Currently at the world’s highest deforestation rate, eight
environmental activists have created a dishonorable environmental record for
the West African country. However, there is a new threat surfacing in the
compromised forests of Nigeria; illegal marijuana cultivation. Marijuana is a
fast growing, profitable cash crop, ensuring substantial profit margins to the
people who sell the buds of the psychotropic plant to black-market buyers.
Although, the trade of marijuana presents numerous legal risks to those
involved with it, it’s a major risk to biodiversity that is skyrocketing. The
Southwest/Niger Delta Forest Project surveyed nine forest reserves in 2012 to
determine populations of the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee, a subspecies that is
considered the most jeopardized of the four species and is listed as Endangered
by the IUCN red list. Researchers had a first hand look at the effects of the
marijuana boom during the research and found that half of the deforestation
occurring in the reserves was a direct result of the marijuana cultivation.
Hidden within the forest, marijuana growers clear out and burn large patches of
land to plant their crops. However, the plants require a full twelve hours of
sunlight so the canopy and any plants interfering must be removed. As a result,
habitat is immediately lost and the surrounding forest depleted by edge effects
and increased foraging pressures from disturbed wildlife. Crops can also have
treatments like chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicide, which can have
detrimental effects on the ecosystems surrounding it. The demand for the
marijuana product is increasing and the profits can come 6-8 months of planting,
and make 2-3 times more money than growing other food crops. A solution to this
problem is to call state government and land management departments to crack
down on all forms of illegal invasion of forests by enforcing existing rules
and removing officials who are helping or participating with the growers.
Another solution is to crack down on the growers and make the punishment harsh.
However, there are many barriers to possible solutions. Even with the state
governments and land management involved it can be very difficult to find and
catch the marijuana growers, they know what their doing and their very good at
it. In my opinion, the state government needs to take action as soon as
possible because if marijuana keeps growing in the forest, the animals and the
ecosystem will face harmful measures in the process. This seems to be a serious
problem that needs attention immediately, however I believe if enough people
get involved they can stop the marijuana growers and help the ecosystem get
back to normal in time.
Obviously the habitat that they grow the plants is being damaged, but I didn't know that the area around it could be affected so much! I agree that this is a pressing concern and needs to be dealt with in a timely fashion. I think a good solution would be to dedicate a task force just to this issue, so that it won't get lost and caught up in everything else the government has to deal with!
ReplyDelete