Deforestation in Nigeria

In 2005,^[1] Nigeria had the highest rate of deforestation in the world according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). Nigeria has biodiversity in abundance which makes it thrive well. In 1950s, large areas of land were reserved as a protected area but unfortunately they no longer exist. Biodiversity has been greatly destroyed by deforestation, degradation, encroachment and conversion of land into other uses due to the increase in demand of the fast rising population in the country.^[2]

Between 2000 and 2005, the rate of forest change increased from 31.2% to 3.12% per annum.^[3] Nigeria lost 14% of her primary forest between 2002 and 2020.^[4] Forest has been cleared for logging, timber export, subsistence agriculture and notably the collection of wood for fuel which remains problematic in Western Africa. The high demand for fuel wood which is a source of energy for cooking and source of income majorly in the rural area increased the rate of deforestation.

Deforestation has numerous adverse effect on the environment such as desertification, loss of ecosystem, loss of biodiversity, land degradation, soil erosion, etc. Deforestation threatens the sustainability of the environment and puts the economy and the citizens of a country at risk.^[5]

A possible response to deforestation is to educate the society on the sustainable use of natural resources, forest management, improved technology, alternative energy source, etc.

History[]

Clear cutting in Nigeria

Nigeria^[6] is highly endowed with biodiversity. The nation is one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world. The country thrives particularly because of this aspect.

Before the independence era, massive forest reservations took place, about 96,518 square kilometres (km²) of land representing 27% of the total forest cover and 10% of the total land area were reserved as a protected area. Sixty-six percentile (66%) of the forest reserves lie in the Savana region of the country, 20% falls within the humid tropical forest zones in southern Nigeria and 4% are fresh water swamps and mangroves of the coastal south of the nation.^[7]

When Nigeria gained her Independence (1960) and became a sovereign state, she inherited eight (8) national parks, four hundred and forty-five (445) forest reserves, twelve (12) strictly nature reserves and twenty-eight (28) game reserves from the colonial administrators for the protection and conservation of the forest biodiversity in the country.

Unfortunately, these vast areas reserved in 1950s no longer exist. This legacy has been greatly destroyed, the protected areas has been deforested, degraded, encroached on and converted for other land uses, as a result of increased pressure of the rapidly increasing population In the country.

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) reported that Nigeria has lost over 96% of its natural forest cover and deforestation rate is at an alarming rate of 11.1% per annum.^[8] This prevalent problem of deforestation, fragmentation and land conversion for agricultural purpose and other uses, have affected adversely the forest biodiversity in the country.

In 2005, 12.2% which is the equivalent of Hectare 11,089,000 hectares (27,400,000 acres) had been deforested in Nigeria. Between 1990 and 2000, Nigeria had lost an average of 409,700 hectares of forests each year equaling an average annual deforestation rate of 2.38%. Between 1990 and 2005, Nigeria lost 35.7% of its forest cover in total, or around 6,145,000 hectares.^[9]

Impact[]

Deforestation is a process where vegetation is cut down without any simultaneous replanting for economic or social reasons. Deforestation has negative implications on the environment in terms of soil erosion, loss of biodiversity ecosystems, loss of wildlife, land degradation and increased desertification among many other negative impacts.^[10] Deforestation also has impacts on social aspects of the country, specifically regarding economic issues, agriculture, conflict and most importantly, quality of life. According to data taken over 2000 to 2005 in Nigeria, which is located in the western region of Africa, has the largest deforestation rates in the world, having lost 55.7% of their primary forests.^[10] Mongabay defines primary forests as forests with no visible signs of past or present human activities.^[10]

Men loading squared logs in a truck in Nigeria

The annual rate of deforestation in Nigeria is 3.5%, approximately 350,000-400,000 hectares per year.^[11] The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lists the requirements of sustainable forest management as: extent of forest resources, biological diversity, forest health and vitality, productive functions of forest resources, protective functions of forest resources, socio-economic functions and a legal, policy and institutional framework.^[12] Many aspects of the outline are currently not being met and will continue to have detrimental effects if not quickly addressed.^[13]

