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DAILY TRUST
Thursday, December 19, 201 L
environment@dailytrust.com HOTLINE: 08068701960
Environment
Harnessing Nigeria's forestry potentials to tackle climate change I, AIuAhutu
SEVERE weather conditions aR manifolingin nrious F.icet OfOllr national urc and .scientists bave dasslfim. most of them ali impacts ofcllmatcchange. TIlc:se conditions include flooding in both southern and nOf'thern part of the country, desertification and sand dunes in the north, spread orinfet:tious and communication d.iseases in the country as weD u acute waler in some part of the coun-
scardtr try.
The M1nl5tuofEnviroruncnl, Mrs Hadiu IbrMim Mallafia recently ackno ...i1tdged the dam· agmg Impact of climate change on various S•..'ClOn of thl!: Nigemin economy and concluded that urgent steps wuc necdtd to enable the country overcome the threat. Globally. measures adoptl!d 10 tackle the impact of climate change placed • lot of emphasis on the cultlwtiOn of forest where there are not available and conserV1lliOl~ of forest where there ~prescnl.
Forest according to scientists as I carbon sink., meaning il hal the potentials of collectIng from the atmosphere carbon dioxide, one (If the lead gases drivIng climate dWlgt.. 1ld.! k.nowledge was behind nrious iniUati'IU across the gJobal that sedt to lncrease the ","Orld~ forat stock through the pbnting of more trttL Late Professor Wangarl Matul, a Nobd laurene led the United Nation 5C'VeS
bac.krd plant a billion tree cam~gn laundled at the 2006 climale
cbange conference In Nai-
robi, Kenya.. The campaign achieved tremendous success as It also
brought to the fore the need to involve forest based communities in the management and protKlion of the (orest re:suves.. In Nigeria. drofts to restock the fore:sUl or plant new trea had come I long way. The fedetalgovernmenl bad In the last decade.set uideadayeach yearu tree planting dayand considering the huge investment of government in the exercise In the last decade iI would be expected that the natiOD' foral coverage would haft increased significantly. But the re:suve is the casc u statistics from the mlnisb)' of environmenlshows that Nigeria was losing much of its forest
rese~
....
as compared to the 1%0
("'
DocumenUi from the federal
ministry of environment showed thnt Nigeria's lolaJ forest coverage which was 10 per cenl at the end oflhe British colonlaJ rule in 1960 had reduced drutkally to about 6 pcentby20JO_ Internationally, the Uoited Nations through the Food and Agriculture Organisation said that luIving 10 per cenl wa.s not good enough (or any country. thereby $ftting 25 pcrcml as the minimum acceptable forat coyernge fOC" any country. Ghana currently b.as 32 percent forest coverage and Uberia
has over 60 percenl coverage. Recently the federal government started the Presidential Imjtatift on Afforestation to r.ti.5e' over 37 million tr~ seedlings for free distribution 10 Nigerians. The inltiati\'e which Is funded from the Kological fund offKe is on course with some states nising more than the ~ one million seedlingJ per state. The Minister of Environment, Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafla said recently that government wa.s detcnnlned to increase the forest coverage From the curmlt 6 percent to 10 per cent by 2015. Her optimism was based on the ~ct the seedlings from the PresidentiaJ Initiatives on AfforestaUon whlch aJrndy had over 37 mIlIJon seedlings would form bulk of the renewed efforts to boost the forest coverage. Already. the Forestry Research Institute of Nlgula was awarded the Sultan Quaboos Priu for EnvironmentaJ Preservation 2011. administered through UNESCO, at a just concluded World Science Forum In Buda-
p«L The award recognises contribution to the preservaLlon of the environment, especially though scientific research, education. taining and awareness- raising; as weD as through cstabli.ming and managing protected nalure areas. The prize jury recommended the Institute (or lUi conlTibutions to forest and environmentaJ managmlmt, biodivenity conservation. sustainable food production for food K'Curity and provision of industrial raw materials and employment opportunities.
The Institute, located in lbadan, is the omy forestry research institute in the country. It has 1m stations and four train ing colleges. Through lUi research il hu helped with the adoption of various indigenous and exotic tree sp«Jes (or planting them, for a variety of purposes. throughout the country, and it has helped discover how to ngenerate exploited foresu. Its research also helped develop processes for turning wood waste into useful product5; jatropha seeds for biofuds; and lKhnologies against desertification and IOU erosion. Also. the United Nations Redudng Emission for Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) recognised Nigeria's impressi~ commitment 10 protect and consc~ its forest stock by awarding Nigeria a $<I million grant to execute the REDO+ pr0.gramme In Nigt"riL The Min1stu of Environment, Hadiza Ib~im MaUafia said recently that Nigeria was work:· ing hard to reduct" ils emission as well15takc advantages ofvarlous opportunities undt"r the United Nations Fnmework Convt"Dtion on Oimate Chan~. Investing in forestry is one area the ministers aspiration can be achieved. A well cultivated. conse.rve and protected fOfe;t Is an asset according 10 the Unlt~ Nations. already th~ potentials for Nigeria in rorestry look rosy 10 therefore the nM for govunment to strengthen its policy Implementation and mOnitoring strategies as It relates La forntry cannot be over emphasised