Towards sustainability of ecosystem services in North-East Nigeria

Ecosystem services are the very essence of the inhabitants of the North-East Region of Nigeria; hence the sustainability of these services is very important. The concept of sustainability is imprecise and reveals two main underlying issues which are intergenerational fairness and the moral responsibility of the current generation to its descendants on the one hand, and the role of assets provided by nature including forest and marine ecosystems in satisfying both current interests and the obligations we assume to the future on the other. Many benefits from ecosystem services accrue to the six states of Adamawa, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe, Bauchi and Borno in the North-East Region of Nigeria. The economic value of Hadejia-Nguru wetlands which forms part of the Kamadougou-Yobe River Basin of the Lake Chad Basin was estimated at over US$16 million per year. The estimated value of ecosystem services that can be attributed to inland watersheds and wetlands range between US$5000 and US$100,000 per hectare while coastal watersheds and wetlands were between US$500 and US$1,000,000 per hectare in 2007. The product of the national average of 0.284 tonnes/person/year of fuel wood consumption and number of inhabitants of 24,051,418 (2006 census projected to 2014) gave an estimated consumption of 6,830,603 tonnes/person/year for the six North-Eastern States. However, there are threats to the sustenance of ecosystem services, some of which include urbanization, progressive industrialization, overgrazing, exploitation of natural resources, depletion of wetlands, watersheds and insurgencies which have drastically reduced production of and accessibility to ecosystem services. These threats can be mitigated through development of framework for assessing demand and supply of these services, restoration of terrestrial and marine ecosystems through biodiversity approach, capacity building and forestry extension services to create awareness among the populace on the importance and value of ecosystem services.