Conserving Our Forest Resources

THE problem of biological diversity (Biodiversity) and sustainable development has been a problem over the years which nations of the world have tried to grapple with.

THE continuing exploitation of natural resources and its attendant consequences have given rise to far reaching negative implications for those economies which continue to live with the associated problems and finding solutions to them.

IN Nigeria, the problem is ever endemic despite policy measures which are initiated to stem the tide. While government policy measures are guided and fuelled by economic gains, particularly the removal of subsidies, these have on their own also encouraged the degradation of the environment to the extent that recourse is made to other sources of fuel such as wood as alternative.

INDEED the Koko toxic waste incident in the defunct Bendel State was the catalyst to major efforts in the promulgation of laws banning the dumping of toxic and harmful substances in Nigeria. This resulted in the promulgation by the Federal Military Government of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) Act of 1958.

HOWEVER, since the FEPA Act, the degradation of the environment has been on the up swing with seeming indifference displayed by government in stemming the tide of deforestation and wildlife devastation while lack of adequate protective measures by oil extracting companies have rendered the natural habitat of their host communities unproductive.

THE NIGERIAN OBSERVER wishes to remind the government that in the light of incessant increases in the pump prices and scarcity of petroleum products, cooking fuel or kerosene has gone beyond the reach of the struggling poor in all facets of our national life.
While the urban poor can barely manage to buy the product, the rural poor are left with no option than to resort to felling of trees for cooking and domestic purpose.

IT is a certainty that the purchasing power of the urban poor is also forcing them to search for alternative domestic energy thus resorting to the use of firewood which is now putting pressure on the nation’s forest resources and that of the world at large. Since the inception of the present democratic leadership in the country, there appears to be no effort at a concrete biodiversity policy or a deliberate action plan for sustainable environment and development. Instead what we have had are actions which have the capacity to cause deforestation and desertification. In a situation where the price of kerosene, the most commonly used cooking fuel has gone beyond the reach of the average Nigerian, the nation must begin to get ready for an unprecedented attack on the forests to get wood for cooking.

HENCE it is high time the government begins to work out an action plan to address the problem of environmental degradation and put in place concrete measures as there are various protocols and treaties which have become major action plan in parts of the world.

IT is obvious that in its pursuit of deregulation of the oil sector, the government has lost sight of the efforts to stem deforestation and desert encroachment.

IT is incontrovertible therefore that the issue of sustainable development, that is development that meets the needs and aspiration of the present generation without compromisig the ability to meet those of future generation, is inevitable for proper management of the nation’s natural resources.

THE Italian government, for example, could save $2.2 billion annually and avoid 12.5 million tonnes in carbon emissions by reducing subsidies to electricity, yet has failed to do so out of concern about the reaction of consumers and industralists to any increase in prices, says a World Watch Report.

IT is of necessity therefore that the Federal government should carry out a rejuvenated campaign against environmental degredation by initiating sound policy arrangement that would agitate the departments and agencies already set up in this regard by continuing all means of addressing the problem of environmental degradation in all spheres.

WE believe that one of the best ways to do this is to keep the prices of petroleum products, particularly kerosene, within the reach of the average Nigerian. Deregulation of the down stream sector of the petroleum industry must not endanger Nigeria’s future.

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