The Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources in Kaduna State, Mr Abubakar Buba, says the ministry’s enforcement team will soon begin clamping down on people who are into charcoal business, which is at the detriment of the environment.
Buba said this on Thursday in Kaduna while speaking at the sideline of an occasion organised by the Centre for Water and Environment Development (CWED), in commemoration of the 2024 world water day and International day of forest.
The theme for the International Day of Forest Celebration is: ‘Forests and innovation’, while that of the World Water Day: is ‘Water for Peace’.
The world water day is however celebrated every 22nd of March, where CWED held it together with that of the international day of the forest.
Buba lamented that a lot of people want to make money, especially charcoal entrepreneurs who shy away from the most important of the trees.
He stressed that the Kaduna State Government has given the ministry the go ahead to implement all the forest laws in the state especially those using trees for charcoal to be controlled.
Buba also said the ministry has met with the charcoal association of the state to ensure they stop felling trees, rather than pruning them.
He explained that pruning the trees, which involves cutting down their branches, rather than it whole, would give it a chance to continue surviving and continue to grow.
Buba said, “For us not to say we ban them totally from cutting down the tree, they should prone them.
”Before pruning the trees, they must get approval from us then our forest rangers would go with them to show them how to do it.
“Doing so will ensure our trees sprout back and the vegetation cover is not carried off. Sometimes, the trees even overgrow and need to be prone.”
The commissioner also said that the ministry had organised several workshops for rural and urban women in the state on the use and making of briquettes.
“Two weeks ago, we trained about 250 women on how to make briquettes and gave them the equipment to set up their companies in their various localities,” he said.
According to him, all the efforts would bring down the demand for charcoal, while ensuring that the environment is conducive and protected.
Also speaking, the Director, Sanitation of
the State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), Mr Halliru Usman, said they have ensured keeping to their mandate in the provision of water across the 23 LGAs in the state.
He said, “We have built either solar, motorised or hand pump boreholes across all communities in the whole LGAs in the state.”
Speaking on urban development which has affected water supply within the metropolis, the director said the Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (SURWASH) programme would address water scarcity in the state.
“In two months’ time, the peoples’ sufferings regarding water supply will be gone by God’s Grace,” Usman said.
Delivering a presentation titled ‘forest innovative’, Mr Muhammad Shehu, an Instructor in Teku Farms, said educating people would create awareness about the negative effects of deforestation.
He added that planting more and more trees and using renewable wood resources could be of great help, where eating less meat or turning vegan would protect the forest from livestock ranching.
Shehu urged for the reduction and recycling the use of paper, while calling on the government to have forest-friendly policies where necessary banning the cutting down of forests.
Also presenting a paper titled ‘leveraging water for peace’, the Coordinator of Society for Water and Sanitation (NEWSAN) in Kaduna, Rev. Kuzasuwat Peter, said water scarcity could increase tensions, conflict risk and provide valuable experience of cooperation and peaceful negotiation, leading to long-term peace.
He added that water scarcity itself does not cause conflict, but conflict happens if water scarcity aggravates existing social, cultural, political or economic fault lines.
According to Peter, more than three billion people worldwide depend on water that crosses national borders.
He lamented that, yet, out of 153 countries that share rivers, lakes and aquifers with their neighbours, only 24 countries are reported to have cooperation agreements for all their shared water.
He, therefore, said early and efficient cooperation over water resources could prevent water being a trigger, a weapon or a casualty in times of armed conflicts.
Earlier, the Programme Officer of CWED, Mrs Lydia Saleh, said the objective of the occasion was to strengthen community and institution knowledge on the evolving technology in forest management.
It also focused on how water could be leveraged for peace in the various communities and the nations at large.
She restated CWED’s commitment to sustainable development and effective water and environmental resource management in both rural and urban areas.
NAN
