Nigeria: FALLING TREES, FALLING ENVIRONMENT

Basically, trees happen to be an integral part of the human society as it is one of the living things that alongside man habitate and depend on the resources provided by mother earth for its continuous survival. Trees as living organisms play unequal role in the society which can be in form of serving as shade, beautifying the environment and so on. However, the indispensable role of trees in the continuous existence of the society seems to be gradually becoming a thing of the past which is not unconnected with the uncontrollable falling of trees without provision for replacement. In other words, this is called deforestation and it is the act of continually falling trees for different purposes- which may be man-made or natural, industrial, commercial, domestic etc and without the planting of another tree for replacement.

In line with the above, falling trees undoubtedly has a role it plays in a falling environment. Falling environment in light of this paper refers to the gradual depletion of a geographical entity in terms of its value in physical and biological composition which is caused by physical factors such as rainfall, sunshine, wind etc. Going by this, the question to be asked will then be; How does the act of falling trees leads to a falling environment? The answers are not farfetched and will be assessed one after the other. But before then, there is need to understand the causative factors of the high rate of the falling of trees in a society like ours. As of 2005, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization rated Nigeria as the country with the highest rate of deforestation in the world with 55.7% of the primary (virgin) forests being lost and an animal deforestation rate of 3.5%.

CAUSES OF THE HIGH RATE OF FALLING TREES IN NIGERIA
The geographical location of Nigeria and the activities of the residents of the country has played no small amount in the high rate at which trees fall in the country and deforestation often at the rise. However, some of the remote causes of this phenomenon include;
1. Oil Spillage: The major source of revenue of the country is derived from the oil and gas sector of the economy. However, the endless activities of firms in this sector has remarkably taken its toll on the trees in the oil producing region of the country which is as a result of spillages. When oil spills occur, it permeates into the soil and the chemical composition which are hazardous to the life of trees get in contact with the trees and as a result, the trees die. Very many of these spillages is as a result of pipeline vandalism. In the context of Nigeria, the mangrove forests of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has felt the heat the most.
2. Natural occurrences: In another stead, the incessant increase in the number of falling trees happens to be as a result of natural occurence and the supposed controllable soil erosion. In the northern region of the country, the amount of rainfall on annual basis is very small thereby leading to trees withering away and in the end die. In some other instances, when the rainfall comes with very strong wind and in large volume, the soil is eroded by the water causing the ground to be loose and the root very open to air, and the strong wind through the penetration of the roots causes trees to fall. For example, the experience of the University of Ilorin community on 17th March, 2018.
3. Urbanization: In the quest of wanting to transform from rural areas to urban centres, the trees often being at the receiving end of this. For urban centres to be erected, large expanse of land is needed and by so doing, trees are made to be cut in order to make provision for this. This is prevalent in areas such as Lagos, Abuja and Porthacourt. In a microcosm view, the Unilorin community can also be seen in the same vein as it has being plagued with numerous trees being fell for purposes as such between 2014-2018.
4. Increasing Population: In order to floor the Malthusian theory of population, more often than not, the sacrificial lamb overtime has being the trees. This is because the increase in population requires increase in food production and the latter can be made feasible and greatly aided by the availability of land for food production through farming. For the land to be made available, areas with trees are made history with cutting of the trees thus making it suitable for farming.
5. Domestic Use of Wood: In line with the high rate of tree falling in Nigeria, it can be ascribed to be as a result of the volume at which wood is demanded for domestically to serve as cooking fuel. This is prevalent in the rural and semiurban areas of the country. These areas cover the more landmass of where people actively reside in the country According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), this accounts for about half of the trees that were illegally removed from forests especially in developing countries which Nigeria is not concluded.
6. Bush Burning: Without mincing words, the causative factors for the high rate of falling trees in the country are multifaceted in nature, one of which is bush burning. The act of clearing bushes by burning them often lead to the loss of trees especially in a situation where the bush burning grows beyond proportion and seemingly uncontrollable. In most rural areas where hunting for games is a well known practice, hunters set forests on fire so as to force the animals to run out of their hiding so that the animals can be easily killed. However, this also happens accidentally especially during dry season.
7. Unregulated Logging: Undoubtedly, a major cause of the increase in the number of falling trees in the country is the lack of proper rules and regulations guiding logging activities in the country. Logging simply refers to large scale falling of trees for mostly commercial purpose. According to World Wildlife Fund, most of the logging done are carried out illegally and as a result, replanting of trees are not being carried out as the logging activities are not monitored and regulated.

