Date Published: 07/27/09

Educate farmers on dangers of Deforestation and Climate Change, States urged

The Federal Government has urged States in the country to intensify efforts at educating farmers in their areas on the importance of planting trees in order to save the Environment and enhance conducive Agricultural weather.

Minister of Environment, John Odey, gave this advise in Dutse, Jigawa State weekend at the ceremony to commemorate the 2009 World Desertification Day (WDD).

According to the Minister, farmers in the country are properly placed to move forward the Nigeria’s efforts at increasing the number of  trees in the country as well as areas covered by trees.

He noted that in the face of the challenges of Climate Change and encroaching Desert, farmers and dwellers in the communities and local areas must be brought on board of the nation-wide tree planting campaigns and fight against drought and desertification.

He warned, “desertification threatens human security as it deprives people of their means of livelihood by taking away food, access to water, the means for economic activities and even their homes.

“In worst – case scenarios, drought and desertification undermine national and regional security, compel people to migrate from their traditional homes thereby dislocating families. Several times these migrations had sparked off conflicts over scarce resources. The situation is now being aggravated by climate change, which has devastating consequences especially for developing countries like Nigeria.

“Securing our Common Future demands that we pay attention to the relationships between land and water in the face of the global challenges we face today in terms of climate change, food insecurity, forced migration, poverty and conflicts.

“We should always remind ourselves that threats to soil unleashed by desertification, land degradation and the effects of climate change constitute a peril to securing our common future

“Land degradation and diminishing water availability are real issues confronting our country today. This is due to factors including deforestation, unplanned and poorly executed land use system and climate change.

“In a span of 3 decades, we have noticed the negative impacts of desertification, deforestation and climate change on our lives. Some of our fertile arable lands have all but disappeared and many of our watercourses are pale shadows of their former selves.”

He noted that the efforts of government at combating the problems would only be effective when all stakeholders were brought on board.

According to him, “as we seek to accelerate our economic growth towards realizing the Vision 2020 target and reduce poverty amongst our people, our actions must be decisive against land degradation and the impacts of climate change. Climate change alone may alter Nigeria’s growth prospects in fundamental ways.

“Climate change will alter rainfall patterns and will put pressure on agriculture, hydro-power dams, threaten investments in coastal areas, accentuate desertification, intensify water scarcity and increase the spread of disease vectors.

“These are realities of our times, which we must confront collectively as a nation. It is based on these that Mr. President approved the implementation of the Presidential Initiative on Afforestation for Economic Development and Youth Empowerment.

“My Ministry and the Ecological Fund Office, in collaboration with the 36 States, are working out the modalities for the implementation of the Initiative all over country.

“In order to ensure the success of our programmes and guarantee sustainability, our programmes are anchored on community participation and partnership with the local communities. We believe that for projects and programmes to have the desired impacts and benefits, civil society and communities must always actively participate in the planning, implementation, management and sustenance of projects located in their respective areas.

“It is for this reason that I am using this opportunity to invite all of you to join hands with us in our efforts to bequeath a healthy environment to our children especially through the restoration of our degraded drylands.

“It is our belief that a key solution to sustainable Environment lies in building effective action at local level, taking a holistic approach to supporting people’s livelihoods and reducing their vulnerability to environmental shocks. We must continue to strengthen the participatory approach by involving local communities in all our interventions.”