Th e Nigerian National Park Service (NPS) has warned Nigerians to desist from killing young animals and trees in order to preserve the country’s ecosystem. Th e Conservator-General of the Service, Alhaji Ibrahim Goni, gave the advice while speaking with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recently in Abuja. “I call on the Nigerian public to have respect for our environment; don’t kill animals anyhow, don’t harvest or cut trees indiscriminately, whether in the open range or in the protected areas. “You can kill those animals that are old but avoid killing young ones and females; you can also exploit old and dead trees, instead of cutting down the young and fresh ones,’’ he said. Goni said that logging, grazing, mining and other human activities had left a debilitating negative impact on non-native vegetation and eroded soils at the national parks. He stated that the Service was striving to stop the killing of young animals and the indiscriminate tree felling so as to preserve, improve and restore the ecosystem. “Th e goal of the restoration is to set in motion processbased ecosystem recovery strategies that lead to the regeneration and maintenance of resilient natural ecosystem processes. “Th ese processes generate desirable ecosystem structures and linkages which, in turn, restore ecosystem functions. “It also involves sitespecifi c design and planning that accommodates socioeconomic aspects and broad stakeholder community initiatives to address the initial causes of the ecosystem’s breakdown.
“Th e service is embarking on aggressive stakeholders’ consultation to create the needed public awareness because when the people are aware of the salient issues and taken along, half of the job is done,’’ he added. He, further, said that the service was involved in community awareness, education and support to enhance the level of funding and political backing for habitat restoration activities. “Community outreach, education and involvement are important successful restoration activities that involve tree planting projects or stream clearance. “Increasing the level of public awareness will eventually lead to shifts in public perception of restoration, rather than loss, and so lead to political support for widespread restoration. “Th is is also crucial for addressing the initial pressures that led to degradation, pollution or unsustainable harvests,’’ he stressed.
