Gruelling Bauchi Desertification: Any Succour In Sight?

Environmentalists say that by 1950, over 100 million hectares of the world’s forests had been cleared for industrial purposes. At that time, they add, the forests covered about a quarter of the world’s land mass.

The experts note that 25 years later, more than 200 million hectares of the world’s forests had been destroyed to meet the growing needs of the increasing global population of humans.

In 2000, between 600 and 700 million hectares of the world’s forest reserves had disappeared because of the increase in unsustainable use of forest resources worldwide.

The world’s forests – coniferous, temperate and tropical – are all under serious threat, but experts maintain that it is the destruction of tropical forests that is currently having the greatest impact.

This is because tropical forests play critical roles in regulating the global climate.

Climatologists stress that tropical forests help in maintaining the balance of gases in the atmosphere by producing vast quantity of oxygen and using up vast quantity of carbon dioxide.

The forests are also described by environmentalists as a “storehouse of genetic diversity” that provides a wide array of goods and materials for human and industrial uses.

Available statistics indicate that even though tropical forests cover only about 6 per cent of total land surface of the planet, they are home to more than half of all species of life on earth.

A report from the World Resource Institute estimated that the annual rate of tropical deforestation was between 16.4 million and 20.4 million hectares worldwide, more than 11.4 million hectares estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FOA).

And the most worrying aspect of the studies, according to concerned experts, is that they indicate that Nigeria is losing more than 350,000 square kilometres of its forest landmass each year.

The experts attributed the unfortunate phenomenon to the effects of desertification, an ecological problem that is more pronounced in 11 desert-prone northern states of the country.

The states are Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi, Jigawa and Adamawa states.

The experts lament that the negative impact of deforestation and desertification has started taking its toll on the lives of humans, animals and plants in the affected states.

For instance, more than 5 million livestock in Yobe State are under serious threat due to the absence of pastures occasioned by seasonal droughts.

It is, perhaps, against this background that Vice-President Namadi Sambo recently directed the Federal Ministry of Environment to produce a roadmap on how to tackle the challenges of desertification and deforestation in the country.

Sambo gave the directive at a recent meeting convened to discuss the issue in the State House, Abuja.

He said that the roadmap was in line with the decision of the Conference of Heads of State of ECOWAS that was recently held in Chad.

Sambo recalled that an agreement was signed at the conference for ECOWAS member countries to undertake massive plantation of trees to save the sub-region from desertification and deforestation.

He expatiated that a similar meeting would be held with the state governors to get them actively involved in the programme to control desertification and deforestation in Nigeria.

The assurances, notwithstanding, the effects of desertification and deforestation appear to be more pronounced and pathetic in the northern part of Bauchi State.

The Bauchi State Government says that the state is losing an average of one kilometre of its landmass annually to desertification.

The government attributes the ugly trend to the indiscriminate felling of trees for fuel and charcoal business.

It expresses deep concern over the activities of a particular syndicate that specialises in indiscriminate felling of trees, lamenting that the trend has seriously exposed the state to desert encroachment.

The government, however, warns that it would no longer condone the activities of some unscrupulous elements that endanger the natural eco-system of the state.

To reverse the trend, the government says it has set up a high-powered committee to check the menace.

The committee comprises traditional rulers, police, security agencies, ministries of Agriculture and Local Government Affairs.

Available records show that the state government has also procured 12 vehicles to ensure effective monitoring of the state’s forest reserves.

Dr Dije Bala, Director-General of the Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BSEPA), says that the government has put in place specific measures to deal with the situation.

“From now on, anybody caught cutting down trees in the state will be prosecuted and his vehicle will also be impounded,” he warns.

“Government will assist those in the charcoal business with loans to enable them to change their business and have an alternative means of livelihood,” he adds.

As part of efforts to have lasting solutions to the environmental menace, Bala says that government had established a nursery of tree seedlings to provide inputs for its tree-planting campaign.

“The state government has raised more than two million species of tree seedlings for this year’s tree-planting campaign to check the menace of desert encroachment.

“Our major ecological problems in the state include desertification, erosion, flooding, siltation of rivers and waste management,” Bala, however, says.