HOW FALLING TREES FALL THE ENVIRONMENT
Unarguably, trees cannot fall without having any effect on the environment as trees happen to be a part of the whole, with the whole being the environment. According to the structural functional theory, the malfunctioning of a part will affect the effective functioning of the whole. Thus, the environment of the Nigerian state has being affected by the falling of trees in the following ways;
1. Soil erosion: The continuous falling of trees has led to increase in the occurrence of soil erosion as the trees whose roots help to anchor the soil are no more. By so doing, it exposes the soil to the sun which dries up and by the time rain begins to fall, the soil gets eroded by the water easily and when the soil becomes too hard, it leads to inability to farm.
2. Reduction in quality of life: Without mincing words, when trees are being cut without replacement, the soil get exposed to the hazard of erosion and when this occurs, it can lead to silt entering into streams, lakes and other water bodies. When this is the case, there can be decrease in the local water quality and this will undoubtedly have a negative effect on health and even promote the outbreak of diseases.
3. Release of hazardous gases: The continuous falling of trees without replacement lowers the absorption and storage of Carbondioxide (CO2) and when trees are fell, the carbon which is stored in them are released. Like it is known, carbondioxide isn’t good for human life. According to the 2010 Global Forest Resources Assessment, the falling of trees causes the release of about a billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere on annual basis. This unarguably is a significant contributing factor to global warming.
4. Extinction of organisms: The incessant knack for falling trees without provision for replacement undoubtedly aids the gradual depletion of the number of certain organisms- plant and animals whose species thrive greatly on the existence of trees. The extinction is a result of the destruction of these species natural habitat which is found in trees. According to the National Geographic Report, it has being estimated that 899 species of birds, 274 mammals, 154 reptiles, 53 amphibians and 4715 species of higher plants will be strongly affected by the continuous falling of trees in Nigeria.
5. Reduced atmospheric water: The incessant falling of trees leads to reduction in the volume of water in the atmosphere as they help to regulate the water cycle. This they do by storing water in their roots and releasing it to the atmosphere. However, when trees are continually cut down without provision for replacement, there would be less water in the air which is to be returned to the soil. With this being the situation, the soil becomes dryer and faces the problem of arability i.e the soil ability to support agriculture. Funnily, it becomes ironical when it is discovered that based on fact, 80% of falling trees is caused by small-scale agriculture and animal ranching which the presence of trees would have protected well.

RECOMMENDATION
Having understood the causes of falling trees and its effect on the environment, the following are probable measures if embraced that can help salvage the situation. These include;
1. Using of alternative forms of energy as cooking fuel other than wood.
2. Implementation of planting three trees in replacement of every single tree fell.
3. Go digital and reduce the excessive usage of papers.
4. Banning of illegal logging activities and punishment of the perpetrators.
5. Reorientation of the public on the significance of trees to the environment.

Conclusion
Trees like every other living organisms are important component of the human environment. A reduction in their availability has effects on the environment which is to a very large extent negative. Measures should be put in place to correct these anomalies so that our environment will not continuously be put in danger by avoidable situations.

Resource Materials
Ikponmwosa Aikhionbare (2015), Deforestation in Nigeria: 7 Causes, 5 Effects and 6 Ways to stop it
Pachamama Alliance (2018)
Unnamed (2015) Deforestation: Facts, Causes and Effects.

Afolabi Olawale Oluwaseun (AGBARISM) is a graduate of Political science, University of Ilorin, Ilorin. He is a Public Affairs Analyst, A Writer, A Poet and Tutor (Founder, Dynamic Brain Tutors).

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