GGW flags off tree-planting campaign to halt desertification in Yobe
The National Agency of the Great Green Wall (GGW) has flagged off the 2024 tree-planting campaign to halt and reduce desertification and environmental degradation in Yobe State.
According to the agency, ten communities have been targeted in the local council areas of Damaturu, Geidam, Yusufari, Yunusari, Karasuwa, Nangere, and Machina.
Launching the tree-seedlings campaign in Damaturu, the Director General of GGW, Saleh
Abubakar disclosed: “Today’s event was to flag off the annual tree planting to avert desertification from further spreading to other local government areas in the state.”
“We’re targeting ten desert-affected communities in some selected local government areas in the northern part of Yobe.
Abubakar, represented by Aminu Isa, the Kano Director of Operations, said that the 19 northern states have already been affected by desertification that spreads southward at 600 meters each year.
According to him, the desertification-affected communities comprise Karasuwa, Damaturu, Jakusko, Kallalawa, Magiya, and the Dogona Forest Reserve (DFR).
He, therefore, urged members of the affected communities to nurture the planted tree seedlings to maturity by providing wind brakes across the desert.
Besides, he added that the sustenance of tree planting in the northern part of the state could also halt soil erosion and other environmental degradation in the affected communities.
Continued: “The value of planting the trees is to mitigate climate change that has affected agricultural and livestock production in the northern states of the country.”
The Deputy Director of Resource Mobilisation, Habiba Tumsah, warned against community tree felling and bush burning as the illegal activities fuel climate change and environmental degradation in the North.
The agency’s director, Habiba Tumsah, described cutting trees as a major threat to many environments.
She said that the communities should take ownership of all the trees planted by nurturing them to become their green shelter belts against desertification and other environmental degradation.
The agency had recently sensitised secondary school students in Yobe State to ensure that each of them plants trees annually and continues to nurture the planted trees.