To further strengthen the efforts at pushing back the desert, the state government says it has approved the purchase of more than 10,000 kerosene stoves for distribution to various households to reduce their dependence on firewood for cooking.

“The kerosene stoves would be distributed to households in the northern part of the state where the menace of deforestation and desertification is more pronounced,” says Mr Bukar Bukata, the Commissioner for Water Resources.

Bukata lists Katagum, Zaki, Gamawa, Dambam, Misau, Jama’are, Itas/Gadau, Shira, Darazo, Ningi, Kirfi and Warji as some of the desert-prone local government areas that will benefit from the stoves’ distribution programme.

To take the fight against desertification to the grassroots, the state government says it has also enacted an edict outlawing indiscriminate felling of trees across the state’s 20 local government areas.

Alhaji Sabo Bako, the Chairman of Darazo Local Government Council, says that the council has already started enforcing the new law by impounding 18 trucks loaded with firewood.

Bako says that the action is part of measures adopted to curtail the activities of a syndicate that is engaged in illegal cutting of trees for charcoal and firewood in the area.

He says the drivers of the impounded vehicles were reprimanded, while the owners of their firewood consignments were prosecuted.

“To stem the ugly trend, the council has set up a high-powered committee to monitor the activities of the syndicate and ensure the arrest and prosecution of those caught cutting trees without approval.

Local government councils across the state are apparently becoming increasingly conscious of the twin menace of deforestation and desertification and Kirfi Local Government Council exemplifies the new awareness.

Its Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, says that his council has established two hectares of “shelter belt”, as part of measures to control desertification in the area.

Galadima says that the woodlands were established at Kirfi and Bedoji villages.

He says that Gum Arabic and other drought-resistant trees have also been planted at the shelter belts to enrich the forest resources of the state. According to him, more than N200,000 has been spent on chemical spraying of the shelter belts to guard against pests.

Galadima says that the council had also raised more than 40,000 seedlings of economic trees and had distributed them to farmers for planting in various locations in the area.

“It is part of measures adopted to check depletion of forest resources, control desert encroachment and conserve the eco-system.

“We are also sensitising communities to the dangers of tree-felling, while the council is working with some donor agencies to promote the use of alternative energy and reduce dependence on firewood,” he adds.

Alhaji Abdurrahman Zaki, the Chairman of Warji Local Government Council, also shares a similar concern. He warns the people of the area to desist from actions that could lead to environmental degradation.

Zaki blames loggers and those who engage in bush burning for being partly responsible for the depletion of the state’s forest resources.

He alleges that some people from neighbouring communities often come to forests in Warji Local Government Area to fell trees, warning that the police will henceforth apprehend those involved in such acts.

“The council has put in place serious measures to protect the environment and we have called on the police to assist us by arresting anybody found flouting the law against bush burning or tree felling,” Zaki says.

To reduce deforestation, Zaki says that the council has embarked on a public enlightenment campaign to encourage the people to plant more trees.

This, according to him, is in addition to the establishment of a plant nursery to provide free tree seedlings to the people.

As an incentive to encourage people to plant more trees, Zaki says that those who participated in the tree-planting exercise would receive some cash rewards.

Observers note that the Federal Government’s recent inauguration of a seven-member committee to oversee the implementation of the Presidential Initiative on Afforestation, represents a boost to the war against deforestation and desertification.

Mr Tolu Makinde, the Chief Press Secretary, Ecological Fund, says that the measure is aimed at combating desertification, deforestation and forest degradation across the country.

He adds that afforestation programme is aimed at accelerating economic development and youth empowerment in the affected states.

The Minister of Environment, Mr John Odey, while inaugurating the committee, charged its members to assist in fast-tracking the implementation of the initiative.

Odey said that the initiative was geared toward raising four million tree seedlings annually to meet ecological challenges of drought, desertification and gully erosion across the country.

The minister said that the committee was also expected to promote an integrated project approach, under a public-private partnership, for the programme’s implementation, while creating a roadmap for the execution of different phases of the programme.

He said that under the programme, states were expected to provide lands free-of-charge and have direct control over the participants.

All said and done, environmentalists believe that the campaign against deforestation and desertification will yield appreciable results if all the citizens, including youths, are able to imbibe the culture of tree-planting, while making extra efforts to conserve the eco-system.

Culled from NAN