Stakeholders drum support for forest restoration in Nigeria
…task private sector, civil society to invest into the new green economy There is no gain saying that in many developing countries, more than 70 percent of total energy is consumed by people and industry derives from forests. As a resource, forests provide many important natural resources, such as timber, fuel, rubber, paper and medicinal plants thus enabling the development of new medicines as well as progress in healthcare and science. Aside this, forests cover also help sustain the quality and availability of freshwater supplies with more than three quarters of the world’s accessible freshwater coming from forested catchments. Meanwhile, trade in timber and other forest products, is estimated at almost 330 billion dollars annually. While forests cover 31 percent of total land area while at the same time support 80 percent of terrestrial biodiversity that live in them, many of the world’s most threatened and endangered animals live in these forests, making them crucial to susta...