Forestry is important in promoting wildlife eco system – Dr Onoja
Dr. Joseph Onoja, the Director General, Nigerian Conservation Foundation speaks more about the essence of preserving our forest.
What’s the essence of the International Day of the Forest? What does it mean to the survival of the ecosystem?
Yes. The International Day of Forest was established so that we will continue to create awareness about the importance of our forest. This year’s theme is about forest and innovation where all stakeholders find innovative ways, where we can continue to protect our forest and sustainable manage our forest so that it will play its ecosystem role in preserving our lives as humans.
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As I always say, when we protect nature, nature will protect itself. We are protecting nature so that it will play its role in helping to improve our wellbeing and help us live a productive and conducive life on earth. If we don’t have forest here on earth, we are doomed because forest produces a lot of things like food, raw materials and the habitat of the animals that play the ecosystem service.
Forest serve as habitat for birds and birds pollinate, then seeds disperse and so if you don’t have a habitat for them, they will not be available and they will not have food and all these activities that we enjoy. Forest is very important that is why we need to focus on what we have been doing traditional things. What are the innovative things we can bring on board to manage our forest? That’s why this year’s theme is ‘Forest and Innovation: New Solutions for a Better World’.
What are those basic things we can do to sustain our forest?
We have to improve the variety of the local species we have, mature and grow well. They can cover a lot of grounds, so that some of the areas we have degraded can come up in terms of enrichment planting where we can cover more grounds in short time. For instance, in the northern part of the country, how can we regreen this part, the changes in climatic conditions, drought and desertification is increasing, what are the innovative way we can use to improve the eco system to see that we can conserve water and the little rain that fall ?
The places we want to develop, what are the innovation we can bring to integrate nature and development? These are some of the things we have been tasked to think, to bring this innovation to ensure our forest continue to thrive, things go on smoothly and our lives not threatened in anyway.
What are the solutions to deforestation?
Another innovation is to find another alternative source especially in the local areas where there energy sources are from trees. When we talk about deforestation, it doesn’t end at environment, it has effect on health and development especially the women and girl child because the time they would have used to develop themselves, they are using it to scout for firewood. They cook with children at their back, cooking and inhaling this smoke which has health implications also cut down their life span.
By the time we bring in some of these innovative solutions and alternative energy sources like solar cooking stove, solar preservatives and other preservation techniques, it helps us and we are blessed with so much sun that we can convert to all these. In doing this, it also helps to preserve the forest; it helps in improving our lifestyle and health.
What of forest crime and implementation of the laws?
Forest crime like any other crime should be punished. We have laws but the enforcement is the problem. We have some of our partners working with the National Assembly to bring up the forest and wildlife laws. With all these laws, the problem we have is implementation.
There’s need for all the agencies involved in enforcing these laws to be empowered. Some of these crimes go hand in hand with drug consumption, narcotics, human trafficking, wildlife crime, they go together. So, if you interdict one, you are stopping the other.
In our little way, we’re building capacity by bringing all agencies together- NDLEA, Customs, Immigration and the Police. We bring them together so that when you see a crime because of the interaction with other sister agencies, you can easily call them to come and help, if it’s their area of jurisdiction. It may not be in your area of concentration but because of interaction with other sister agencies these things can be taken care of.
What of training?
It’s part of it because when I talked about bringing them together to know sometimes their ability and also identify some of these products that cannot be traded. There are some that can be traded and there are some that cannot be touched. The training helps them to identify these things; that’s why I talked about capacity building. It’s all entrenched into that.
