Restoring Nigeria’s Lost Ecosystem

Ugo Aliogo writes that Nigeria, in line with the United Nations decree of ecosystem restoration, which spans 2021-2030, should Nigeria be committed to restoring her lost ecosystem

The basic component of an ecosystem is the living things (biotic) and edaphic (non-living) factors. Examples of biotic elements are wildlife species or generally fauna and flora. Whether (micro or macro). The edaphic elements include the soil, temperature, light, air, and others. An ecosystem is an integrated zone of different size comprising vegetation fauna, microbes, and the environment. Different ecosystems possess well-defined soil, climate, flora, fauna and they have the ability for adaptation, change, and tolerance. Examples of ecosystems in Nigeria include the Rainforest ecosystem (forest)-Tropical and Temperate, the Savannah ecosystem (desert), and the Marine ecosystem.

For human survival, healthy terrestrial ecosystems provide essential products (tangible) and services (intangible) benefits. Over 90% of foods are obtained from terrestrial ecosystems. Energy, building materials, clothes, medicines, fresh and clean water, and clean air are benefits from sustainable terrestrial ecosystems.

Decade on Ecosystem

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, (IUCN), the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) challenges everyone to massively scale up restoration efforts that breathe new life into our degraded ecosystems.

The IUCN contends that ecosystem restoration manifests through actions as varied as new mangroves, grass or other plantings, natural or assisted regeneration, agroforestry, soil enhancement measures, or improved and sustainable management to accommodate a mosaic of land, aquatic, or marine uses.

It added that: “Any degraded ecosystem including agricultural areas, savannah, wetlands, protected wildlife reserves, fisheries, managed plantations, riversides, coastal areas, and many others may offer opportunities for improvement through restoration. Ecosystem restoration could focus on re-establishing ecological integrity on a hillside or a seagrass bed to the large-scale landscape restoration of a plateau or mountain range.

“There are already millions of hectares of terrestrial and marine ecosystems under restoration across the globe, supported by efforts like the Global Mangrove Alliance and the Bonn Challenge, with contributing regional initiatives such as AFR100 and Initiative 20×20. The Decade will reinforce these and other restoration endeavours through improved access to financing, capacity building, and renewed drive for implementation.”

Mangrove Ecosystem

The mangrove not only cultivates sea life such as shellfish but also acts as a protective barrier between the land and sea. Experts argue that reforestation is very important in order to protect the ecosystem. They contend that mangroves are essentially aimed at preventing soil erosion, holding back rising sea levels and marine ecosystems. But in the last 25years, Africa has lost nearly 500 hectares of its mangroves due to drought, deforestation, and construction.

The latest landmark report by Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change, (IPCC) revealed that humanity’s damaging impact on the climate is a treatment of fact and stated that a rise in sea levels is approaching 2 meters by the end of this century.

The United Nation noted that its decade on ecosystem restoration provides a unique opportunity to transform food, fiber, and feed production systems to meet the needs of the 21st century, and eradicate poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. Revive ecosystem and other natural solutions could contribute over one-third of the total climate mitigation needed by 2030.

Restoration can also curb the risk of mass species extinctions and feature pandemics.

Agroforestry alone can improve food security for 1.3 billion people. The restoration of forest landscapes, farming, livestock, and fish-producing ecosystem should primarily contribute to restoring them to a healthy and stable state so that they are able to provide ecosystems services and support human needs for sustainable production and livelihoods.

Around the world one-third of the farmland is degraded, and about 87 percent of inland and wetlands worldwide have disappeared since 1700. One-third of commercial fish species are overexploited. Degradation is already affecting over an estimated 3.2 billion people that is 40 percent of the world’s population. Every single year, we lose ecosystem services worth more than 10 percent of our global economic output. If we can manage to reserve this trend, scientists say massive gains await us.

To shed more light on the restoration of the ecosystem, THISDAY spoke to the Technical Director Programmes, Nigeria Conservation Fund (NCF), Dr. Joseph Onoja, who said one of the major factors responsible for the loss of the ecosystem in Nigeria is lack of planning and because of that, the land use is just half haphazard.

