The major strategy used to control desertification was the planting of shelterbelts. In northern Nigeria, belts were aligned in a northeast, southwest direction to break the most damaging of winds, which occur between April and May at the start of the rai
HWell the project started as Forestry I in 1979 and later Forestry II in 1985 but it was aborted as seedlings survival was very low. Later it became Forestry III. It was established in the frontline states of the north. But this Great Green Wall actually started from Djibouti to Mauritania.
It is a shelter belt of rows of trees planted to break the impact of prevailing winds. But, the lay man understanding of the Green Wall is like a belt without any obstacle but it is not like that. Sometimes, you have a shelter belt and some other times, farmers might resist it and that is what we had in the case of Forestry II and III. Where you don’t have resistance, you have a shelter belt but where you have resistance, you have a wind breaker. Sometimes, you have road sides planting of trees, nursery, orchards and agro-forestry. All these are part of the Great Green Wall.
The initial Forestry II was one of the best projects ever when it comes to forestry projects in Nigeria. The Forestry II is like the Great Green Wall but the major problem we are having is that, have we started? We need to get it right by nursery. We need to have the central nursery and the smaller ones that will be feeding the farmers. Farmers’ participation is very important because they are the contact farmers. Besides, do we have extension workers today? If we don’t have, it can never be a successful project.
So, the Great Green Wall project is still on paper and community participation is key. People should be aware of it and told the benefits. For example, if you look at a single tree, it has multiple uses. A tree provides fodder for animals, oxygen, stores carbon, stabilizes the soil, breaks impact of prevailing wind. All these are the role of the Great Green Wall. It also changes the micro climate of a particular community. So farmers and communities need to be aware of this project. Government needs to be very serious about the Great Green Wall project. Workers are not on the field.
Besides, there is need to start new projects with the establishment of nurseries where the seedlings will be raised and after about a year, the reality of the project will manifest. Now, if you go to the northern part of Nigeria, many people are not aware of the Great Green Wall project.
Why is the project not as successful as it should be?
The issue has been that of implementation. If I were the federal government, nurseries would be established and owned by individuals, communities or local governments. This is because the attention of the federal government might not be fully there. If you involve individuals, they will take the project as their own. So, if there is synergy between the local and federal governments in collaboration with the states, it will go a long way. The major problem is community participation. It is a top-down approach. If you use bottom-up approach, it will fail.
That is why some people are calling for stakeholders’ participation where everybody will be carried along. If that is done, it will go a long way. However, there is need for a central nursery and another that will be feeding the outskirt nursery. Government needs to involve the communities because as long as they not aware of it and the benefits, they will sabotage the entire programme. So, awareness should be enhanced. In the northern part of Nigeria, climate change is a reality. We used to have four to five months of raining season, now we have two months which you have to explain to the people.
We are, but we need to do more because the backbone of Nigeria economy is oil and it emits and has significant effect. As such, Nigeria needs to diversify. Even if we look at mining, it has its effect too. We need to look at other sectors. The Middle-East and Malaysia among others are talking about tourism.
This has minimal effect and it is climate-friendly. Nigeria should key into it, so that it will reduce emission. Look at the recent flooding that occurred, it had to do with climate change.
But you cannot tell a typical Nigerian that it is as a result of climate change. The government is making efforts because it is a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. One day we hope the emission level will reduce at the global level.