Ogun State will soon join the league of States benefitting from the United Nations Carbon Credit Loan as it has taken steps to comply with the reduction of emissions from deforestation and degradation.
Commissioner for Forestry in the State, Engr. Ayo Olubori made this revelation in Abeokuta while delivering a paper titled “The Relevance of Forestry in the Mission to Rebuild the State,” at a seminar marking The World Forestry Day.
Olubori pointed out that already, the State had earmarked 30,000 hectares of land for conservation, explaining that this was part of the concerted efforts of government to reverse the destructive trend of climate change.
Speaking on the Ministry’s effort in rejuvenating the forest resources of the State Olubori said 500,000 tree seedlings of various species of trees had been raised between January and March this year, expressing optimism that a total of 2.5 million tree seedlings would be raised annually by his Ministry.
He said that as part of measures to reduce deforestation, the State Government had set up a joint task force made up of the Forest Guards and members of the “Quick Rapid Response” (QRS) to combat illegal activities in the nine forest reserves, just as total ban had been placed on ‘flitches’ operations in the State.
Olubori also explained that the Ministry had recently launched an automated system to document payment resulting from logging and forestry operations to block leakages in revenue generation, adding that soon, the system would be developed and linked with the State Geographical Information System (GIS) to enhance the monitoring.
According to him, when this is achieved, it would reduce the use of human surveillance of the forests and its attendant risks.
Via: Ogun State Government - Official Press Release