INTERVIEW: How UNCCD, FAO, World Bank back Nigeria’s fight against drought, land degradation —Official

Nigeria is intensifying its efforts to combat desertification and land degradation, issues that Etim William, Director of the Federal Ministry of Environment's Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought Management Department, identifies as significant threats. In an interview, William explained that these environmental challenges are not only degrading the nation's rangelands but also exacerbating farmer-herder conflicts and jeopardizing food security across key agricultural regions.

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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.

William highlighted that desertification, drought, and land degradation are global problems affecting numerous countries. He pointed to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as a crucial international framework established to address these menaces. The annual commemoration of World Desertification and Drought Day on June 17 serves to elevate public awareness about the profound impact these issues have on human life, animal populations, and the environment.

The director emphasized the critical link between land health and the availability of essential resources like food, forests, and genetic diversity. He warned that degraded land leads to a loss of biodiversity and ecosystems, inevitably reducing agricultural productivity. This decline, he stated, can fuel food insecurity, hunger, and poverty, potentially driving migration as people seek better opportunities. The scarcity of viable rangelands, in particular, intensifies competition for resources and contributes to conflicts, including those between farmers and herders, as pastoralists may encroach on farmlands due to insufficient grazing areas.

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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.

While Nigeria possesses rangelands, primarily grasslands and shrublands found in the Guinea and Sudan Savannas, William could not provide an exact number, suggesting the Ministry of Livestock Development might have conducted such assessments. He defined rangelands as grasslands and shrublands, underscoring their importance for sustainable management, which is often overlooked. The collaboration with international partners like the UNCCD and the World Bank is seen as vital in supporting Nigeria's strategies to restore degraded lands and manage drought effectively.

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If the rangelands were available and sustainably managed, pastoralists would have less reason to take their herds through people’s farms.