The old forest on the borders of Buckland according to folktales was able to come alive; trees that could whisper, talk to each other and even move.
Such were the stories we read from J.R.R. Tolkien’s classics, particularly the first in the series of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’.
Beyond fairy tales, were it possible for trees and plants to be sentient and granted that singular vehicle of mobility, humanity would have long reaped the bitter fruits of the havoc which it continues to wreak on forests vis-a-vis the ecosystem. Notwithstanding, nature has always found ways to dish out its recompense.
The industrial revolution which led to the plundering of natural forests constituted great survival threats to both flora and fauna which were dislodged from their natural habitats. The emergence of industries at this point in history led drastically to deforestation and destruction of the natural environment.
This indiscretion saw to the up-spring of environmentalists who with prophetic eyes peered into the future and spoke against the doom that mankind was inviting upon itself. Romantic literature which promotes love towards nature and its preservation was basically an offshoot of this environmental recklessness.
The concept of natural nature was discarded by industrialists who were hell-bent on enriching themselves irrespective of its cost on the physical environment. The old world was consumed in the fires of industries, resulting in the countless felling of trees which fuelled the industrial fires. Writers, poets and environmentalists wrote treatises and poems which condemned the activities of human encroachers, upholding the sanctity of nature as well as the need to protect and preserve the human environment.
Over two centuries since the advent of the industrial revolution, man has continued its devastating activities on the ecosystem, through indiscriminate logging and several illegal operations in forest reserves. The depletion of the ozone layer through the burning of fossil fuels and its resultant effect on weather conditions world-wide and diverse forms of ailments, ought to have been enough to teach mankind a unique lesson, but the quest for wealth without due recourse to its environmental impact has continued to aid deforestation without an end in sight.
It is against this backdrop that Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, understanding the implications and future threats posed to the state by the activities of loggers, committed his administration to forest preservation and conservation.
The issue of tree felling without concrete plans to replace them will only expose the state to dire consequences. The ecosystems in Nigeria are collapsing due to the depletion of our forests and their rich biodiversity, resulting in endangerment and extinction of some plant and animal species, and mostly, leaving posterity with nothing. With these negative environmental outcomes, the need to make necessary laws that would guide forestry in the state cannot therefore be overlooked.
Indiscriminate forest activities without necessary laws to regulate the activities of loggers as well as laws which advocate reforestation will create a consequential vacuum which nature so horridly abhors. Just recently, Governor Obaseki sent the Edo State Forestry Commission Bill to the Edo State House of Assembly for consideration. The bill when passed into law will ensure the efficient management and preservation of the state’s forest assets; the Parks and Gardens Agency Bill which is geared towards creating a more serene and healthier environment through the maintenance of functional parks and gardens as well as planting of trees, was also sent to the House of Assembly for consideration.
The Governor had on several occasions decried the indiscriminate and arbitrary manner in which loggers plunder and violate various forest reserves in the state. The Governor had opined that the neglect of the forests over the years has left it in bad shape.
According to the Governor, “If those that came before us consumed and treated the forest badly this way, we would not have met the forest.”
Obaseki has therefore put plans in place to ensure that a million trees are grown annually in the state in order to preserve and conserve forests. This, according to him, is paramount if any form of business with forestry is to be accommodated. The Obaseki administration is not only concerned with the preservation of the forests for future generations but also the protection of forest covers in the state to tackle climate change and the dynamic and ever evolving weather of the world.
It therefore behoves all indigenes and residents of the state to support the Governor’s vision to create a sustainable environmental plan for the state rather than give in to the whims and caprices of those whose only interest is to take undue advantage of the state’s forest reserves for their selfish gains and at the expense of Edo residents, as the earth remains ours to plough, not to plunder.
By John Ewah