He hinted that there are some areas that are supposed to be designated as reserved, residential, industrial, and green areas, noting that even in those areas there is should be spaces for the green vegetation.

“In Lagos State, I am aware that 25% of the arable land should be spaces for green. But when you visit estates these days everywhere is occupied. So the lack of enforcement of relevant laws is an issue affecting the loss of ecosystem,” he said

He also stated that the mangrove ecosystem is very important and it is known as the green infrastructure of the coastline, adding that overtime that green infrastructure has been replaced with brown infrastructure because it has been destroyed and the consequence is only imagined, “which is what we are suffering in the coastline of Lagos.”

He further explained that the green infrastructure which is supposed to break the current of the ocean so that it prevents the coastline from being eroded has been removed, and that is why there is a lot of erosion that is happening.

According to him, “Apart from that the fact, the mangrove ecosystem provides the spurning ground for the different aquatic species especially fishes and if they are removed, the fish stock will be reduced as well because they will not find a good place to spurn. The mangrove ecosystem also provides a habitat for other species such as fowl and others, so if it is not there, it will cause a consequential effect on another biodiversity. So it is very important that we maintain our mangrove ecosystem.

“To achieve ecosystem restoration, everyone must be aware of the importance of the ecosystem. We remember that the ecosystem has been put there for our own survival because we are part of it and it is supposed to play its part. So if it is supposed to play its part and it is not playing its role, it will affect us negatively. So if we are aware of the importance, it will help us to start putting our efforts as individuals, corporate organisations, and government so we will be able to achieve ecosystem restoration. When we achieve ecosystem restoration, we will be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and it talks about human survival and wellbeing.”

Reclaiming the Ecosystem

As apart of measures by the Lagos State Government to reclaim the ecosystem, the State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, disclosed the commitment of the administration to embark on a four-year redevelopment plan with massive tree planting, along Lagos-Epe and Badagry Expressway, aimed at ensuring a resilient and sustainable environment in the state.

He also stated that Lagos had witnessed tremendous social and economic development which had also brought negative impacts on the environment.

According to him, “These negative impacts have chopped down the forest, plowed the grasslands, slaughtered wildlife, filled in wetlands and polluted air and water. The causes of degradation are many and can have an impact at different scales. However, these impacts have pushed the ecosystem to the breaking point.

“Ecosystem can be restored by growing of diverse crops, including trees. These steps can rebuild carbon stores in soils, making them more fertile so the growing population can be fed. Restoring ecosystem large and small protects and improves the livelihood of people who depends on them. It also helps to regulate disease and reduce the risk of natural disasters.

“Restoration can help us achieve all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Hence, the reason why the state government, under the present administration will soon embark on the four-year redevelopment plan of Lagos Epe Expressway, commencing from Abraham Adesanya to Epe with the restoration of greenery to enhance sir quality of the environment and also serve as relaxation centers. For expansion, in the future, we will be moving to Badagry axis as part of ensuring sustainable environment across the state. There is the need to respond to the call for action that will last a decade in restoring our ecosystem and joining the rest of the world to combat the unsustainable consumption of natural resources.”

Also lending a voice of the issue, the State Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, opined that the state government has planted close to 8 million trees in Lagos which is an indication of how active the state has been in terms of combating the effects of climate change, “so we have been at the forefront.”

“There is a law in the past administration, but we have resumed now and we have taken the front seat, and we are recognised by the UN and several Africa countries in this regard,” he said.

He expressed confidence that the administration is ready to propagate the message of climate change as a way of combating its effects, adding that they are doing mitigation and adaption method, “and there are several processes in which we do that.”

He added that there is the issue of combating the effects of the Atlantic Ocean through the protection of the seashores and monitoring the coastal areas.

On his part, Onoja expressed confidence that the ecosystem can be reclaimed as long as humans are willing to pay the price, pointing out that though the ecosystem has already been tampered with it, therefore efforts must be made to build it back.

He argued that building back the ecosystem would be difficult, noting that it would take a lot of courage and strength of character to make that happen because “once you allow that the environment to develop, it strives on its own.”

