By AUSTINE TSENZUGHU, Yobe –
Nigeria alongside other nations that have borders with Sahara Desert have been charged to utilize their funds and modern technology to halt desert encroachment and reclaim land taken by the desert
A consultant environmentalist, Malam Shehuri Bukar Bulama gave this charge when he spoke with our Northeast Correspondent in Nguru, Yobe State, warning that Sahara Desert is encroaching at alarming speed.
Malam Bukar sai: “if not timely checked, the desert may over-run some countries within 45 years.And at that stage reclaiming the land lost will be a difficult task”.
Bukar who is currently handling an environmental project in Niger Republic, disclosed further, “the risk posed by Sahara Desert is more than the insurgency, banditry, robbery and kidnapping activities being witnessed by most countries in West Africa”.
According to him, “insecurity being witnessed can be stopped by politicians any time they want, but once the desert takes over any land, it will be extremely hard to reclaim it. For it is not a political party problem that can be resolved or person that can be arrested and prosecute. It is a strong natural disaster in the waiting”.
The Sahara Desert, he opined, took more than 100 years to get to the size it is today by claiming at least 50 meters in some areas and more that one kilometer yearly in certain places, rspecially where trees are felled without replacements.
He said: “This practice by humans overtime at such places had caused the dry hot sandy wind to sweep any available shrub which has no deep taproot to be moved without resistance. It also exposes treeless and waterless top soil to the vagaries of nature”.
“Among other challenges caused by desert encroachment or desertification are, lack of human sustainable activities besides hydrocarbon exploration where such exists. Neither human nor normal living things are hardly found as the soil becomes valueless.
Insisting that land reclamation is possible, Bukar recalled, “that when Egyptians dug the Suez Canal or the Nile Canal, technology was not advanced as it is today. But the canal was dug and it is being used to date for agricultural activities, water transportation, industrial and human consumption among other purposes.
The environmentalist, however, believed the with proper utility of funds, appropriate human resources and modern technologies, the encroachment can be stopped and, part of the land taken be reclaimed.
He said: “Natural and desert resistant plants being produced by various agricultural institutions worldwide could be planted to push it back, and its negative effects on humans minimized”.
In his view,a country that can not undertake the project alone, can partner with others for common benefits.
DISCLAIMER
The OPINION / COLUMN is authored by independent contributors to the National Accord Newspaper. While contributors adhere to our editorial guidelines, they are not employed by the National Accord Newspaper. The perspectives and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of the National Accord Newspaper or its staff.
Leave a Reply