The Executive Director, Agro-Ecological Sustainable Technology Initiatives (AGESTI), Mr Hasuruna Amos, has advised the Adamawa State Government to provide alternative sources of cooking energy to cushion the effect on banned logging.
Amos gave the advice on Thursday, July 6, 2023, at a one-day stakeholders engagement and mapping on climate justice organised by Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP) with support from OXFAM and African Activists for Climate Justice (AACJ) in Yola, the state capital.
He said the steps taken by Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri against indiscriminate cutting of trees was a welcome development, but that an alternative source needed to be provided for the end users.
“In order to protect and conserve the trees and forest at large, the government should subsidise the prices of alternative cooking items like kerosene, cooking gas and their accessories.
“Introduce the use of briquette especially in the rural communities where wood and charcoal are the available cooking fuel,” the expert said.
He also advocated for the production of briquettes which could be produce with waste, grass, rice hose, animal dump and others that are less expensive and economical.
According to him, such will cushion the effects of banning tree cutting for firewood and charcoal production in the state.
Mr Joseph Ibrahim, the Project Manager of AACJ Nigeria, said the objective of the engagement was to map out areas affected by climate injustice in the state so as to sustain the solutions.
He attributed human activities to climate injustice and expressed the need for all stakeholders to come together, fight against climate change and to attain food security in the state and county at large.
On his part, Dr Ibrahim Umar, the Executive Director, Adamawa State Environmental Protection Agency, appreciated the engagement and described it as timely going by the challenge of climate change in the state.
He said the state government was doing its best on that which resulted to the recent ban of indiscriminate felling of trees by Gov. Fintiri.
According to him, government along cannot do it all, hence the need for all to contribute their own part to achieve the desired objectives.
By Ibrahim Kado
