Youth Action 25: Green jobs in Nigeria’s forestry sector
Forests provide sustainable livelihoods for thousands of people in West Africa. Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) are a key part of this support since they provide income for people in rural areas (Fuwape 2013).
Between 2015 and 2018, the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) trained over 5,000 students from tertiary institutions in Nigeria on sustainable forest practices. The training mostly focused on four alternative livelihood projects established in Omo Biosphere reserve in Ogun State, Nigeria. These were: grass cutter domestication, rearing snails, fish farming, and mushroom production. These enterprises provided direct benefits for over 200 families and indirect benefits to over 1,500 people.
The fish farmers in particular made over NGN5.6 million (US$17,300) from the enterprise within a short period of time. Additionally, 59 large snail boxes were constructed and each snail farmer given one box and 50 snails together with other essential materials. Six-hundred polybag mushroom spawns were also procured and stocked by students and their teachers in the locality. Four grass cutter houses with several cages were constructed and stocked in four villages within the biosphere reserve. These green economy projects significantly improved the socio-economic status of the people in the locality.
flight; and off-grid trips. While we drive to our destinations, we have zero tolerance to plastics. We vehemently avoid off-road driving while in the park to respect the peace of the wildlife, park rules, and ecosystem”.
Through youth engagement and advocacy, this youth-led ecotourism firm acquired a degraded piece of land in Fort Portal, next to Kibale National Park in southern Uganda. The group plans to set up eco-homes, using locally sourced material and eco-friendly designs. However, before they embark on this, they seek to first restore the area using suitable landscaping and ecological designs. “This undertaking is shunned by many investors, but we are more than capable and willing to do it. For the past one year, we have been studying the water systems, wildlife (elephants, primates, birds) and community’s perspective about wildlife in the area. We are also promoting secondary succession by planting suitable tree saplings and embracing related ecosystem-based approaches”, he says.
Food for thought
• It is incumbent on African youth to increasingly anchor livelihoods in the intersection between biodiversity and sustainable development because our shared wealth, health and well-being is rooted in this intersection.
• Young people on the continent have the numbers to take game-changing steps that will ensure conservation of the continent’s biodiversity. Some of these steps, like ecotourism and NTFPs, can contribute to sustainable livelihoods for Africa’s youth.
Youth Action 26: Rustika Journeys, a youth-led ecotourism firm in Uganda
Rustika Journeys is an ecotourism firm in Uganda. Rushongoka Wa-Mpiira is a young Ugandan who has embraced eco-tourism and currently works there. He believes that with one successful story after another, more youth from the region will eventually get involved in, and benefit from, ecotourism.
“At Rustika Journeys, our main focus is eco-journeys that revolve around activities that support land restoration and rejuvenation through tree planting. We are no longer focusing on ideal tourism investment norms which have been limited to physical structure and property ownership”, Rushongoka Wa-Mpiira. “We took up this practice as a means of reducing the carbon footprint emitted during travelling from bush safaris; airplane
A black-and-white colobus from Kenya
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Our Invaluable Biodiversity
Mohamed Hazem Abd El-Aziz
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