Nigeria remains upbeat in tackling deforestation – Minister

The Minister of State for Environment Dr Ishaq Salako has stated that Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Environment has been proactive in the quest to tackle deforestation and challenges confronting sustainable forest management including commodity-driven deforestation. He disclosed this at a high-level policy meeting on Forest Positive for Commodity Export from Nigeria (FPEN), yesterday […]

The Minister of State for Environment Dr Ishaq Salako has stated that Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Environment has been proactive in the quest to tackle deforestation and challenges confronting sustainable forest management including commodity-driven deforestation.

He disclosed this at a high-level policy meeting on Forest Positive for Commodity Export from Nigeria (FPEN), yesterday in Abuja.

The minister represented by the Director of Forestry in the ministry, Hajara Semi, expressed delight in Nigeria’s collective ambitious efforts towards achieving forest-positive commodity trade in the country.

He said, “Agriculture as a major driver of deforestation in Nigeria, and has continued to feature successive empirical studies including as evidently revealed by the World Bank under the Scoping Study for Analysis of Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Nigeria. The findings confirmed the major drivers of deforestation and forest degradation that could support policy and decision-making processes.

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“You will agree with me that tackling the problem frontally relies partly on capacity building and institutional strengthening. The Ministry prioritises this and has continued to invest in training and re-training using any available opportunities.

“Lack of land use planning is a major factor militating against time-tested solution to the problem and so you will agree with me that what the Center for Human Settlements and Sustainable Development Nigeria) has done is a right step in the right direction as it will go a long way in complementing what is being done at the federal, State and local levels.

“I sincerely hope that the land use study pilot for Cross River State will be escalated nationwide.”

In his welcome address, the chairman of Centre for Human Settlement & Sustainable Development, Prof. Seyi Fabiyi, said the project would set the agenda for Nigeria to competitively participate in the global carbon market and promote sustainable commodity