INCIDENCE OF DEFORESTATION AMONG THE POPULACE AND ENVIRONMENT
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INCIDENCE OF DEFORESTATION AMONG THE POPULACE AND ENVIRONMENT
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Today, forests cover over one-third of the earth’s surface area, account for two-thirds of the leaf area of plants on land, and contain 70% of the carbon found in living things.Thus, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) believes that 38.7 million square kilometres of land were forested in 2000. Forests are crucial to all human life because individuals who live in forest areas rely on them for survival in a variety of ways.
These include food, medicine, fuel wood, shelter, clothing, timber, building supplies, and so on. The forest also cleans the air and water, regulates the climate, and prevents water and wind erosion (Azeke, 2003). Forests hold around 90% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity.
However, as human population has grown over the last several thousand years (with the world population now estimated to be 7.001 billion by the United States Census Bureau), deforestation, pollution, and industrial use problems have emerged in this important biome (forest).
The benefits of forests to human well-being can only be perpetuated if the forests themselves are maintained.(Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, 1994).However, Nigeria has lost the majority of its natural forest cover, which is a huge problem. Forest loss occurs at a rate of 3.5 percent per year, resulting in a loss of 350,000 to 400,000 hectares per year (Adedoyin 2001, Aruofor 2000).
Since 1990, the country has lost almost 6 million hectares, or 36% of its forest cover. Nigeria has been losing an average of 11% of its main forest per year. This result places Nigeria at the top of the list for natural forest deforestation globally. Deforestation is the destruction of forest stands and the conversion of the land to non-forest use (SAFnet Dictionary).
Deforestation is caused by subsistence farming, commercial farming, road construction projects, logging, mining, and dam construction. However, Hazel and Lutz (1998) linked resource deterioration in places with intensive rain-fed farming (typical of tropical forest environments) to poverty and population increase.
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