The Bauchi State Government has expressed concern over the indiscriminate felling of trees for charcoal production, despite existing laws prohibiting such practices.
Expressing worries over the development during a state ministerial press briefing on Wednesday, Commissioner for Housing and Environment Danlami Ahmed Kawule lamented that illegal felling of trees without planting replacement tree seedlings, may lead to desertification and environmental degradation across the state.
According to him, to mitigate the trend, the government has declared an intervention to reclaim the environment by ensuring that tree seedlings are planted across the state.
He spoke while presenting a paper on the achievements of his ministry at the Conference Hall of the State Secretariat.
Kawule disclosed that the government will soon distribute 500,000 efficient energy cooking stoves to residents of the state to limit the illegal felling of trees for charcoal production.
He added that to reduce the reliance on firewood and charcoal for cooking and its effects, which include desertification, health hazards and environmental pollution, the state is providing support to residents in the state by producing briquettes and efficient energy cooking stoves.
He decried the limited knowledge about the production and use of briquettes as an alternative to firewood and charcoal, stressing that lack of awareness has also contributed to the continued use of firewood and charcoal as cooking fuel, which in turn contributes to deforestation, emissions and other health hazards associated with the smoke emitted from their use.
The commissioner said further that the ministry has been organising sensitisation programmes where residents of the state are educated on the importance of tree planting and caring for it till maturity.
In his submission, the State Project Coordinator of Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes, ACReSAL, Dr Ibrahim Kabir, said that the intervention is geared towards reducing the production of charcoal and firewood used for cooking to the barest minimum.
He explained that 3,000 efficient energy stoves will be launched first in the pilot phase to monitor the impact for three months.