44 Nigerian Tribune _. Mond'7' 6 June, 2011

WEEN deforest­. ation is perpet­

rated, a whole gamut of consequences is precipitated. This ranges from so il infertility to g lobal warming. Depletion of forests increases th e risk of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere with the resultant effect of the reduction of the ozone

_ layer, which leads to global warming. Global warming is said to pose a serious danger to civilisation because of its devastating effects on the ecosystem, on which human existence is dependent.

Also, deforestation changes the quantity of water that percolates into the soil. The effect of this

christened 2011 International Year

is the reduction of evapora tion and evapo­transpiration, the processes that take place from the trees and plants. As a result, the energy from ' the sun is a ble to heat up the earth surface, which increases te mpera tures . Thus, essential nutri e nts required for the fertility of the soil, such as nitrogen, are washed out of the soil with th e soil los ing its fertility. The import of this

Forests. Similarly, the theme of the World Environment Day celebrated yesterday was 'Forests: Nature at your service'. Sulairnon Olaruewaju

lO,Oks at the nation's wasting forests and

efforts to sa ve

is that deforestation can endanger food security.

Forests a re vital to life.

them.

Humans need the oxygen released by green plants during photosynthesis, whi le they a lso require the carbo n dio xide released by humans. It is for this reason the forests are referred to as the earth's lungs. According to experts, forests playa key role in supplying the wa ter for nearl y 50 pe r cent of the world's largest cities and regulate the destructive impact of storms, floods and fires. Products from the forests are also used in diverse ways to make life easy for. man.

Hbwever, the significance of forests appears lost to many people as they are consistently destroyed. A report says that 13 million hectares of forest are destroyed artnually.

It is not in doubt that the need to s top the reckless d est ru ction of the world's forests informed th e decision of the U!1ited Nations (UN) to name the current yea r, 2011; as the Inte rnational Year of Forests. With the theme as Forests for People, the UN came up with four global objectives on forests viz; reverse loss of forest cover, e nhance economic, socia] and environmental benefits; increase area of sus tainably managed fores ts and mobilise increased financial resources. These have been the focus of the campaign to preserve the forests since January.

However, th e United Na tions Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations agency in charge of the en vironment, with responsibility for organising the World Environment Day (WED) celebrated g lobally on June 5, chose Forests: Nature at your service as the them e for this.,.year's WED, marked yesterday as a further .proof of th e co mmitm ent o f the United · Nations to th e preservation o f the forests.

According to a s tate m ent issued by the UNEP, "Conserving fo rests and expanding them need to be recogniseo as a business opportunity. When we add it up, an in ves tm ent of US$30 billion fi g hting deforestation and d egradation could provide a re turn of US$2.5 trillion in new products and services.

" Furthermorer targeted inves tments in forestry co uld generate up to 10 million new jobs around the world . Already, many leaders are g limps ing the

'7--'''potential for renewa ble e n e rgy and na tu re- based assets, but for transformation to happen, fores ts need

., to become a universal political priority.

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"The services forests provide are essentially to every aspect of our quality of life. And the answer to sustainable forest management, moving towards a green economy, lies in our hands."

While commenting on the importance of forests to .human li ves, Dr Aj ibola Aluko, Headquarte rs Director, Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), said, "Forest is of great importance to mankind. From what we wear to what we eat to what we use at home or in the office and the currency that we spend, we have to rely on produce from the forests. We cannot discount the importance of the forests in our daily activities."

Reiterating th e significance of forests to the economy, ·h e said pulp, paper, processed wood, cellophane, plastics, rayon, nylon, tyres, among other items, were all from the forest.

He added tha t 60 per cent of the earth surface was once covered with forest. He, however, noted that with civilization came deforestation which had reduced the world's forest to about 30 per cent.

Aluko said deforestation was a threat to the country's social and economic well-being because a lot of revenue was being lost due to the intentional or unintentional deforestation activities embarked upon by Nigerians. H e added that deforestation was partly responsible for the erosion that had become a very serious challenge to the people of the South-Eastern part of the country.

"When the trees go, you give room to all sorts of problems, especially erosion . The trees hold the water that could have caused erosion. Apart fr om th e physical effects of erosion that we see, another effect is that it deprives the so il of its nutrition. That means we don't get as much y ield as we ought to get from th e soil. When the trees go, you expose the so il to overheating from the sun and this can lead to globa l warming," he said.

He, however, added that th e deforestation experience in Nigerja was not wholly man made as the desert encroachment from the northern part of the country was not really a consequence of human activies but a natural occurrence.

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Speaking on what co uld be done to reduce deforestation in the country, Aluko said there must be a deliberate effort to ensure the preservation of the forests.

According to him, "In some countries, you need the pe rmission of some government agencies for you to cut a tree. Unlike w hat we have in this country where anyone ca n just get up and cut down a tree, before a tree is cut in some countries the government must know about it. The import of this is that in such countries, there is a deliberate effort by the government to protect and preserve the forests. Why will a government do that? Because it knows the importance of · the trees . W e ha ve to make it a deliberate policy of the government to preserve the trees. If we do not ha ve a deliberate policy, anything is possib le and we m ay just wake up one day to realise that the trees are gone."

He added that the govefnment should also insist that whoever cut a tree should plant a rep lacement.

"We know that some organisations depend on trees as their raw materials, so they w ill always need to cut down trees. But such o rgani sat ions are aware that for them to continually ha ve s upply of trees, there must be a replacement m echani sm for trees cut. But ,this will not happen w ithout enforcement. So, the onus is on the government to e n force compliance," Aluko sa id .

But Alhaji Yahaya Raji, a safe environment campaigner, a rgued that the effort at afforestation should not be left to th e government or big organisa tions a lone.

As he put it, "No matter our s tations in life, each of us has a very important role to play in combatting deforestation . Since we know the importance of trees in the environment, we should make it a point of duty to plant trees. We should endeavour to plant trees in our compounds a nd even on ou r s tree ts to stop erosion and to ens u re sufficient s upply of oxygen. Tree planting should not just be an effort in replacing cut trees, but must be a continu o\ls exe rcise targetted at not only beautify ing the environment but a lso putting us on a pedestal to enjoy the best of nature."