March 03, (THEWILL) – In this piece, JANEFRANCES CHIBUZORwrites that Nigerians are optimistic that the celebration of the annual World Wildlife Day (WWD) 2022 this Thursday, March 3, 2022, under the theme “Recovering Key Species for Ecosystem Restoration,” will change the narrative of people on environment and promote sustainable lifestyles to preserve wildlife species across nation. Experts confirmed that Nigeria has adopted five years working plans to promote conservation of natural wildlife in the country.
Globally, conservationists have been increasing grassroots awareness campaigns for wildlife and eco–tourism promotion. This was the thrust of deliberations at 2020 WWD, which focused on wildlife protection, particularly the endangered species.
THEWILL notes that for eco-tourism to thrive in Nigeria, the federal government must step up concerted efforts in creating enabling policies and frameworks by increasing the country’s national parks from seven to 17 with the newly 10 established national parks.
It is observed that conservationists encountered bottleneck whenever there are attempt for them to deliver. As its stand, most national parks are domiciled in remote, inaccessible places thus making access a major issue. Also, forests now are dens to insurgents, bandits.
However there are parks located in areas which are not remote, and are easily accessible and not vulnerable to those security challenges.
That’s why the Lekki Conservation Centre(LCC) has bridged the gap between tourism and environment, thus resulting in high human traffic of about 20 schools visiting it per day. The centre receives an average of about 100, 000 visitors annually.
Meanwhile, as Nigeria commemorates the World Wildlife Day this Thursday, March 3, about 103 school children from Lagos mainland visited the tourist site to learn on the need to be ecosystem friendly, by which wildlife would be preserved. The visiting schools include Mater Dei School, Life Spring School and God First International School.
The Head, Species Pillar, Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), Dr. Stella Egbe, revealed that some species likely had gone into extinction before the experts ever knew they existed.
Egbe, also a Conservation Biologist, pointed out that “Scientist believe that 0.01 to 0.1% of species are lost annually, meaning thousands of species go extinct on a yearly basis. Sadly, species are still being discovered, this implies that we will likely lose some species before we discover they exist. The impact of humans on species persistence is even more glaring when one reflects on the global lockdown from Covid 19, this period showed species recovering and exploring areas never thought possible.
The Project Manager, LCC, Adedamola Ogunsesan, said, the economic benefits of wildlife can never be over rated, as it serves different purposes for diverse audiences.
Ogunsesan said: “Wildlife life plays a critical role in ensuring that the ecosystem is functional, wildlife serves as means of eradicating pests among the wildlife itself, wildlife serves as means of pollinating, wildlife serves as food, wildlife serves as means which humans also demonstrate use of drugs, which is testing process.
“The essence of WWD is to bring all these benefits to the fore and encourage different stakeholders to play their parts in ensuring that the wildlife we have within our ecosystem are kept for the use of current generation and for future generation.”
Experts agree that species loss is driven by the activities of human in meeting socio economic demands, this include exploiting wildlife as source of protein, furniture, medicine, ornamentals among others.
As a way forward, they urged the people to see wildlife as source of tourism, which is the foreign exchange earner and source of infrastructural development. They added that there is need for infrastructural development around tourism sites.
According to them, it is also important to note that the animal you considered the least important at sometime endangered. An example is pangolin, which have come under very serious threat in recent times because of unconfirmed medical usage, especially for cancer. These are issues that threaten some of the endangered species like the mammals such as primates. The Nigeria and Cameroon chimpanzee, the Cross River gorilla, are also endangered species. It is important to note that the lions in the Savanna area of Nigeria are under serious threat because of population pressure. West African gazelle is also one of the endangered species, the red colobus in Niger – Delta of Nigeria; a unique primate. And so in other to protect these animals, we need to look at population exposure around, critical endangered sites, how they manage other land use type such as farming and cattle rearing within this critical areas.
According to the experts, WWD should be used to educate the younger generation on better ways to achieve sustainable ecosystem, in which wildlife could be promoted.
Egbe stressed that for Nigeria, “it is daunting, yet we must be optimistic.”
Conservationist in Nigeria are on the road to halting the unsustainable exploitation of species and their habitat through awareness and education.
While Ogunsesan noted that younger people should be enlightened on the need to protect to protect ecosystem, he said: “Educate the younger people about the need to protect their life and our life, educate policy makers on the need for conservation of wildlife. It is important for our eco system, for businesses, for health, also for recreation, eco-tourism as well as enforcement and prosecution of defaulters from community to national level.”
Conservation Biologist, Stella Egbe, said, “NCF continues to work and strategise on ways to achieve as soon as possible.”
She said: “As we mark the World Wildlife Day, we hope that Nigerians become more aware of the important role that our natural wildlife plays in sustaining humanity.”
Ogunsesan said, “Some species are critical in restoring the ecosystem, in ensuring that certain ecosystems are functional due to the role they play.
“There are ecosystem services that are encourage by both, there some by insects, there are some by migratory animals and in that way they continue to allow the ecosystem to dry.
They are also natural indicators for seasons. These show that it is important to keep our wildlife, so they are strategic in restoring some of our degraded ecosystem and in other to ensure that ecosystem continue to provide the require service for human being and the world at large.”
He explained further: “One of the strategic ways of ensuring that wildlife are being protected is establishing of conservation areas, and Nigeria has continued to increase their national parks. Each of the eco regions where the national parks are being established, wildlife within those areas are protected by the laws of the land and ensuring they are continuously available and protected by going into extinction.”
About the Author
Janefrances Ebere Chibuzor is a Tourism Writer at THEWILL
