SEO Riders:
– Nigeria’s government warns charcoal trade endangers forests and livelihoods in rural and peri‑urban areas.
– Estimated 1.5 million trees lost daily, fueling biodiversity loss, soil degradation and carbon emissions.
– Urgent shift required toward clean cooking options like LPG, biogas and solar to curb forest damage.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has formally sounded the alarm that the country’s charcoal trade is undermining forest sustainability and jeopardizing livelihoods, particularly in rural and peri‑urban communities. During a recent stakeholder dialogue, Dr. Aishetu Ndayako, Permanent Secretary of the Ecological Project Office, reported that Nigeria—Africa’s top charcoal producer—is experiencing widespread deforestation, with an estimated 1.5 million trees felled each day, translating to a deforestation rate of around 3.5% annually. The charcoal sector operates largely informally and unregulated, exacerbating forest degradation without sufficient reinvestment or reforestation.
The environmental and social impacts are severe: loss of biodiversity, worsening droughts, soil erosion, and rising carbon emissions. Despite over 70% of Nigerians depending on biomass for cooking, campaigners at the dialogue emphasized the urgent need to promote clean cooking alternatives—such as LPG, biogas and solar stove adoption—while strengthening forestry governance, aligning biomass-energy and forest policies, and integrating conservation education into the national curriculum. Calls were made for coordinated policy reform, community-based forest management, and mechanisms that provide economic alternatives to charcoal production.
