Forests

P R E S E N T E : R
S O L A A J A, Dr. Y I
sc. agr.
Climate Change Research Group 1
Obafemi Awolowo University
Ile-Ife
1
S u p p o r t e d b y t hH e i n i r c hB ö l lF o u n d a t i o n , L a g o s

Presentation Outline
• The Country at a Glance
• Forests: Types & Resources
• Forest Management in Nigeria: Institutions, Threats, Dynamic s
• How REDD came to be
• Weaknesses in Dealing with Climate Change
• Climate Change Opportunities
• Road Map for REDD Process
• Conclusion

The Country at a glance
Nigeria has a total land area of 923,770Km 2 , administratively
structured into 36 states plus a Federal Capital Territory.
Distribution of the 140 million people has far reaching
implications for the utilization of forest resources.
Nigeria is a physically and cl imatically diverse country that is
endowed with substantial natural resources. It encompasses
three major ecological regions, a humid forest region, a subhumid
region with highland, and a semi-arid region.
There are nine distinct ecolog ical zones which can be
streamlined into five, namely (i) sahel/sudan savanna,
(ii) guinea savanna, (iii) derived savanna, (iv) lowland
rainforest/montane forest and (v) freshwater swamp
forest/mangrove forest and coa stal vegetation.

Political Map of Nigeria

Source: FORMECU

AGRO-ECOLOGICAL MAP

FOREST TYPES
Nigeria has six main types of natural forestland:
‣ lowland rainforest
‣ freshwater swamp forest
‣ savanna woodlands
‣ riparian forests
‣ mangrove forests, and
‣ montane forests.

Estimates of Natural Forest Co ver in Southern Nigeria
Estimated Area
(ha )
Lowland forest 1,700,147 20.7
Freshwater swamp forest 1,611,360 4.9
% in Forest
Re serves
Savanna woodland 392,321 2.3
Riparian woodland 84,355 0.1
Mangrove forest 5,314 --
Montane forest 3,847 --
Total 3,797,344 28.0
Source: ARD (2002) Nigeria Environmental Analysis

FOREST RESOURCES
Forests (forest land, mangrove, forest plantation)
cover about 14 million ha (16% of total land area) out
of which only 2% is classified productive forest.
Bulk of Nigeria’s 7.95 million ha forest land is
situated in the savanna zone w here there are only few
commercial timber species. ~70% of the natural forest is
open tree savanna, with the re maining 30% closed forest.
The closed forest includes man grove and coastal forest
(22%), fresh water swamp (38%) and lowland wet forest
(40%).

FOREST RESOURCES
The latter type (also called ‘high forest’) is divided into
lowland rainforest in the sout h and mixed deciduous
forest to the north. These forest types, cover only about
2% of the total land area.
Nigeria currently has less than 10% of her total land area
under constituted Forest Reser ves.
Undisturbed forest covers only 12,114 km 2 , that is about
1.3% of the Country’s total land area.
The yield from the forest estates has been projected to be
8,273 m 3 in year 2000 and this figure is expected to
decline with time

FOREST RESOURCES
The Country has eight National Parks that are well
endowed with diverse flora and fauna resources,
some of which are endemic to Nigeria.
The Parks are Cross River, Gas haka-Gumti, Kamuku
and Kainji Lake National Parks . Others are Okomu,
Old Oyo and Yankari National Parks.
The Forests of Nigeria contrib ute substantially to the
National GDP and sustenance of the livelihood of the
people. The Forest also provid es critical environmental
and ecological services.

