| Africa is world’s second fastest loser of forests | ||||
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John Peacock, manager of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) - Leventis Foundation Project said reforestation and education on the benefits of conservation would help stop and reclaim Africa’s lost forest and biodiversity, if necessary authorities could respond to its safety. Mr. Peacock who spoke during the 2010 Open Day held last week added that conservation of Africa’s forest offers great benefits preserving Africa’s surviving tropical forests and that planting new trees to replace those lost to deforestation could help reduce the severity of climate change. The 2010 Open Day was marked with the planting of indigenous trees by IITA staff in Ibadan to help mitigate the effects of climate change and losses in biodiversity. Nigeria’s loss According to the group, the tree planting came at a time when deforestation rate in Nigeria has reached a disturbing rate of 3.5% per year, translating to a loss of350,000-400,000 hectares of forest per year. In 1976,Nigeria had 23 million hectares of forest but today only 9.6 million hectares remain, less than 10% of Nigeria’s total land area.Mr. Peacock added that planting trees is part of a new initiative to restore rainforests in Nigeria. IITA is also contributing to the important UN-REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) initiative in Nigeria. Through the IITA-Leventis Project, the team, particularly Olukunle Olasupo and Deni Bown, have raised over 15,000 seedlings of 33 different species since February 2010 in preparation for planting next year.“We would like every family, represented by staff members in IITA, to plant an indigenous tree next year as part of IITA’s activities to increase the forest area,” Mr. Peacock said. Earlier this year, IITA and partners made effort to raise awareness of the need to preserve biodiversity-a term that describes the variety of living organisms-especially in forests that are increasingly lost or threatened. Statistics indicate that Nigeria’s Milicia excelsa (iroko) has become endangered, with about $100 million worth of Iroko timber illegally poached from remaining forests last year. “The unfortunate thing is that these very valuable trees are not being replaced,” he said. (By Emmanuel Ogala) Source: next
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Indigenous forests in Africa are being cut down at an ‘alarming’ rate of about 3.4 million hectares per year, making the continent the region with the second highest net annual loss of forests in 2000-2010, United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said.
