Nigeria Loses 600,000 Hectares Of Forest Yearly —NEWMAP - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Publisher (F.BA)
July 8, 2019
Nigeria loses between 450,000 and 600,000 hectaresof forest to deforestation annually to rank among the countries with thehighest rate of deforestation in the world.
The National Coordinator, Nigeria Erosion andWatershed Management Project, Salisu Dahiru said this in Benin, whiledelivering the 10th Environmental Outreach Magazine public lecture titled,‘Managing land degradation in Nigeria; the challenges, action and remediation.’
According to Dahiru, 24 billion tons of fertile soilis lost every year globally, while 7.3 million of hectares of forest are lostyearly globally.
He identified population pressure, deforestation,bush burning, over grazing, agricultural depletion of soil nutrients throughpoor farming, inappropriate irrigation and indiscriminate mining as some of thecauses of land degradation in Nigeria.
While saying that NEWMAP had succeeded in reclaimingsome of the land lost to degradation, he noted that inconsistency in policies,inadequate budgetary allocation and unhealthy rivalry between environmental agencieswere affecting management of degradation and deforestation in the country.