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http://www.thetidenews.com/article.aspx?qrDate=03/04/2008&qrTitle=Desertification:%20Jibunoh%20warns%20of%20looming%20food%20scarcity&qrColumn=NEWS

Desertification: Jibunoh warns of looming food scarcity

Dr Newton Jibunoh, an environmentalist, has warned that Nigeria might suffer an acute food shortage within the next 25 years if desert encroachment was not checked. Jibunoh gave the warning at the Lagos State House while flagging-off the Newton Jibunoh Green Desert Expedition organised by the Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE) and other NGOs. Quoting a recent United Nations Publication, Jibunoh said he had advised Nigerians to plant three million trees annually to arrest the situation. He attributed the desert encroachment from the Sahara Desert to the indiscriminate felling of trees and bush burning, which, he said should be stopped. The environmentalist disclosed that his team was embarking on its third expedition to halt desert encroachment on Nigeria. “I embarked on my first expedition 42 years ago and the second one eight years ago”, he recalled.

Jibunoh further said that desert encroachment had claimed almost 80 per cent of Algeria’s and 60 per cent of Morocco’s land. “Similarly, most of the 16 countries of the world bordering the Sahara desert have lost a large portion of their land to it”, he said. He added that desertification had also enroached on a sizeable part of the 11 states in the northern part of Nigeria bordering the Sahara Desert. “and if nothing is done by the people of Nigeria, a good part of the country is going to be taken over by the Sahara Desert”, he added. He appealed to the government and Nigerians to begin to grow trees and “green the desert to avert future calamity”.

(continued)His address was read by his Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Muiz Banire.