FG ready to address desert encroachment – Minister assures

The Minister of Environment, Laurentia Mallam, stated this during a curtsey call on the Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari.
Mallam started a tour of the Great Green Wall (GGW) Project in the state that would take her to Sokoto and Kebbi.
 She said that GGW which is a pan-Africa project encouraged planting of trees as one of the tools of fighting desert encroachment, lamenting that desertification which has affected the state negatively was threatening the lives of people.  
She added that the programme would tackle desert encroachment, enhance the ecosystem and also provide succour to the people by alleviating poverty through jobs creation.
As part of the efforts to curb the menace of desertification, she urged the people to stop cutting trees and, instead, participate in planting trees.
“We know the effects of desertification from the Sahara desert, we must plant trees and stop cutting trees, if we must cut we must replace same,” she said.
Mallam urged the state state to collaborate with the federal government in the fight for sustainable environment by encouraging people to stop the act of cutting trees as a source of energy.    
The governor, in response, said the GGW was an important programme of the federal government aimed at saving the environment.
Yari said: “This is the right time to fight desert encroachment and we will do our best to ensure that the GGW is successful in Zamfara State. We will engage 200 to 300 youths on the issue of tree planting and the maintenance of it, until the final aim is achieved.”
He appreciated the efforts of the government in fighting desertification, calling for the renewal energy stoves to be made available so that the state government can buy and distribute to the people.