Conserve 10%
A Campaign to Protect 10% of Indigenous Forest Lands at a State Level
Climate change as an effect multiplier, along with anthropogenic activities including tree logging for household and commercial use has exacerbated deforestation and desert encroachment in Kano state of Nigeria. Today, many of the previously protected forest reserves have been occupied by locals, turned into industrial/economic zones, or sold off to private owners. Management of forest reserves is very low, with crimes and insecurity turning some regions into risk/danger zones.
With these challenges and a lack of financial resources for the government to effectively reinforce state forestry laws, deforestation has become an increasing threat to Kano state.
Already, North-Eastern and North-Western states like Sokoto and Katsina have lost up to 90% of their tree covers and have witnessed violent conflicts that have led to forced migration and destruction of lives and properties.
Addressing deforestation and land degradation is vital to achieving the goal of food security, responsible consumption and production, climate action and life on land to which all Member States of the United Nations have committed themselves.
The Conserve10 policy advocacy seeks to conserve 10% of Kano state’s forest land and further promote sustainable forest management which will address forest degradation while increasing direct benefits to the people, the environment and the state. Given the socio-economic and political landscape of Kano State, conserving 10% of its forest land will ensure that state lands are protected from land grabbing, illegal logging is restricted, biodiversity and wildlife are protected and environmental health and public health, in general, is ensured.
Policy Demands
Pass a bill into law that conserves 10% of Kano state’s forest land and related land mass. This measure will ensure conservation efforts are locked in with climate change adaptation and resilience plans, including protecting both trees, biodiversity and endangered plant and animal species.
Re-assess existing forest reserves to implement accountability measures that ensure those areas are not encroached with social and economic activities, while creating new forest reserves to protect virgin forests, newly discovered forests or biodiversity-rich areas that were not part of previously protected areas.
Create a forestry commission comprising a task force that will serve as vanguard for forestry institutions and related agencies in the state. This commission will actively assess risks and opportunities associated with forest lands and forest resources, provide interventions and recommendations on how to effectively govern and manage forest lands, forest reserves and related resources alongside forest communities.
Why 10%?
Because it is not too much and not too little, and represents the right amount of demand with potential to scale at state level. After many impact assessments, we settled with an approach that is most realistic with Nigeria’s political and governance landscape.
What would it mean to conserve 10% of A State’s Forest Land?
In numbers, it means protecting around 150,000 hectares on average in smaller states in Nigeria and about up to 7,089,800 hectares in large states. In Kano, the policy will conserve approximately 201,300 hectares of land. At a national scale, it is equivalent to conserving 92,376,800 hectares of land, if scaled across the country.
On a people scale, this will protect thousands of forest communities from land grabbing by public and government entities, greatly reduce the scale of illegal logging or other illegal practices in forest commodities, and provide measurable security to millions of people that depend on forest for its resources.
At the development and economic level, it allows forest communities to leverage on forest commodities for social and economic activities. It gives people the right to govern their own resources without intrusion of external parties, and opens up opportunities for knowledge sharing and capacity building.
At a national scale, this campaign will conserve 10% of Nigeria’s total forest lands which amounts to 92,376,800, protecting thousands of indigenous people residing in forest communities, millions of trees and biodiversity of forest ecosystems.