It is a common knowledge that forest cover protects the environment against erosion, desert encroachment and environmental degradation generally.

However, official records from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) show that Nigeria’s total forest cover has depreciated from six per cent in 1997 to 10 per cent in 2010.

Also, Nigeria has yet to meet the FAO recommendation of 26 per cent forest cover for countries’ territories.

To redress the trend, the Federal Government has been putting some strategies in place to promote afforestation.

One of the programmes introduced by the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration is the Presidential Initiative on Afforestation.

The Minister of Environment, Hajia Hadiza Mailafia, said that 22 million assorted seedlings had been distributed to communities under the programme.

She said that the ministry was intensifying efforts through the initiative to ensure the preservation and protection of the environment.

The Jonathan-administration has also approved N10 billion for the resuscitated National Council on Shelterbelt and Afforestation to enable it to carry out afforestation programmes.

The council is charged with the responsibility of stemming the southward movement of the Sahara Desert and mitigating its effect on the environment.

Vice-President Namadi Sambo noted that although the council was set up about nine years ago, it became dormant when the Great Green Wall Initiative came on-stream in 2005.

The minister of environment said that the Great Green Wall Initiative would be implemented in the frontline states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Kano, Yobe and Borno.

Mailafia said that the current rate of desert encroachment into Nigeria was estimated at 0.6 km per annum.

“The green barrier will be a global answer to the combined effect of natural resources’ degradation and drought in rural areas,’’ she said.

According to her, the project will be executed in phases over a 12-year period.

Dr Bukhar Hassan, the Director, Drought and Desertification Amelioration Department, Federal Ministry of Environment, said that trees could help in reducing greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

“Greenhouse gas (GHG) is a gas in the atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range, which is solely responsible for global warming or greenhouse effect,’’ he added.

Hassan said that planting more trees meant cooler temperature, cleaner air, replenished ground water supplies, safer and beautiful environment.

Mr John Auta, a former Director, Forestry Department, Federal Ministry of Environment, said that tree planting was the primary solution to the problem of climate change.

Auta said that tree planting was a major strategy which could address climate change in Nigeria.

“Carbon trading is one of the major products of afforestation,’’ he said, adding, however, that Nigeria had not met FAO’s 26-per-cent forest cover requirement.

He stressed that environmental problems such as desertification and erosion could best be controlled through tree planting.

Auta said that human-induced global deforestation was responsible for 18 per cent to 25 per cent of the current climate change.

Auta said that the second phase of the Presidential Afforestation Initiative would start soon, adding that the initial phase, which involved the cultivation of tree seedlings and the development of nurseries, had been completed.

He said that the seedlings would be distributed to the states under the second phase.

However, G-SAP, a non-governmental organisation, underscored the need for Nigerians living in cities to initiate urgent urban afforestation programmes.

Mr Jock James, Project Director of G-SAP, made the call when he inaugurated the “Instant Urban Forest’’ project in the FCT recently.

He said that the programme was particularly aimed at mobilising the public to plant trees in urban centres.

James stressed that more trees ought to be planted in urban centres because rural communities were still having some trees.

“If we plant trees, they will not only make our environment green but we will also curb climate change as well as desertification,’’ he said.

Sharing similar sentiments, Alhaji Salisu Dahiru, the Acting Director of Forestry, Federal Ministry of Environment, said that afforestation would also boost flood-control efforts.

He noted that indiscriminate felling of trees was responsible for at least 20 per cent to 25 per cent of climate change effects.

Dahiru stressed that deforestation was one of major factors causing the degradation of the environment.

“It is largely responsible for the flooding which we are seeing in the eastern parts of the country because of the absence of trees which provide cover and prevent heavy rain from reaching the loose soil.

“The roots of trees help to bind the soil together, so when the soil is not there, torrential rainfall continues to wash away this loose soil,’’ he said.

All the same, Mr Idoko Stephen, an environmentalist, stressed that the tree planting campaign was not a new phenomenon, adding that what was obviously lacking was its continuity and sustainability.

He, however, bemoaned a situation where tree planting campaigns were largely restricted to the urban areas, stressing that there was a greater need to enlighten rural dwellers about the importance of planting trees.

All in all, stakeholders want the government to sustain its tree planting programmes, while engaging in a more vigorous public enlightenment campaign on the importance of tree planting.

Abochol writes for the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Martins Abochol