Still on Nigeria’s troubled timber

We drew attention to this problem in the past. But the problem is still there. Deforestation is still recklessly going on – illegal felling of trees is going on with impunity. We can therefore not ‘sidon look’.

Nigeria is said to be number one destroyer of primary forests in the world and has joined the likes of countries like Indonesia and North Korea, known for getting rid of their green forest. SIAKA MOMOH brings you, once again, the story of Nigeria’s troubled timber.

Nigeria’s timber resource is in trouble, and by extension, the nation’s forest industries are in trouble too. Nigeria, which is said to be number one destroyer of primary forests in the world, has joined the likes of countries such as Indonesia and North Korea, known for getting rid of their green forests.

Primary forests

Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) records show that between 2000 and 2005, Nigeria lost 55.7 percent of its primary forests, defined as forests with no visible signs of past or present human activities. Logging, subsistence agriculture, and the collection of fuel-wood are cited as leading causes of forest clearing in Nigeria. The FAO records – a report – further reveal that primary forests are being replaced by less biodiverse plantations and secondary forests. It argues that due to a significant increase in plantation forests, forest cover has generally been expanding in North America, Europe and China while diminishing in the tropics.

According to the FAO, deforestation accounts for 87 percent of total carbon emissions of Nigeria and its wide biodiversity of 899 species of birds, 274 mammals, 154 reptiles, 53 amphibians and 4,715 species of higher plants will also be strongly affected by the negative impacts of deforestation.

Deforestation

Deforestation is a process where vegetation is cut down without any simultaneous replanting for economic or social reasons. It has negative implications on the environment in terms of soil erosion, loss of biodiversity ecosystems, loss of wildlife and increased desertification among many other reasons. This clearing of the green forest also has an impact on social aspects of the country, specifically regarding economic issues, agriculture, conflict and a lot of damage has been done to Nigeria’s land through the processes of deforestation, notably contributing to the overwhelming trend of desertification.

Forest industries

The Nigerian forests support a wide range of forest industries, which include both the formal and informal sub-sectors. Agreed that these industries put a lot of pressure on the forest resources of the nation, but with good forest management, our timber resource will not face the kind of dilemma that it is facing now. The formal sector is essentially wood- based and is fairly well developed and comprise mechanical wood industries, including sawmills, veneer and plywood manufactures, particle board, paper and paper board manufactures. Furniture manufacturing is also carried out at a secondary level. The informal forest sector comprises an informal wood based sector which is the country’s largest user of wood, (most of which are burnt as fuel) and the non wood forest products sector.

Death of forests

The way we are going, if we are not careful, our forest will become extinct and the economy will suffer for it. According to an investigative report published in International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) in September 18, 2016, there is a mad rush for our wood by the Chinese who are exporting our wood illegally with the connivance of Nigerians who have responsibility to protect this valuable commodity. According to the report, “In Nigeria, where forestry matters are handled by state governments because they own all the forestry estates in the country, logging of timber, including rosewood, is banned or allowed only under license, but traders have a free reign in the forests across the country because of poor regulations, monitoring and local corruption. From a net importer of timber in 2011 and a marginal exporter of rosewood logs in 2013, posting a mere 30,866m3, Nigeria was by the end of 2014, according to Chinese Customs records, exporting 242,203m3 of rosewood to China, an 18 fold increase.By the end of 2015, Nigeria had become the single largest exporter of the ornate logs to China, accounting for 45 % of total imports to the country. Unbelievable as it appears, it means that by the end of 2015, 30 containers (20 ft) of rosewood were leaving Nigerian ports for China every day

“Most of the exported wood from Nigeria is illegal as investigations by the icirnigeria.org

showed massive unrestrained felling of trees in many states with specific ban on logging activities. In other states where logging is allowed only with the possession of a license obtained from the forestry department, timber merchants feeding the export trade to China have ignored or boycotted official channels and directly source their timber from the forest using local youths.”
The report adds: “In Cross Rivers and Taraba states for instance, the logging, trading in and export of all species of timber is banned by the state governments but the two states have suffered greatly from the activities of illegal timber traders. In Kogi, Ekiti, Ondo and other states where a permit is required by law to fell trees, trees are freely harvested illegally from the forest without any official sanctions…”

Oku-Iboku and Iwopin paper mills question

How do we successfully bring the likes of Oku-Iboku and Iwopin paper mills back on stream if we are faced with this serious deforestation problem? There are reports that these paper mills established in the mid 1970s are bracing up for reopening under new managements. How are we sure of their sustainability when the source of their raw material is under threat?

No doubt, the government department in charge of forestry should be held culpable for its failure to implement any forest management policies in efforts to curb deforestation since the 1970s. Very few steps have been taken to try to lower the deforestation rates and stop illegal logging.

Solution

How do we make amends? Any solution to the problem of deforestation in Nigeria must be an approach that incorporates and aggressively targets all aspects that are related to the problem. We must start thinking of areas of energy alternatives, improved technology, forestry management, economic production, agriculture and security of the locals that are dependent on the land. One aspect that is very crucial is the need to vigorously engage in replanting of trees that have been cut down.

Taking a cue from Gabon which is currently engaged in sustainable management of its forest resources; the country has one million hectares of forestry registered under sustainable management permits, including more than one third which has received international certificates (FSC, OLB, Keurhout and ISO).

Forestry is the main private sector employer in Gabon accounting for 30,000 jobs. Timber exports are the second-largest source of income accounting for about 6 percent of GNP. But Gabon now wants to emphasize value added production by seeking to industrialize its wood sector by dedicating 1000 hectares to wood processing in its Nkok Special Economic Zone.

Gabon is currently involved in what it calls ‘Gabon Emergent’ something akin to Nigeria’s Transformation Agenda. The early results of Gabon Emergent are already visible. This writer was in Gabon and saw it happening.