Assessing Nigeria’s desertification control efforts

Reacting to the alarm, environment experts say that even though desertification can be controlled, it can never be stopped due to a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors, which are mostly man-made.They explain that natural factors such as poor physical condition of soil, extreme climatic variability and low amount of rainfall can cause desertification.Allan Savory, […]

Reacting to the alarm, environment experts say that even though desertification can be controlled, it can never be stopped due to a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors, which are mostly man-made.
They explain that natural factors such as poor physical condition of soil, extreme climatic variability and low amount of rainfall can cause desertification.
Allan Savory, an environmentalist and biologist, described desertification as a fancy word for land which is turning into a desert.
He said that the phenomenon had affected about two-thirds of the world’s grassland, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into chaos.
Analysts say anthropogenic factors, ranging from deforestation, over-exploitation of land, bush burning, over-grazing to poor irrigation practices, combine to accelerate the desertification process.
They note that Nigeria is also affected by desertification, arguing that the country loses a lot of its land to desertification annually.
For instance, Mr John Odey, a former minister of environment, once disclosed before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Climate Change that the desertification in Nigeria was moving southward at a rate of 600 metres annually.
Analysts say that desertification threatens the livelihood of more than two billion people globally, while more than 30 per cent of Nigeria’s population is directly or indirectly affected by the threat.
As part of efforts to address the threat, former President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced the Great Green Wall Programme in 2005 and the project was adopted by the Africa Union (AU) in 2007.
The programme is aimed at initiating concrete measures to solve the problem of environmental degradation, especially desertification, in sub-Saharan Africa.
The programme’s objective is to mobilise 11 countries, including Nigeria, to construct “a wall of trees’’, stretching 4,300 miles long and nine miles wide across the continent, from the Republic of Djibouti to Senegal.
In essence, the implementation of the programme in Nigeria will ensure the rehabilitation of more than 22,000 hectares of degraded lands in the frontline states.
The frontline states are Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kastina, Kano, Jigawa, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi State, Gombe and Borno.
Observers say that the execution of the project in the frontline states is one of the major achievements of the Federal Ministry of Environment in 2013.
At the inauguration of the project in Kebbi in June, the former Minister of Environment, Mrs Hadiza Mailafiya, said that the project would also generate employment for not less than 500,000 persons within its first year of implementation.
She said that as part of efforts to ensure an effective implementation of the programme, a national strategic action plan had been developed and other series of activities would also be carried out.
Mailafiya listed some of the activities as public sensitisation and community mobilisation, capacity building of communities and implementing institutions as well as procurement of about 10 million assorted tree seedlings.
“Other activities would include planting of 100,000 hectares of shelterbelt and orchard/ gardens, promotion of livelihood activities in 86 communities and provision of 86,000 clean energy devices,’’ she said.
Mailafiya, however, urged the local government councils to adopt a holistic approach in efforts to improve the people’s livelihoods. She also appealed to the councils to help reduce people’s vulnerability to environmental shocks, particularly climate change.
Similarly, Mr Taiye Haruna, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, said that President Goodluck Jonathan has released N10 billion for the implementation of the activities.
“We have trained 400 forest guards, 68 extension officers and 24 forest supervisors, while upgrading the training facilities at the Afforestation Programme Coordinating Unit of the project in Kano.
“We have also provided 78 wind-powered boreholes for water supply, while promoting efficient sources of rural energy, grazing resources and alternative livelihood activities for the benefiting communities,’’ he said.
Haruna said that the ministry has already supported the frontline states to plant some tree seedlings, noting that the project would be in full swing this year.
Similarly, the Katsina State Government has inaugurated three shelterbelt and afforestation committees to oversee the project’s implementation in the state.
Five local government areas — Jibia, Kaita, Mai’Adua, Zango and Baure — would benefit from the project in the state.
Alhaji Aminu Safana, the state’s Commissioner for Environment, said the government was committed to the implementation of the project in the state.
He said that the government has sensitised the benefiting communities to the importance of the project.
In Sokoto State, the programme would be implemented in Isa, Sabon Birni, Gudu, Tangaza, Gada and Illela local government areas.
Malam Abubakar Mohammed, the Permanent Secretary, Sokoto State Ministry of Environment, said that the government was collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Environment on the project.
All the same, Mr Umar Dahiru, an environmentalist, advised the federal government to adopt a holistic approach in the project implementation processes
He said that the adoption of holistic approach in the execution of the initiative would ensure its success and sustainability.
Besides, Dahiru urged the federal government to ensure the execution of all the environmental policies aimed at mitigating the impact of desertification in the country.
He also called for the planting of indigenous trees across the country to strengthen ongoing desertification control efforts.
Dahiru, who is the Executive Director of Kano-based Africa Desertification Control Initiative, stressed that the federal government should encourage farmers to plant indigenous tree crops, also known as “deserticulture’’, in the frontline states.
According to him, “deserticulture’’ involves the cultivation of crops, which can be used as cash crops and at the same time be used to control desertification.
Environmentalists, nonetheless, concede that desertification is a major ecological problem in Nigeria which needs to be addressed by all the stakeholders.
They stress the need for the active participation of all the citizens in all the desertification control efforts, insisting that government alone cannot tackle the menace of desertification. (NANFeatures)