Food scarcity and poverty are possible if deforestation continues in Ekiti State without care and action.
This submission was given by traditional rulers at the launch of the Aforestation and Climate Change Initiative, which aims to plant
5,000 trees across Ekiti State’s 16 Local Government Areas.
Nigeria has earned her place as one of the countries with the largest rate of deforestation in the world, having lost 55.7 percent of its forest between the Year 2000-2010.
Global Forest Watch Reports that Forests in Oye Ekiti alone had lost 385 hectares of tree covers in 2020, and this might be the reason Triple Green is starting the planting of 5000 trees across the state from this Local Government, with Traditional Rulers as custodians.
The loss of our natural ecosystem has resulted in diseases such as Ebola, Lassa Fever, and Monkey Pox, to name a few, and traditional rulers say it is time for appropriate orientation as well as tree replacements in the suburbs, despite security risks making it difficult for forest farmers to prosper.