What 400,000ha of forests loss yearly means to Nigeria’s economy, food security

Due to pressures arising from large scale deforestation and degradation in order to make land available for competing needs, especially real estate activities, forests in Nigeria are under intense pressures, leading to loss of between 350,000 hectares and 400,000 hectares of forest landscapes every year.

Conservationists note that this rate of loss is among the highest in the world and therefore needs to be reduced, reversed and ultimately halted because, in their view, it has grave implications, not only for the ecosystem and the entire environment, but also for the country’s economy and food security.

Phillip Asiodu, a foremost conservationist who is the president of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), recalls that at independence, Nigeria had about 30 percent forest cover but due to human activities, the forests have depleted to about 4 percent.

“At the moment, less than 5 percent of the total land area in Nigeria, is afforested, and even the sparse forest remainders are under threat with land use pressures from agriculture, infrastructure, housing and resources-harvesting”, he observed.

What this means is that, as humans, Nigerians are at great risk because they also depend on forests for survival. Forests are believed to be the lungs of the earth as they provide the oxygen man breathes. When forests are destroyed, thereby depleting the oxygen available for breathing, man is finished.

Beyond providing livelihoods for humans and habitats for animals, forests also offer watershed protection and ecosystem services, prevent soil erosion, enhance global food security and mitigate climate change, meaning that Nigeria is already at risk of food insecurity and hunger is imminent unless something is done urgently to halt what could be termed impending disaster.

Deforestation, which is a big threat to the ecosystem, is a global problem. Globally, forests are estimated to cover 31 percent of the world’s land surface but have been grossly depleted. A recent Global Forest Resources Assessment report reveals that more than 80 percent of the natural forests with their associated resources have been destroyed at an estimated rate of 20,000 hectares per day.

In the same vein, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in its 2018 report, estimated that about 15 billion trees are cut down every year while the global tree count has fallen by 46 percent since the beginning of human civilization. Likewise, an estimated7.3 million hectares of forests are lost every year.

It is against this backdrop that NCF launched a 30-year forest recovery initiative titled Green Recovery Nigeria (GRN) which is aimed at gradual restoration of the country’s forest cover to at least 25 percent as proposed by FAO. The initiative is also a demonstration of the foundation’s recognition of the valuable roles that forests play in the lives of individuals and economy of nations.

“GRN is designed as a countrywide programme incorporating awareness  and advocacy campaigns, research, public private partnership  and stakeholders’ engagements, policy  and institutional strengthening, among other components”, explained Muhtari Aminu-Kano, NCF’s  director general.

In his statement on this year’s International Day of Forests, Aminu-Kano urged NCF members, donors, partners, associates, corporate and civil society organisations as well as nature enthusiasts to seize the opportunities provided by the commemoration of the Day to reflect on the state of Nigeria’s forests and the implication of losing valuable forests.

“ This event should be used to consider what can be done collectively to protect the country’s remaining forests and how to restore and sustainably manage our forest resources for present and future generations”, he said.

International Day of Forests is celebrated on March 21 of every year in line with the proclamation by the United Nations at its 2012 General Assembly where the day was set aside to celebrate and raise awareness about the importance of the different types of forests and the need to protect and conserve forests for the benefit of present and future generations.

CHUKA UROKO