Desertification: Nigeria To Reclaim 22,000km Of Degraded Land

A target aimed at renovating about 22,000 km square of degraded land and improve livelihood of over 20 million Nigerians in the year 2030 has been set by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Minister of Environment, Alhaji Mohammed Abdullahi, made this known in Abuja during a capacity training workshop on Opportunity Mapping for Improved Decision Making and Monitoring of Great Green Wall (GGW) Projects.

The programme, which was designed to improve international best practices for Ecosystem-Based Disaster Risk Reduction (ECO DRR), was organised by the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The minister said that the programme focuses on 11 states most affected by desertification, adding that the states constitute about 35 per cent of the country’s total land area.

“The NAGGW has already engaged in baseline studies and Environmental Impact Assessments; community mobilisation, and awareness campaign; afforestation and land management; promotion of alternative livelihood, rural infrastructure, and employment generation”

He explained that the ongoing programme includes ecological restoration and rehabilitation to enhance livelihood of the affected communities and strengthen their resilience to climate change.

“The programme also involves promotion of climate-smart agricultural practices to enhance food security and climate change adaptation; improvement of critical rural infrastructure for enhanced socioeconomic development, among other environmentally-friendly practices”,he said.

He said the programme is “to boost agricultural production and to improve the livelihoods of about 20 million people by 2030”

He said the agency has restored degraded lands by establishing 389.46 km of shelterbelt, 264.7 hectares of woodlots and 250.5 hectares of community orchards.

Director General of the Great Green Wall,Dr.Yusuf Maina-Bukar said that the agency`s objectives include  curtailing the menace of desertification and land degradation which is a major threat to Nigeria’s drylands and the Sub Sahelian region in Africa.

“The NAGGW has also trained about 500 farmers on farm natural regeneration projects and many more activities that impact the lives of those communities,’’ he said.

He explained that the agency intends to combat land degradation and desertification effectively to protect and restore ecosystems, adding that the effort was to reduce poverty and enhance food security.

He identified some of the challenges faced by the agency as insecurity, vandalism of field investments, poor community participation, lack of financial support from states and weak institutional capacity at all levels.