Ahmed Sulaiman, a 25-year-old Bauchi-based charcoal seller, estimates that he could make up to N90,000 monthly from his business. However, he claimed ignorance of the business’ detrimental effects on biodiversity.
In an interview with WikkiTimes, Sulaiman who runs his business within the Bauchi metropolis, explained that he has been in the business for about three years.
According to him, he began the charcoal and firewood business with a capital of N3,000 but presently making up to N90,000 monthly.
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“I began this business with N3,000,” he told our reporter. “It didn’t cost me much to start up the business. If the business of the day goes well, I can generate up to N40,000 per day with a profit of up to N5,000 to N6,000 daily.”
Sulaiman called on the youths to avoid looking down on starting their businesses. “I began this business because I wanted to earn a living for myself and avoid being jobless. Because most people after completion of their studies, tend to depend on the government for job opportunities and individuals that the government has employed, are very much in the system right now,” he told WikkiTimes.
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It was not a hitch-free journey, he recalled. “At first, I even lost my capital, so I had to embark on a minimal job to restore my capital to continue the business,” he revealed, adding he never gave up during those challenging times.
‘I DON’T KNOW IT AFFECTS HUMAN BEINGS’
Asked whether he knows that his business poses a big threat to biodiversity, the coalman, claimed he is not aware of the impact.
“I do not know that cutting down trees affects us as human beings,” he said, adding he replaces any tree cut for coal.
“Ideally after we cut down those trees, we replace them by planting a new one. That’s what we normally do. Any species of trees we remove or cut down is what we replant to prevent the occurrence of flood and soil erosion,” he explained.
DEFORESTATION IN NIGERIA
From 2002 to 2022, Nigeria lost 166 kha of humid primary forest, making up 14% of its total tree cover loss in the same time period. The total area of humid primary forest in Nigeria decreased by 8.7% in this time period, according to Global Forest Watch.
In 2010, Nigeria had 10.9 million hectares (Mha) of natural forest, extending over 12% of its land area. In 2022, it lost 105 thousand hectares (Kha) of natural forest, it added.
For tree cover loss, the GFW noted that Nigeria lost 1.25 Mha of tree cover, equivalent to a 12% decrease in tree cover since 2000, and 671 metric megatons (Mt) of carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂e). This is between 2001 to 2022.
Elegbeleye Oladipo in his study, explained global warming as it relates to deforestation. Global warming includes anthropogenically-made climatic and ecological issues which include clear climatic temperature shifts and precipitation management, he contends.
“In some areas, this can be seen in sea level rise, stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric effluence and forest degradation. Tropical forests are shrinking at an alarming rate of about 5% per decade as forests are cleared to provide local, national and world marketers for wood products, bio-fuels and agricultural turnouts,” Oladipo noted.
Further, Oladipo explained certain issues related to global warming which include famine, floods and storms among others. These problems, he said, are capable of threatening human survival.
He identifies other harmful impacts of the scourge including heat stroke, climate stress on agriculture, malnutrition, increase in the amount of malaria-carrying mosquitoes which puts about % of the global population at risk of having malarial infection.
High temperatures are also linked with global warming raising the ozone concentration to the lowest level thereby making it a harmful and dangerous substance capable of deteriorating existing cases of asthma and also causing damage to the lung tissues
