The Edo State Government has installed industrial cassava processing machinery at Udo Community, in the State’s Ovia South West Local Government Area, to lessen pressure on the forest.
With the help of the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Program, the community was given equipment to sustain its livelihood (FAO).
Engr. Jonathan Lawani, the commissioner for environment and sustainability, thanked the federal ministry of the environment in his remarks for choosing Edo State as one of the REDD+ States.
Lawani said the support equipment is an important campaign for forest conservation, sustainability, and management and that it marks a turning point for the Edo State REDD+ Program.
He pointed out that the initiative will undoubtedly give local adolescents work, which will assist ease the burden on the neighbouring forest reserves and solve issues with deforestation and forest degradation in the State.
The State government has put steps in place to ensure that the forest is protected and preserved for future generations, the Commissioner continued.
Lawani listed several strategies, including hiring and training forest guards, fostering private-public partnerships (PPP) in forest regeneration, and giving seedlings and degraded portions of the forest to non-profit organisations.
Dr. Moses Ama, the REDD+ National Coordinator, praised the Udo Community for their dedication to the initiative and said that it serves as a model for other States that have installed the same machinery.
Mrs. Titilayo Omoigui, Edo State REDD+ Coordinator, stated in her speech that the goal of REDD+ is to reduce GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions by slowing, halting, and reversing forest loss and degradation.
According to Mrs. Omoigui, the technology will give villages like Udo that depend on the forest an alternate source of income.
Uzi Patrick Igbinidu J.P., the Iyase of Udo, praised REDD+ for the intervention program designed to stop the ongoing destruction of Udo forest reserves.
At a same line, the livelihood-supportive machinery was also put into service in Edo State’s Ugo Community, Orhionmwon Local Government Area.