Forestry body decries Nigeria’s unreliable forest statistics

Forestry

President of the Forestry Association of Nigeria, FAN, Professor Labode Popoola has described as worrisome, the unreliable forest statistics in the country, saying the last major forest resources assessment was conducted between 1996 and 1998, through a grant provided by the African Development Bank, AfDB.


He said that the gains of the assessment had been completely lost, as there is nothing to show for the exercise currently, since the data has not been updated since then. According to him, forest cover has remained under pressure as a result of human activities, such as agricultural development, where vast lands are cleared without conservation considerations, large scale peril-urban housing project development and fuel wood generation. Popoola pointed out that was in addition to uncontrolled forest harvesting, including poaching for logs, poles and urbanization. “In Nigeria, forest statistics are appallingly unreliable.

The database established from that assessment was expected to be updated frequently through a forest information system in each of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT with a terminal at the Federal Department of Forestry’’, he stated.

 He said, in most areas, major loses have been recorded in vegetation and forest complexity, disclosing that deforestation rate in the country is about 3.5 percent per year, translating to a loss of 350,000-400,000 ha of forest land annually. Reeling out the data in Lagos state, the forest expert said between 1990 and 2005 alone, the world lost 3.3 percent of its forests while Nigeria lost 21 percent.

 In addition, some state governments are removing the protected area status of forest estates without regard for the environment and laws establishing such estates. The state forestry departments have been unable to curtail the spate of requests to establish large scale oil palm and other plantations in forest estates.

‘’The unfortunate impression that has thus been created is that the forest estate exists as a land bank for other sectors as demands continue to rise nationwide’’, he added. Nigeria, Popoola noted, is blessed with large expanse of land and different vegetations, regretting that this important resource is not sustainably managed.

According to him, Nigeria’s total landmass is 923,678km2 with an estimated population of over 150 million people while its forest area has however been on a continuous decline. Citing example, he said, in 1900, the nation’s area under forest was 971km2 or 0.01 percent and by 1970, there was a remarkable increase. However, available statistics have indicated that some 400,000 hectares of forest is lost annually through shifting cultivation.

It also indicated that rapid creation of states from 12 in 1967 to 37 in 1996, including Abuja with several new state capitals and some semiurban settlements accounted for some forest depletion. Also, heavy demands for constructions and other purposes by wood-based industries encouraged logging, leading to large scale deforestation.