By Ruth Oghale Erezih, AFR100 Focal Point, Nigeria
In Nigeria, the government of Yobe state is starting a campaign to help meet the country's AFR100 goal of restoring 4 million hectares. Led by His Excellency the Hon. Mai Mala Buni, the state's governor, this work complements landscape restoration going on in Nigeria's other states with the support of the State Ministry of Environment. Yobe State, where desertification is a major environmental and livelihood challenge driven by climatic variability as well as anthropogenic activities, such as deforestation and high reliance on fuel wood for cooking, has announced that it will plant 3 million trees, starting this past July.
At the same time, the Governor launched the Climate Change Action Plan for the state, a five-year project in which the government is raising and planting 40 million trees across 100,000 hectares. 25,000 farmers and their families will benefit from the program and ensure that they trees that they plant grow strong and healthy. So far, five nurseries have been established and 3 million seedlings raised. At the Nangere nursery (pictured), gum arabic, cashew, neem, and other tree species are all sprouting.
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Photos courtesy of the Hon. Commissioner for Environment, Yobe State.
