Desertification In Nigeria and Its Impact On Climate Change.

Desertification means depletion of terrestrial ecosystems under the influence of harsh weather conditions and human activities. Its also known as land degradation, especially in arid, semi-arid and subhumid ecosystems.

This problem has debilitating economic and environmental consequences, impacting over 70 million Nigerians, 75 million hectares of land and 1.4 billion people worldwide, out of which over 70 percent   are poor population.

Causes of Desertification in Nigeria

Desert encroachment in Nigeria is generally associated with human activities such as tree cutting, bush burning, and adverse climatic conditions. Deforestation is the primary cause of desertification in Nigeria. This is because firewood have become a reliable source of fuel for the local populations who do not understand the consequences of their actions.

Deforestation and Climate Change

Deforestation is a main contributor to global warming and the second source of anthropogenic emissions after fossil fuel combustion. Although, its emissions are somewhat indirect, it accounts for 10-20 per cent of carbon emissions globally. 

Natural forests provide ecological functions through watershed protection, hydrological stabilization, and carbon sequestration, including food and medicinal plants. It also regulates global warming, acting as an important means of carbon exchange in the atmosphere.

Deforestation is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the whole aviation and automobiles industry combined. Forests store over a trillion tons of carbon emissions worldwide, that's more than 40 per cent of all human induced emissions in the pre-industrial era.

The growing level of deforestation in Nigeria is due to the uncoordinated land use policy and agriculture, urbanization, and industrialization, triggered by activities in the oil and gas industry, contributing to the overwhelming trend in the country. To avert this, Nigeria would require to plant over 350 million trees annually.

Consequences Of Desertification In Nigeria

Over the past 30 years, a gradual and consistent encroachment arising from high activities of dry sand and shrinking of open water resources were observed in northern Nigeria. The country lost over 90 per cent of its total forest cover, that is 10 million hectares or 10 per cent of its total land area and has the largest desertification rate in the world, approximately at 3.5 per cent, which is between 350,000 and 400,000 hectares annually, with a significant loss of billion of dollars. ($5.1billion)

The Sahara Desert from Northern Nigeria advances at 0.6 km per annum to the south. This threatens about 75 million hectares of land in the Northern Nigeria and increases the frequencies of coastal flood and storm surge in the country, taking over 30–40 metres of land annually. The rainy season in the north also dropped to 120 days from an average of 150 days over the last 30 years, reducing food production in the region by 20 percent. This portends grave danger to food security in Nigeria and, by extent, the sub-Saharan Africa.

Nigeria is not the only country affected by desert encroachment and desertification, this trend has become a global issue that affect many countries in the world, especially Africa, America, and the Middle East.

To Arrest Desertification and Deforestation in Nigeria:

(1). Governments need to enact protective laws and provide ambitious policies for biodiversity conservation that are based on latest climatic observations. These policies should be centred on sustainable forest management and national development. It is also essential to provide incentives to states that protect their forests resources and prioritise investment in regions with little or non-existent deforestation.

(2). Community sensitisation on combating the negative effects of climate change and the impacts of global warming, highlighting the impacts in their localities or by extension, the larger part of Nigeria. 

(3). Engage in mass tree planting campaigns to recover the lost arable land and to limit the extent of deforestation in the country. However, such massive projects are impossible to achieve without the support of local communities.