Address by
HIS EXCELLENCY OLUSEGUN
OBASANJO
At the Inauguration of the
National Council for the Establishment of Shelterbelt, Afforestation and
Erosion Management
I
am delighted to address you today on this milestone occasion, the climax of our
collective resolve to fight desert encroachment, erosion and deforestation into
our country. This war has become imperative because of
the
worsening plight of millions of our people living in the desert-prone States.
Desertification
impacts adversely on the socio-economic environment of the affected areas. Some
of the consequences of the phenomenon include a decline in agricultural
production; rising incidence of food insecurity; hunger and malnutrition; and
increasing level of poverty. Governments, in the past, have taken many
preventive measures at curbing the menace of desertification and erosion. Such
measures were either not commensurate with the magnitude of the problem or were
not sustained resulting in the spread of desertification.
Since
desertification is a global problem and therefore not confined to Nigeria
alone, concerted efforts were made at the level of the United Nations to
provide a global solution to the problem through collective efforts of the
international community. Some of the international initiatives were the first
World Conference on Desertification in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1977, the Earth
summit in Rio, Brazil, in 1992, and, of course, the emerging Conventions on
Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change.
Although
the UN Convention to Combat Desertification came into force in 1997, the
Nigerian Government established a National Committee on Arid Zone Afforestation
twenty-years earlier in 1977 to address the problem of desertification. Various
other schemes were embarked upon since then to improve the arid zone eco-system
and human livelihood in these areas. In spite of these efforts, desertification
is still very active.
When
this Administration came on stream in 1999, the Federal Ministry of Environment
was established to take charge of the various environmental problems in
Nigeria.
Prominent
among these are problems of deforestation, desertification, pollution, flood,
erosion, and waste management. The Federal Ministry of Environment has since
its creation been in the vanguard on the war against desertification. Further
concerned about the rapid rate of desertification and the attendant loss of
biodiversity and human travails and sufferings in the desertified areas, I
directed the Federal Ministry of Environment in the year 2000 to establish a
green belt stretching from Kebbi State in the North-West to Borno State in the
North- East. This is to cover a distance of about 1,500 kilometers. The
Ministry has already prepared a National Action Plan to combat desertification
in line with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Some nurseries were
also established to raise seedlings towards the take-off of the green belt
project.
In
view of the magnitude of the problem of desertification, it becomes very
necessary for us to commit both human and financial resources in order to
rescue our land and population from the scourge.
In
line with this resolve, a stakeholders forum was held on January 19, 2004,
involving the Governors of the frontline States, relevant Ministers, the
Military, and representatives of the legislative bodies on the way forward in
the establishment of the green belt. The forum Shelterbelt, Afforestation
And
Erosion Management be established under the Chairmanship of the Vice-President,
Atiku Abubakar.
Other
members of the Council are:
(i)
The
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
(ii)
Governors
of the frontline States of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kebbi, Jigawa, Kano,
Katsina, Yobe, Sokoto and Zamfara for Shelterbelt and Afforestation and
Governors of Rivers State, Bayelsa State, Imo State, Ondo State, Lagos State,
Enugu State and Ekiti State for Erosion.
(iii)
Chairman,
Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology
(iv)
Chairman,
House Committee on Environment and Ecology
(v)
Honourable
Minister of Environment
(vi)
Honourable
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
(vii)
Honourable
Minister of Solid Mineral Development
(viii)
Honourable
Minister of Special Duties
(ix)
Honourable
Minister of Water Resources
(x)
Honourable
Minister of Women Affairs and Youth Development
(xi)
Honourable
Minister of State for Finance
(xii)
Dr.
Shettima Mustafa- Chairman, National Tree Nursery Development Programme
(xiii)
Chief
of Army Staff
(xiv)
Chief
of Air Staff
(xv)
Director-General, National Emergency
Management Agency
(xvi)
Director-General, National Orientation Agency
The
Secretariat is to be provided and manned by technical experts in forestry and
desertification control from the Federal Ministry of Envrironment. The
Council
is charged with the responsibility of preparing an Action Plan for shelterbelt
establishment and afforestation of the arid zone, erosion prevention of gully
erosion and coastal erosion, and overseeing the implementation of the
programmes.
I
urge you not to misunderstand the establishment of the green belt as a purely
physical approach against sand movement by embarking only on sand dune fixation
programmes or the establishment of windbreaks and woodlots and other
afforestation scheme. This type of approach will inevitably lead to the
adoption of a restricted framework which will be limited in coping with every
dimension of the phenomenon of desertification.
Shelterbelt
development and management and erosion management and prevention have to be
understood as a holistic, and consensual effort, at promoting sustainable
development in our degraded ecosystem. The Council should develop programmes
that will be packaged with other developmental schemes that will improve skills
and family income, create jobs, provide social amenities, empower the
vulnerable groups especially women, youths, the aged and even the destitute.
More importantly, it should also aim at poverty reduction, in line with
National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), which is the
bedrock of the reform agenda of this administration.
This
is also in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals, which commit the
international community to halving, by the year 2015, the proportion of people
living in absolute poverty as well as the proportion of people suffering from
hunger.
Furthermore,
it is also in consonance with the New Partnership for African Development
(NEPAD), an integrated programme designed to address the current challenges
facing the African continent, including escalating poverty, underdevelopment
and the continued marginalisation of the African continent in the global
divisions of labour and power. The shelterbelt project is closely linked with
NEPAD's priority areas such as environment and agriculture, establishment of
conditions suitable for sustainable de. velopment, promotion of diversification
particularly with respect to agro-allied industries, and facilitating the
implementation of food security and agricultural development in all the African
sub-regions.
Without
prejudice to the Action Plan which the Council would prepare, I expect the
programmes to be comprehensive enough to deal with the threats of
desertification and erosion menace once and for all in our country in order to
promote sustainable economic development. This is because the forestry sector
is a productive one with significant contribution to poverty reduction as well
as food security while land management particularly, soil management is
important for agriculture and human habitation. The sector generates rural
income and employment. We should not lose sight of the fact that our rural
people depend mostly on forests and good soil for obtaining a major share of
their subsistence from products derived therefrom. These products are
especially important in times of crises like drought and crop failure when
nothing else is available.
I
challenge all of us to ensure that the proposed green belt project does not end
up like the previous projects in arid zone development and to ensure that
erosion management, gully or coastal, is sustainable. The guarantee for this is
to ensure a participatory approach in which the rural communities are involved,
moralized, consulted and treated as major stakeholders. This is the only way to
ensure sustainability. There must be genuine social partnership and dialogue
with the rural communities, the civil society and all other stakeholders