The increasing price of cooking gas is not only affecting the rising cost of living, it is also impacting the environment in several ways. It adversely affects the ecosystem, biodiversity and conservation of forests.

People who cannot afford cooking gas and kerosene, fall back on charcoal which is less costly but equally affecting the sustainability of the trees from where these charcoals are produced.

Nigeria ranks the highest in the production of charcoal in sub-Saharan Africa and for this, a large amount of wood is required to sustain and satisfy the need.

Charcoal is used in households and industries to provide energy. Charcoal is mostly produced in the rural areas; in areas where there is abundance of trees but the challenge is that the locals whose source of income depends on charcoal production are not engaging in planting new trees.

Nigeria’s consumption of charcoal ranks higher as many low income earners tend to use it as it is more affordable. It is easy to handle and burns without producing smoke, making it a better alternative in the urban areas where firewood is not easily accessed.

As a high producer of charcoal, Nigeria is among the countries that export charcoal.  The impact on the environment is at a higher rate of deforestation and desertification and soil degradation which leads to erosion. “Between 1990 and 2015, the share of deforestation due to charcoal production increased from 6% to 14%.”

This high impact on the environment has led the government to place a ban on charcoal production. The National Environmental (Control of Charcoal Production Export) Regulations 2014 provides that, “a person shall not be granted a permit for charcoal production without having a reforestation and rehabilitation plan for the area from where the charcoal will be derived or produced.”

Despite the ban on production and the extant law requiring permit, charcoal is produced in a large quantity. There is no scarcity of the product.

The high cost of cooking gas also leads to higher demand for the charcoal which will affect the upwards price of the product.

In Abuja city, a bag of charcoal is sold at N3,800 and about N2,700 outside Abuja city. The fall back on the use of charcoal has become necessary regardless of the impact on the environment.

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All over the country, the price of cooking gas has been rising rapidly. The Executive secretary of the National Association of LPG Marketers, Mr. Bassey Essien, had blamed the hike in the price of the product on the import charges and Value Added Tax (VAT) imposed by the Federal Government.  He said, “the price of cooking gas may as well reach N10,000 for a 12.5kg cylinder.”

As the price keeps going up, the reliance on the use of charcoal keeps increasing and the deforestation continues while the environment continues to degenerate.

What must the government do to stop deforestation?

During the summit on Climate change in Glasgow this November, many countries including Nigeria signed the Declaration on Forests and Land Use. In the declaration, they “reaffirm {their} respective commitments to sustainable land use, and to the conservation, protection, sustainable management and restoration of forests, and other terrestrial ecosystems.”

The countries committed to reverse the forest loss and land degradation by 2030. Despite Nigeria’s commitment to forest reserve, the continued reliance on charcoal has kept increasing.

The Nigerian government must step up the regulations and ensure that the ban and permit for charcoal production is implemented fully.

The rising cost of cooking gas, the availability and affordability of the fuel has to be looked into and the National Orientation Agency should take up educating the people on the dangers of deforestation and make it a responsibility for every Nigerian to replace any tree they cut down by planting new trees.

Having to sign declarations and receiving grants as a developing country is not enough to showcase willingness to preserve the trees and forests but a concrete step and a law to criminalize excessive deforestation has to be enacted.

Without properly educating the people, Nigeria will not meet up with the 2030 benchmark to reverse forest loss and land degradation.

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