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In the last few years, I have repeated myself a number of times in this weekly column not because of want of something to write but because of the predictions that I have made bordering on climate catastrophe that are based on simple early warning signs and also on my explorations. Those predictions have come to haunt us in the last decade, because very little has been done to mitigate, slow down or avert immediate catastrophe known as Global Warming and Climate Change.
Therefore, this weekly column is about sharing again and again from research and exploration that I have made in the last 50 years. It was very difficult because those that didn’t believe in me and my repeated exploration thought I was having mental health issues, mainly because global warming, deforestation and climate change were issues that were of distant matter to most Nigerians, and for that reason I created a slogan some decades ago that for every tree you bring down to make way for a building you must plant two or three in replacement. Otherwise, how do we leave the planet Earth a better place than we met it if we must keep destroying those elements that were here before we humans and that were here to provide cleaner living for us?
Deforestation is also a contributor to climate change and global warming, look at our forests today; between independence and now we have depleted the Nigerian forest by 70%. You can tell the effect it is having on our biodiversity, where will the birds perch? Where will the animals live in?
Sometimes, we think animals do not have any importance to us, but they are part of us and they were even here on the planet before us. According to secretariat of UNFCCC (United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change), agriculture is the root cause of 80% of deforestation. Logging accounts for another 14% and cutting of trees for use as wood fuel accounts for 5%. Deforestation is a major cause of desertification, because when trees are removed completely there are neither roots to hold the soil to lessen the impact of hard wind or rain on the soil, causing it to become loose. Desertification is an environmental issue that is more complex and uncertain than most environmental issues. My second expedition across the desert was borne out of the need to focus and bring the world’s attention to the advancement of the world’s largest desert, the Sahara Desert, on the African people. I have documented both expeditions in my book, “ME, MY DESERT AND I”. Where I wrote down a detailed information about the Sahara Desert, the life and survival of the people living in the frontline of the Sahara Desert and the issues of desertification and a call for urgent action.
In a foreward written for my book, “Me, my desert and I,” two decades ago the then Under Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, United Nations, and also the immediate past chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, he wrote, and I quote, “I commend the courage of Jibunoh in twice undertaking a solo desert expedition. I equally commend his efforts in documenting these in his book, thereby creating a global awareness on what could be termed an imminent time bomb.”
Between then and now we have experienced unprecedented migration of life on the frontline of the Sahara Desert all the way from Mauritania, Chad and Niger, crawling into Nigeria with their nomadic lifestyle and animal herds, having difficulties with urbanization in search for greening, resulting in conflicts, sometimes war and unimaginable consequences.
In the same book in question, I wrote in my dedication: “This work is dedicated to the stateless and homeless people of the desert who have lost their land and boundaries to the Sahara Desert and other deserts of the world. They made it possible for me to survive the desert, and I will live the rest of my life for them.”
Now in my mid-80s, I am finding it very difficult to understand why I have not been able to give up this campaign that I started over 50 years ago. During this period, I have been back through the Sahara north-south and south-north. I have also been back with a few Nigerians with a view to passing on the torch to the younger generation. Most of them are now known as Desert Warriors. I established a non-governmental organization called Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE). Afterwards, I participated in a three weeks intensive course on desert flora and research in desert plant characteristics in Ben-Gurion University in Negev, Israel. I have also partnered with Kano State government and Kano Emirate in building a wall of trees to slow down the encroachment of the Sahara in Makoda village, Dambatta local government area of Kano State. The inauguration of the project was attended by the then British High Commissioner to Nigeria and his wife, the then Emir of Kano Alhaji Ado Bayero, the then Governor, His Excellence Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, and many others.
Because of the success of the wall of trees project, a plan was put in place to replicate the project in all the frontline northern states but that never happened. Instead, there was to be a shelter bed commission, but it was dead on arrival. I then became the vice-chairman of Abuja Green Society. I was then invited to Lagos State by the then Governor, His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, to become the Green Ambassador. While in Lagos, I celebrated my 75th birthday by establishing a Garden of 75 Trees, in conjunction with the Lagos State Government. It was at this ceremony the then Governor of Delta State, His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, extended an invitation to me to bring my establishment of carbon footprint to Delta State, which birthed the Nelson Mandela Garden of 95 trees. The garden was established as one of the global monuments to commemorate the legacy of the great African icon, the former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Thousands of visitors and tourists from around the world have visited the garden since its inception. I also celebrated my 85th birthday with planting 85 trees, now known as The Garden of 85 Trees, outside Asaba International Airport.
What I am trying to say here is: have we been able to mitigate against the climate crisis that is likely to befall this country in the coming years? The answer is NO. But my joy has come from an invitation I received a few weeks ago from Engr. Sir (Chief Dr.) Chris C. Chukwurah to celebrate his 70th birthday with planting of 70 trees at St. Patrick’s Collage, Asaba, Delta State, it gives me a great joy to know that people are now believing in me and everything I stand for in life. According to the United Nations, the world needs over 80 billion trees to replenish all the damage that we have inflicted to the ecosystem. It is possible to achieve that if we all decide to develop the culture of tree planting anywhere we can find the place.
