New National Forest Policy

The Minister of Environment, Muhammad Mahmood, announced last week that the Federal Government had approved the modification of the 2006 National Forest Policy.

Though it is not clear how much of that policy has been implemented, the move by government to take a closer look at the situation in the country’s forest reserves, its management, and to engage in remedial measures is a welcome development.

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The minister said, “We know that right now, particularly with the issue of climate change, forest is a big part of climate change mitigation. The more forest we have, the more cover we seek.

It means taking emission out of our planet and stabilizing the temperature of the planet and the catastrophic effects of climate change. So, we have revised it and produced a new one.

We believe this will go a long way in generating employment, which is an issue at hand.

Youth and women, who are the vulnerable in the rural areas, usually bear the brunt of this issue of deforestation.

The more we populate our forest with trees, the better for the people, not just in the rural areas, but even the economy.”

As at today, the condition of the country’s forest is very gloomy.

In 2005, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) lamented that Nigeria had the highest deforestation rate in the world.

The report said between 2000 and 2005, the country lost about 55.7 per cent of its primary forest.

These are forests that have attained great age without significant disturbance and thereby exhibit unique ecological features and might be classified as a climax community.

The report added that “Between 1990 and 2000, Nigeria lost an average of 409,700 hectares of forest every year, equal to an average annual deforestation rate of 2.38%.”

This crisis is caused by incessant logging, aggressive timber export, subsistence agriculture, and the collection of wood for fuel, which has remained a perennial problem in spite of government’s efforts to encourage alternatives to the use of firewood for cooking in rural areas.

A glaring consequence of rapid deforestation is the lingering insecurity.

Due to deforestation in the North, herders are compelled to seek pasture and water for cattle in other parts of the country, where competition with farmers for land has led to bloody conflicts.

Climate change, combined with deforestation, is also visible in the shortage of water as Lake Chad, which provided opportunity for herding, farming and fishing in the North-East, has shrunk alarmingly. Even rivers Niger and Benue are drying up.

On the measures being put in place, the minister said, “Currently, we have suspended export of forest products because we do not have enough control under the old policy.

So, we have suspended that. Charcoal exploitation has been banned completely. These are some of the things that are causing degradation of our land. When you lose forest, it’s not just forest that you are losing, you are also losing the land because the land will be eroded.”

We encourage government to ensure that this policy is implemented. In the last few years, there have been reports about foreigners who invaded the country’s forest and, in collaboration with unsuspecting and greedy Nigerians, had engaged in massive logging of wood for export.

This happens in rural communities where local government councils have failed to play their constitutional role of arresting and punishing violators of existing forestry policy.

It is, therefore, important for the Ministry of Environment to engage stakeholders at all levels and educate them on the advantages of implementing the new policy.

There is an urgent need to embark on tree planting in every part of the country. All hands must be on deck.

Also, we call on the ministry to work hand-in-hand with security agencies to rid the country’s existing forest of criminals.

Bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and terrorists have invaded our forest, using the ungoverned space as hideouts for torturing and extorting ransom from victims.

Inasmuch as government is implementing a new policy, it must secure the existing forest from criminals and saboteurs.