The Minister of Environment, Dr Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar, yesterday used the occasion of the 2021 World Desertification and Drought Day, (WDDD), to highlight the severity of desertification in the country, saying that 40 million Nigerians in 15 states are victims.
The Minister, speaking at the WDDD event held at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) in Abuja on Thursday, said: Nigeria is faced with rapid desert encroachment affecting about 15 Northernmost States from severe to moderate rate.
World Desertification and Drought Day is celebrated on June 17 annually to promote public awareness of the challenges of desertification, land degradation and drought, and also highlight methods to tackle these challenges. The theme of the Day was: Restoration. Land. Recovery. We build back better with healthy land.
According to him, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has noted that more than 12 million hectres of land are lost globally to desertification, land degradation and drought each year.
In addition, 24 billion tons of fertile soil is lost globally due to dry land degradation affecting food production and food security, and in spite of all these, it is estimated that 300 million hectres of land will be required to meet the demand for food by the year 2030.
He added that at the regional level, the Nigerian government was supporting the Great Green Wall programme and other initiatives, including the African Initiative to Combat Desertification (AI-CD); African Forest Restoration (AFR100) initiative, the Terr African initiative; the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC); the African Ministerial Council on Environment (AMCEN) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
