Coalition mobilises to restore Ogun forest

The Ogun State government, in partnership with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), and Lafarge Africa Plc have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the joint development of Ogun State Forest Landscape Restoration Project.
According to a statement from NSIA, the MoU was signed during a state visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to France.
It said “the MoU will enable the creation of a legal entity to develop the project, engage development agencies and climate change funds, and promote it to large agriculture and forestry investors.”
It said the “project is set to transform 108,000 hectares of heavily degraded land into an arable green area. It is designed to employ innovative approaches to achieve best-of-breed environmental, social and economic results. The scheme’s uniqueness rests in the way it combines land restoration with business development objectives by applying the latest findings of agro-ecology and agro-forestry.”
“The first part of the area will be rehabilitated through mixed reforestation to provide biodiversity hotspots corridors, allowing nomadic herders to cross the area with their herds and encouraging subsistent farming. The other part will be leased to agro-industrial investors interested in the development of large-scale tree crop such as cacao, coffee, rubber and oil palm as well as annual crops such as maize, sesame, cotton and cassava amongst others. Forestry projects within strict social and environmental guidelines may also be considered,” it said.
The statement quoted Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State to have stated that “The restoration and enhancement of our forests benefits the environment and creates jobs in rural communities. Increasing the pace and scale of restoration of forests is critically needed to address a variety of threats – including fire, climate change, deforestation and others – for the benefit of our ecosystems and forest-dependent communities.