A lot of damages has been done to Nigeria's land through the process of deforestation, notably contributing to the overwhelming trend of desertification. Desertification is the encroachment of the desert on land what was once fertile.^[14] A study conducted from 1901 to 2005 gathered that there was a temperature increase in Nigeria of 1.1 °C, while the global mean temperature increase was only 0.74 °C. The same study also found in the same period of time that the amount of rainfall in the country decreased by 81mm. It was noticed that both of these trends simultaneously had sharp changes in the 1970s.^[15]

From 1990 to 2010 in Nigeria, nearly halved their amount of forest cover, moving from 17,234 to 9041 hectares. The combination of extremely high deforestation rates, increased temperatures and decreasing rainfall are all contributing to the desertification of the country.^[16] The carbon emissions from deforestation is also said to account for 87% of the total carbon emissions of the country.^[17]

Nigeria's wide biodiversity of 864 species of birds, 285 mammals, 203 reptiles, 117 amphibians , 775 fishes and 4,715 species of higher plants will also be strongly affected by the negative impacts of deforestation.^[18] The numbers of the rare Cross River gorilla have decreased to around 300 individuals because of poaching by locals and mass habitat destruction.^[19] Although much of the motivation of deforestation stems from economic reasons, as it has also led to a lot of economic problems in an already unstable country. Along with economic issues, deforestation has made it so that the land is incapable of as much agricultural production which is part of many people's survival. Issues such as these and the subject of the environment itself has contributed to many conflicts in the country and even executions of environmental activists, such as Ken Saro-Wiwa, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.^[10]

Much of the allowance for deforestation in Nigeria comes from their demand for fuel wood. 90% of the Nigerian population stated that they relied on kerosene as the main energy source for cooking but because it is expensive and often unavailable, 60% said they used fuel wood instead. The usage of fuel wood for cooking is higher in rural areas of the country where more of the population is concentrated.^[20] There are also motivations to people living in rural areas surrounding the process of deforestation because it is a source of income to many of them. They extremely high levels of poverty in the country are very much connected to the issue of deforestation.^[1]

Although national parks and reserves have increased in the country only 3.6% of Nigeria is protected under IUCN categories I-V.^[5] The current state of the environment has been allowed by the State Department of Forestry who have not implemented any forest management policies to aid efforts to reduce deforestation since the 1970s.^[11] Without any conservation efforts or education, the society is not aware of how to properly treat finite natural resources. Very few steps have been made to try to lower the deforestation rates and to stop illegal logging.^[1]

Deforestation all over the globe is threatening the sustainability of the environment but has had especially bad effects in Nigeria due to their high rates. Deforestation puts at risk all aspects of the environment, the economy and of the citizens of the country.^[5]

Response[]

The Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria provides an academic and hands on practice environment for Nigerians to learn about sustainable forestry practices in the country.

Possible Response[]

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. Teaching should include areas of energy alternatives, improved technology, forestry management, economic production, agriculture and security of the locals that are dependent on the land. Energy alternatives include hydro power, solar energy and wind energy. Solar energy is a great option for Nigeria and will have exceptional results due to its geographical location. Nigeria has already implemented windmills in some of its states but the more this approach is taken on the more energy that will be produced in an environmentally sound and efficient way. Each of these proposals is accepted globally as good alternatives to current energy production methods and have been encouraged by many environmental organizations. Improving the technology of cook stoves will be especially effective for Nigeria which currently has many households that require fuel wood for their cooking methods.

In 2005, a group of countries, called the Coalition for Rainforest Nations,^[21] developed a program to reduce the rates of deforestation that contribute to CO2 emissions. The program is designed for all developing countries with a rainforest. The developing countries receive money upon successful completion of lowering their country's emissions.^[22] A similar concept has been designed by REDD, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries.^[23] In REDD the countries are able to receive much more money in the form of carbon credits which can be spent on more environmentally safe practices.^[22]

See also[]

• Environmental issues in the Niger Delta
• Nigeria gully erosion crisis

References[]