When on August 1, 2008, Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema of Katsina State announced an ambitious afforestation program targeted at planting seven million trees by 2011 and followed it up with the planting of 6,700 trees three days later at Dankama, a border town with Niger Republic to flagoff the program, most Nigerians, even within the state, failed to really appreciate the significance of this bold step to roll back the desert.

Indeed, Nigerians have consistently failed to place environmental issues on the front burner of national priority and have over the years, proved to be poor managers of the stupendous resources the nation has been blessed with.

Few Nigerians appreciate the importance of maintaining a stable relationship between the people and the environment which is an anchor to the socio economic development of the country. This nonchalant attitude has manifested in the varied ecological problems that are capable of turning this land of opportunities into a wasteland. There is no gainsaying the fact that land degradation, either through deforestation, pollution, erosion or other extraneous factors, are gradually narrowing the confines of agricultural land and creating conflicts among communities. One of such catastrophic phenomena of this degradation is desertification, which experts say is moving inwards at the rate of 10 kilometers annually and has already devastated more than 38 per cent of the country's land mass with an equal percentage of Nigerians already displaced.

The borders of the desert have continued to expand from Borno through Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara and Sokoto States, forcing thousands of people to move southwards each year. This movement exposes the green belt of the savannah to more exploitation and degradation.

In 1994, Nigeria ratified the UN Convention to combat desertification but has so far shown very little commitment to check the menace. Today, the reality is that the desert has overtaken villages in places like Tulwatulwa, Damasak, Kaska, Issa, Birnin Kuka, among others, all in the northern part of the country. Experts say more than N400billion is lost annually in agricultural produce, fisheries and livestock while thousands of people die yearly or suffer from life threatening diseases due to desertification. Human activities are said to be largely responsible for the desert condition existing in the country, coupled with the government's nonchalance in enforcing existing laws against practices that encourage it.

Experts say that an average family of five using firewood as a source of energy will consume one hectar of wood every year, which translates to more than 25 million hecters being lost annually by the 100 million households said to be relying on wood for domestic energy. Shema's initiative is therefore a conscious step by a government to tackle head on, the age long problem of deforestation which in part, is responsible for the desert condition existing in the northern parts of the state and indeed the country.

The governor said at the launch of the program in Dankama that one million tree seedlings would be planted in the state before the end of the year, 1.5 million trees in 2009, 2 million in 2010 and 2.5 million in 2011. He explained that 11,200 trees would be planted by each of the 34 local councils in the state this year while the six councils on the fringes of the desert would in addition, each plant 6, 700 trees covering some 66 hecters. The six councils include Kaita, Baure, Maiadua, Jibia, Zango and Mashi. Some 30,000 hecters of woodlots would also be planted in the three senatorial zones of the state to provide buffer stocks for trees required for cooking, to minimise incidences of tree felling which is a major cause of desertification and this trend will be replicated every year over the next three years. The state government is also collaborating with officials of the states of Zinder, Maradi and Gui in Niger Republic which borders the state, to implement similar programs to ensure success in the fight against desertification.

The desertification war is also exploiting the bio-mass option to generate gas and electricity using cow dung and human waste for use in rural communities of the state.

The project which began in four communities using Chinese technology is expected to provide cheap and cleaner energy to the people. Relying on advice from experts, the one million trees for this year would be planted before the end of August, which is the peak rainy period in the state.

In achieving this, the traditional institutions, students of primary, post primary and tertiary institutions, as well as political party structures and the local government councils have been fully mobilized to plant the trees within the specified period. The State House of Assembly is also supporting the initiative with a review of existing environmental laws to conform with the realities of the environmental threats the state is facing. As Dr. Bukar Shaib, one time Agriculture Minister once said, the fight against desertification requires strong coordination for it to be effective. The Katsina initiative will therefore achieve quicker results if the frontline desert threatened states will pool resources and expertise to check the menace of desertification.

Rolling back the desert is indeed possible, as has been done elsewhere, from Australia to Israel, Mauritania, Algeria and Libya among others, where their governments have restored deserts which had suffered thousands of years of deforestation and overgrazing to productivity, through innovative agriculture, improved dry land farming and controlled grazing.

Maharazu Ahmed is the Senior Special Assistant (Press), Government House, Katsina.