“But now that it has been tampered with, we must make conscious efforts to build it back. For instance, we must walk our talk to ensure that we re-green the desert to be able to re-green the lost land,” he added.

Continuing, Bello said: “You know Lagos was not blessed with many lands. Lagos has the smallest landmass less than 20,000 square kilometers. The forest we have in Lagos is at the Epe, Ikorodu, and Badagry axis. In these forests, there are a lot of wetlands, so you have to preserve the wetlands first. Wetlands are swampy areas where the water passes through. For instance, River Ogun comes from Isheri, it goes through Opic Estate and then passes through behind Magodo, Mile 12, and other areas. Those are the wetlands. The River Ogun splits into several areas. So you must separate those wetlands and preserve them because it helps to combat floods. So what we are doing to reclaim the lost natural habitat is to control the population because Lagos is overcrowded and people are trooping in due to the affluence in the state.

“We are facing a lot of urban pressures from people encroaching into the State and you cannot stop them from entering to the state. We are trying to balance things and see how we can limit people from encroaching on some of these lands. So that is a challenge for us. For a state that has no control over the Police and security, it is a challenge to curtail the encroachment. So to prevent encroachment, you must have effective control over the security formation in the state.

“Under my watch, we have tried to carry out certain measures to control deforestation through close monitoring to prevent encroachment of our forest vegetation. We stopped people in Badagry and Ikorodu, through the efforts of the Ecology and Conservation department. We still need those green areas and wetlands because of their positive contribution to the atmosphere.”

Between Deforestation and Climate Change

The NCF director argued that there is a nexus between deforestation and climate change, stating that the availability of trees helps in absolving CO2 and other combustion activities from the atmosphere.

He also noted that CO2 has been identified as one of the things that caused climate and the heating of the atmosphere, “if trees are not there to absolve this excess CO2, then they are there in the environment and because we have cut down the trees, there are no trees to absolve it, and it becomes a major problem for us.”

Continuing, he stated: “Drought is not only a problem in Africa and Nigeria. At the moment, what we are experiencing is extremes in weather conditions and that is the effects of climate change.

In other places, they have extreme flooding, while in African and Nigeria, we have drought taking place; the dry places will become drier, while the wet places will become very wet, and that is the effect of climate change, unpredictability. This is what is happening to us and that is what will continue to happen until we are able to intervene. Like I said, we must have that will to do it.”

Curbing Bush Meat Trade

According to a report by Wild Aid, 75 percent of all emerging infectious diseases in the last decade have originated in animals, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Outbreaks of Ebola, HIV and SARS have been linked to the wild or bushmeat trade, with COVID-19 also potentially spread through this activity and causing tremendous health and economic impacts.

The report argued that Nigeria has flourishing bushmeat markets in major cities selling both legal and illegal bushmeat. This trade remains largely unregulated. The process of trapping and transporting wild animals (sometimes live) in stressful and unhygienic conditions where they come into contact with people and domesticated animals greatly increases the risks of new disease introduction and transmission.

The report posited that wildlife in Nigeria faces a number of threats from poaching for body parts and meat to habitat loss from deforestation, infrastructure development, and agricultural expansion. Populations of lions (50), elephants (169-463), gorillas (100), and chimpanzees (1,400-2,300) in Nigeria have dramatically declined and some species, such as pangolins, are either endangered or on the brink of extinction. Other declining species, including crocodiles and antelope species like duikers, are widely found in bushmeat markets across the country.

The report explained that the bushmeat supply chain varies and largely depends on the species involved. The supply chain starts with primary suppliers such as hunters who typically capture the grasscutter from the wild to sell to local middlemen/wholesalers or directly to bush meat traders, who in turn sell to end consumers comprising individuals and restaurant operators.

The report said that with pangolins considered the world’s most trafficked mammal, bushmeat traders say they receive live pangolins from hunters in neighboring towns and villages, which lie close to forest habitats.

It further explained that in most cases, the hunters sell directly to market traders who then display them in the market for onward purchase from individuals and Chinese expatriates.