The Centre for Information Technology and Development has warned that the rapid loss of trees and vegetation across Northern Nigeria is worsening the region’s vulnerability to desertification, flooding and other effects of climate change.
The organisation said the situation required a shift from ceremonial tree-planting exercises to sustained community-led efforts to restore the region’s shrinking tree cover.
Executive Director of CITAD, Dr Y.Z. Ya’u, raised the concerns in Kano while unveiling a digital platform for the organisation’s Plant One Million Trees (P1MT) campaign.
The campaign seeks to facilitate the planting of one million trees across Nigeria between September 2, 2026, and September 1, 2027.
Ya’u said the initiative was conceived against the backdrop of increasing deforestation and environmental degradation, particularly in Northern states facing desert encroachment.
He identified Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno as frontline states requiring urgent intervention, while Kano, Bauchi and Gombe were also identified as environmentally fragile areas.
“Although we say across Northern Nigeria, our focus is actually areas that are environmentally fragile,” Ya’u said.
He said the increasing destruction of trees was not only accelerating desertification but also contributing to pressure on land and water resources.
According to him, the environmental consequences were already evident in the form of unpredictable rainfall, flooding, soil erosion, water shortages and increasingly compressed agricultural seasons.
“The more you cut trees, the more you allow desert to accelerate and encroach,” he said.
Ya’u warned that the consequences could also deepen conflicts between communities competing for shrinking land and water resources.
He said trees serve as natural barriers against wind and water while helping to control runoff during rainfall.
“When you cut trees, water can now flow unrestrained. And so we are seeing a rise in increasing flood in this country,” he said.
He added that the removal of natural vegetation, coupled with the levelling of land for other purposes, had reduced the environment’s capacity to retain excess water, thereby worsening flooding.
The CITAD director also linked the loss of vegetation to rising greenhouse gas concentrations.
He said growing urbanisation and the use of vehicles and generators were increasing the volume of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, while the destruction of trees was simultaneously reducing the natural capacity to absorb them.
“Trees are very, very important and crucial to human survival,” Ya’u said.
“More importantly, they are the sink through which dangerous greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are absorbed.”
He said the consequences of climate change were no longer distant threats but realities affecting communities across the region.
“Right now, we are seeing a lot of consequences of climate change — rainfall shortage, frequent flood, flash flood, compressed seasons, unpredictability, and so forth,” he said.
Ya’u said restoring tree cover would, however, require more than planting seedlings during government ceremonies.
He criticised what he described as the culture of ceremonial tree planting, where officials plant trees for publicity without mechanisms to ensure that the trees survive.
“Today, tree planting has become ceremonial. The governor will gather his officials, they go to one place, and they plant trees, take pictures, and so forth, and everybody will get a tree that never grows,” he said.
He said the P1MT campaign was designed to transfer responsibility for planting and nurturing trees to communities and individuals.
“We feel that it’s important to change that narrative, and place the responsibility of tree planting and tree caring and nurturing in the hands of communities and citizens,” he said.
The organisation said the campaign would particularly encourage schools to participate, with a pilot project already involving eight secondary schools.
Ya’u said the pilot had so far resulted in about 200 trees being planted, including approximately 100 trees planted in communities in Jama’a.
He stressed that the organisers deliberately disclosed the actual figure rather than inflate their achievement.
“We have planted about 200 trees and not 1,000 trees. I think this is important because it promotes transparency,” he said.
The digital platform unveiled by CITAD is expected to allow participants to register trees planted, upload their locations and provide information on the species, enabling the organisers and the public to monitor progress.
Ya’u said the initiative was being implemented in partnership with governments, civil society groups, communities, traditional institutions and the media rather than as a CITAD-only project.
He said the Kano State Ministry of Environment had provided seedlings for distribution to schools and communities, while the Ministry of Education had approved access to schools for the campaign.
Beyond tackling climate change, Ya’u said the campaign would also seek to preserve indigenous tree species and prevent the loss of traditional knowledge associated with them.
He expressed concern that several indigenous species were becoming increasingly difficult to find as environmental conditions changed and communities stopped planting them.
He said the campaign would therefore prioritise trees capable of surviving in the region and encourage young people to learn how to plant, nurture and protect them.
