FG Moves To Tackle Desertification

The Federal Ministry of Environment says that a National Strategic Action Plan for the implementation of the Great Green Wall Sahara and Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI) has been produced.

Dr Bukhar Hassan, the Director, Drought, Desertification and Amelioration Department, , of the ministry made this known in an interview with newsmen in Abuja last Wednesday.

Hassan said that the project was a recent attempt in Africa to address desertification in a more coherent manner.

He said that combating desertification would improve the well-being of the affected people and reduce their vulnerability its impact, amplified by climate change.

He added that the project would be executed through improved use of land and other natural resources for sustainable development.

According to him, the project will commence after the establishment of the shelter belt project.

A shelter belt is a plantation usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from wind and to protect soil from erosion.

Shelter belts are commonly planted around the edges of fields or farms.

Hassan said that the programme would be officially inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan as soon as the actual field implementation has been established.

He said that in November last year, a team comprising officials from the ministry, commissioners the participating states and some technical officers, visited the GGWSSI project sites in Senegal to learn from their experiences.

The director further said that the Federal Government had resuscitated the National Council on Shelterbelt Afforestation to be chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo.

He said that ministers from seven line ministries alongside the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Permanent Secretary, Ecological Fund Office were members of the council.

“The council was inaugurated by the chairman of the council and Nigeria’s vice president with a mandate to start preparations for the immediate take off of the project.

“The Federal Government has also approved some resources for the implementation of the project, though it is difficult for us to mention the figures at the moment, but the resources is in the process of being provided for the take-off of the project.