The official said Nigeria’s rangelands are facing increasing degradation due to desertification, land degradation and drought, with serious implications for farmer-herder conflicts, agricultural productivity and food security.
In this interview, Etim William, Director of the Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought Management Department of the Federal Ministry of Environment, the factors contributing to the degradation of Nigeria’s rangelands and how desertification, land degradation and drought are worsening farmer-herder conflicts and threatening food security across major agricultural hubs in the country.
Mr William: Going by the name of the department — Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought Management — our mandate is to combat desertification, address land degradation by restoring degraded lands, and manage drought. Those are the mandates of the department.
PT: In commemoration of World Desertification and Drought Day, what does the ministry hope to achieve? What is the aim and objective of the event?
Mr William: Desertification, drought and land degradation are global menaces. There is hardly any country in the world that does not face land degradation. Desertification and drought also affect many countries. That is why the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), one of the Rio Conventions, was established to address desertification, land degradation, and drought.
Every year, the convention commemorates the fight against desertification and drought on June 17. The event seeks to raise public awareness of the impact of drought, land degradation, and desertification on humans, animals, and the environment. Life on land depends on the health of the land. From the land, we get food and natural resources. We have forests, vegetation, animals and genetic resources. So, if the land is degraded, you lose biodiversity and species, both flora and fauna. You lose ecosystems and genetic resources. Agricultural production will also decline because we do not farm in the air; we farm on land. That will inadvertently lead to food insecurity, hunger and poverty. It can also lead to migration because when land is degraded, people tend to leave their original communities in search of greener pastures. This creates competition for land resources, which can also result in conflicts, including farmer-herder conflicts.
This is because rangelands are no longer available in sufficient quantity; many have been degraded. Nobody seems to pay adequate attention to rangelands and their sustainable management. If the rangelands were available and sustainably managed, pastoralists would have less reason to take their herds through people’s farms.
PT: Do we have rangelands in Nigeria?
Mr William: Yes, we have rangelands.
PT: How many rangelands are there in Nigeria?
Mr William: I may not know the exact number. The Ministry of Livestock Development may have conducted an assessment of our rangelands, but I cannot tell you the exact number.
PT: What are rangelands?
Mr William: They are basically grasslands and shrublands. We have grasslands throughout the savanna, including the Guinea and Sudan Savannas.
PT: When you say some of these rangelands are degraded, what do you mean?
Mr William: They are overexploited. Sometimes people set them on fire. Most of them are being converted to croplands, and in the process of clearing the land, fire is used, which contributes to land degradation. Some are also converted to urban infrastructure and other uses.
PT: Are there gazetted rangelands in Nigeria?
Mr William: I think we have a few gazetted ones, but I am not in a position to provide details, as we do not have a direct mandate to manage rangelands. That should be the responsibility of the Ministry of Livestock Development. Our interest is that they are degraded landscapes and degraded ecosystems under the purview of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and Nigeria is a party to that convention.
PT: What is Nigeria’s commitment to the UNCCD as a signatory?
Mr William: Land degradation neutrality is one of our commitments. The convention focuses on restoring degraded lands, combating desertification and managing drought. All these issues — desertification, land degradation and drought — are closely connected to land. The UNCCD is the only convention that takes land as a critical factor in socioeconomic development. That is why degraded land needs to be restored.
PT: Under the convention, do we have specific targets that Nigeria wants to achieve?
Mr William: Yes. We have a land degradation neutrality target.
Land degradation neutrality is a programme designed by the UNCCD to address land degradation and achieve neutrality, as enshrined in Sustainable Development Goal 15.3.1. The target is to achieve land degradation neutrality.
PT: What does land degradation neutrality mean?
Mr William: Land degradation neutrality is a state or condition where there is no net degradation of land. It is essentially about achieving zero net land degradation. This means maintaining land cover, land productivity and soil organic matter in a productive condition. There should be no net loss in the fertility, productivity, amount or quality of land.
PT: You mentioned that some of our rangelands are degraded. I also understand that Nigeria used to have what were known as grazing routes. How is your department helping to address degradation along these corridors? Are there any breakthroughs you would like to share?
Mr William: Most of these rangelands are located in arid and semi-arid regions. These are areas where our activities are concentrated, particularly areas affected by desertification and drought. Most rangelands are affected by desertification, drought, and climate change. Our mandate to restore degraded lands, combat desertification and manage drought covers these areas. So, when we restore degraded lands, degraded rangelands are also restored. That is how we come in.
PT: How do you go about restoring these lands? Are there specific techniques or interventions?
Mr William: Of course. First, we carry out an assessment. We work with the states where the rangelands and desertification-affected areas are located. We have what is called the desertification frontline states. These are states heavily affected by desertification. There are 11 frontline states where desertification is more pronounced, and its impacts are more severe. They include Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Adamawa and Taraba, among others.
PT: What are your activities across these states?
Mr William: Restoration. When we talk about restoration, we mean planting trees, sustainable management of the land and providing water facilities in areas affected by drought. We have a technique involving underground water storage systems. We install systems that collect rainwater during the rainy season and channel it into underground storage systems for use when the rains cease during the dry season. We also establish tree plantations using local varieties that can withstand drought and survive with insufficient rainfall. These are some of the things we do. We restore degraded and desertified landscapes and provide sources of water, including underground water systems. We also drill boreholes, including solar-powered boreholes. These interventions help to mitigate the impacts of desertification and drought while restoring degraded landscapes.
