Encroaching sand dunes threaten Northern Nigeria
By Hir Joseph, Lafia
Thursday, 14 October 2010 04:45 A team of experts from Network of Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST), one of the groups building Nigerians’ adaptation to the effects of climate change, has warned that sand dunes and the harsh arid climate in Sahel area Toshua in Yobe State of North-Eastern Nigeria, are another climate change reality. The team expresses fear for the population of 5000 people living in this settlement,” a statement from Samson Ogallah, the Programme Officer for Communication, Outreach and Network of the group said. “Sand dunes started moving in on the community about 35 years ago,” the statement quoted 70-years-old Baba Kyarimi to have said. According to Kyarimi, the long-term changes in weather have drastically changed life for people in the community. He worries about the fate of his farm and children in this increasingly harsh climate because “For the third consecutive year, this area in the extreme North East recorded below normal rainfall and higher than normal temperatures during the hot season,” he said. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) had said due to low rainfall, “the agricultural sector is likely to continue to witness low agricultural yields and inadequate fodder leading to food shortage over the Sahel region.” In addition to the low rainfall, desertification (as a result of wind erosion), is of particular concern as encroaching sand dunes threaten the few surviving oases and even houses within the settlement, NEST noted further. The group said tragedy has already struck in this community as a result of these ominous sand dunes that loom large. It quoted a widow, Hajiya Hadiza who lost her husband last year as a result of a sand dune which collapsed the roof of her house as saying “he was just lying in the back room taking a rest in the afternoon when the sand buried him.” The statement expresses worry that, “In Nigeria, where productive farmland is becoming increasingly scarce and is often already occupied, it is not easy for members of this community to move and migrate, despite the hardships they endure. Instead, they live literally on the edge, both in terms of the desert and in terms of food production.