Forest Management in Nigeria
Forestry is administered in th e country at the three tiers
of government, i.e. Federal, State and the LG As.
Federal Level
Ministry of Environment: 7 Technical Depts. & 2 Paras tatals
Department of Forestry (FDF): Three Divisions
‣ Division of Forest Management: Forest
Reserve Managemnt, fire preven tion and control, pest and
disease monitoring.
FDF
‣ formulates National Forest Pol icy
‣ support execution of federally-funded projects
‣ advises State Forestry Departments (SFDs)
‣ relates with International Dev’t Agencies

Forest Management in Nigeria
Forestry Research Institute: F orest Research and Inventory
National Park Services: Planning & Mgt. of National Parks
National Council on the Environment
Forum consultation and harmonization of environmental
management throughout the Federation
Comprises Commissioners of Env. in all 36 states and SSGs
Officially, NCE roles are to
‣ advise Presidency on environme ntal matters
‣ assist in developing sound environmental policies

Forest Management in Nigeria
State Level
State Forestry Department (SFDs):
Majority still under MANR
Manage Timber and Wildlife res ources
oversees collection of revenue from the Forestry sector.
Structure depends on requireme nts of state and
ecological peculiarities e.g. log harvesting in the south
and tree establishment for fue lwood, environmental
protection and livestock produ ction in the North.

Forest Management in Nigeria
Local Government Level
Roles vary from North to South
In the South, LGS have no resp onsibility for managing
forest resources but could sha re in revenue generated
by SFDs.
In the North functions could include forest reserves.
Roles stipulated for LGs in the current National Forest Policy
include
establishment of woodlots to protect watersheds and river
courses
protection of forests and farm trees in arable land against illegal
felling
protection of wild life against poaching

Major T hreats to Forest Res our ces
Habitat degradation
Unsustainable uses (illegal logging and harvesting of NWFPs )
Institutional and Management threats
lack of reliable data on which to base forestry
planning and development
The overexploitation of primary forest gives w ay to
agricultural l and and forest d erivatives w ith species
that are of l esser economic value and i mportance for
bi odiversity conservation.

Challenges to Forest Managemen t
Inconsistent institutional framework
1975- Ministry of Economic Development
1979- Ministry of Works & Housing
1988- FEPA
1999- Ministry of Environment
2009-
Lack of integrated policy framework both at the
federal level of policy development, and at the state
and local government agency level of policy
iimplementation.
Lack of inter-sectoral coordination
Inadequate funding - at all levels
Shortage of competent manpower

Dynamics of Forest Resource
Forest area declined during the 1990s at an estimated
annual rate of 2.6% (or 398,000 hectares per year) (FAO
2005), due to agricultural expansion, encroachment, over -
harvesting, bush burning, ille gal harvesting and dereservations
The Federal Department of Forestry in 2001 estimated the
the annual depletion rate to b e about 3.5%.
Nigeria’s forest estate is hig hly depleted + Desert
encroachment southward at >1 k m /year rate

Changes in Nigerian Vegetation Type, 1976 -1995
Vegetation Type Decrease in Area (km 2 )
1. Undisturbed Forest 13,837
2. Disturbed Forest 4,417
3. Riparian Forest 2,147
4. Mangrove Forest 9,994
5. Freshwater Swamp Forest 1,817
6. Mountain Forest No change
7. Savanna Woodland -102,093
Source: First National Biodiversity Report, 2006

How REDD came to be
Under Kyoto Protocol, climate change was largely
attributed to anthropogenic ca uses like burning of
fossil fuel especially in industrial activities and
transportation
Coalition of Rainforest Nations, led by Papau New
Guinea, Costa Rica and some NGOs, pressed for the
inclusion of forestry on the climate change agenda at
the 11 th COP Meeting in Montreal in 2005
Approx. 20% of the global carbon emissions are a
result of deforestation
Consequently, Parties and Accr edited observers at the
meeting were requested to subm it to the UNFCC
Secretariat by 30 th March 2006 their view on issues
relating to reducing emissions from deforestation in
developing countries

How REDD came to be
Workshop on reducing emissions from deforestation
in developing countries was held in Rome, Italy, 30 August
- 1 S eptember 2006
“I believe that deforestation w ill have to be an
important component of a future climate change
regime beyond 2012, in both ad aptation and
strategies” Yvo de Boer, Dec. 2007 after COP 13 in Bali
Estimates of the magnitude of emissions are
uncertain due to several reaso ns such as a lack of
resources, lack of standard methods, lack of capacity
at national levels, and lack o f data.

