsafe federal constituency, Alhaji Kabiru Mai-palace has provided 50,000 trees for planting across the constituency as his contribution to the fight against desertification.
He said the project is aimed at complementing state and federal government in fighting desert encroachment and other environmental challenges in the state.
On its part, Zamfara Government has planted two kilometers of trees in each of the 14 local government areas in the state in 2018.
It also planted 10,000 trees in Bakura, Birnin-Magaji, Talata-Mafara, Shinkafi, Kaura-Namoda and Zurmi local government areas.
The Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency, Malam Sanusi Kwatarkwashi, urged people of the state to embrace the culture of tree planting, because of its importance in disaster prevention and environmental protection.
Kwatrkwashi noted that apart from combating desertification, the trees also serve as wind brakers that play important role in preventing windstorm and other disasters.
According to him, tree planting will also help in beautifying the environment.
The Emir of Bungudu, Alhaji Hassan Attahiru also appealed to people of the emirate to plant trees, as part of measures to guard against recurring windstorms.
The emir attributed the increasing cases of windstorm in his domain to inadequate trees and poor planning, and called on stakeholders to support government in tree planting in order to benefit from the impact. (NAN)
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