Tapping Opportunities under RE DD
Nigeria ranks as 20 th in the world and 9 th in Africa in terms
of Carbon stocks but 3 rd , after Brazil and Indonesia, in
terms of forest carbon emissions (Gibbs et al., 2007;
Nicholas Institute, 2008)
There is opportunity under the Forest Carbon Partnership
Facility (FCPF) for Capacity B uilding, require submission
of Readiness Plan Idea Note (RPIN), among other
requirements
Out of 15 countries that submitted RPINs, 10 countries
have received support. They ar e Central African
Republic, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Nigeria, Kenya,
Liberia, Madagascar, Tanzania and Uganda

Forest biomass carbon maps for Africa and Southeast Asia produced
by using regression-based models to extrapolate fo rest inventory
measurements (Gibbs et al., 2007).

REDD READINESS PROCESS
favourable policy environment for implementation of REDD
programmes and effective participation of poor people
a conducive institutional setup for decision making and
information flow;
adequate physical and human capacity at all levels to
effectively assess carbon in all pools and measure
changes and leakages;
clear and transparent incentiv e sharing mechanisms put
in place; and
a financial management system established for fund flow
to beneficiaries and stakeholders.

Nigeria’s Weaknesses in dealin g with
Climate Change
Land tenure systems affect resource management in Nigeria.
FDF is thereby powerless when confronted with these
communal lands with regard to enforcing policy/regulations
in off-reserve areas.
Lands under forest and wildlife reserves as well as those
outside the reserves need more effort and the collaboration
of traditional authorities and communities to manage.
There are very little early wa rning systems efforts to
anticipate adverse environment al changes including that of
climate.
Non-preparedness and late start.
Weak law enforcement

Steps Towards Establishment of a
Nati onal RED D Strategy and Pro gramme
Carbon trading concept note should be developed by the
Ministry of Environment.
Forest Carbon Partnership Faci lity (FCPF) Readiness Plan
Idea Note (R-PIN) need to be developed
Consultations among stakeholders at the national level to
identify roles and responsibilities and to agree on fundamental
principles of REDD.
Identification of areas of implementation: PFM approach
provides a good entry point fo r REDD.
Degradation hotspots will be i dentified for initial
demonstrations

Suggested Road map f or Climate Change REDD
Activities in Nigeria
Initiate a broad consultation process to develop a REDD
readiness plan for implementation. Key elements are:
•Construct a multi-stakeholder process
•Keep the consultation fluid
•Put in place a workable instit utional set up
•Review and clarify forest righ ts, carbon rights and tenure for
the rural poor in order to dev elop a legal/property rights
framework for carbon finance.
Design a credible monitoring and verification system for
land use, land use change and forestry
Collect all available data on biomass and carbon stocks of
Nigeria

Suggested Road map f or Climate Change REDD
Activities in Nigeria
Integrate the information in a database and then harmonize
Plan a national carbon stock inventory system
Collect data on expansion fact ors and conversion factor that
allow transforming available d ata on biomass from partial
portion to the whole stock and from biomass to carbon
Determine national reference scenario

Climate Change Opportunities to Nigeria
Clear opportunities exist for REDD
North-South and South-South collaboration will enable
Nigeria to benefit from financ ial and technical assistance
We may benefit from internatio nal early warning systems e.g.
Eumetsat satellite monitoring etc. which can be useful in
preventing famine, bushfires, water crisis and protecting
wildlife. Technical know -how in this field is essential for good
forest governance.
There will be carbon market op portunities for commercial
forest plantation developers a nd community based plantation
developers, giving credibility to investments in the forest
sector if the anticipated benefits become real.
Locally, forest coverage and a ssociated benefits will
mprove.

Conclusion
In general, mitigation and adaptation to climate change in
the forest sector will require substantial and sustainable
resources to implement particularly REDD.
Broad stakeholder consultation on REDD is important to define
REDD approaches that would ref lect national circumstances.
REDD for Nigeria will involve readiness and capacity
building along with demonstrat ion activities, institutional
arrangements, distributional m echanisms and benefit
sharing, clarification of carbon rights etc.
Reliable baseline and robust m onitoring approaches are
essential for advancing REDD in Nigeria including the need
for investment in inventory and ground truthing capacity as
well as remote sensing.

Thank you for your attention