Evaluating Responses by Lithoclimatological Elements to Forest Depletion in Parts of Nigeria with Relevant Theoretical Ideas

Abstract

Since human domination of space, forest depletion has been a recurrent activity in Nigeria with numerous consequences on its landscape. The magnitude of the effects of this menace on the lithology and climatic elements of the environment of the study area has been a matter of great concern to the people who depend on the forest for their numerous socio-economic benefits. Of particular worry is the extent at which a number of the region’s ecological resources, particularly soil, vegetation and climatic resources have been degraded as a result of forest loss. The aim of this study therefore was to evaluate the effects of this phenomenon on these environmental components with a view to assessing the implications of the destructive interference by the people with the natural ecosystem, applying theoretical models from a wide array of geographic interests across diverse geographic background. Data were generated from published literature materials, theoretical survey, projects, technical papers and tertiary documents. Prominent land/environmental resources that were treated in this study included soil profile development and level of degradation, forest/vegetation landscape, surface temperatures, soil temperatures, the changing phenomenon of the various climatic elements, etc. In this study therefore, the relevant effects of the menace on the outlined components across the globe, with emphasis on the Nigerian environment were identified and discussed. They range from soil erosion and impoverishment, loss of vegetation structures, species extinction, ecosystem disruption and the general continuous degradation of the environment. Conclusions were thus drawn from the results of this theoretical search that the effects of forest depletion on the outlined variables are significant but, higher in the depleted forest environment than in the less or non-depleted forest areas. A number of recommendations were made with a bid to reducing forest depletion and losses in the study area. Other than direct government involvement in checking excesses that culminate in the menace, it was recommended that members of the various communities within the study area should consider the forests as a common wealth of the people with inelastic values, which must be protected. It also should understand that the long-term feature of the forests and their environmental health depend largely on how the forests are perceived by them. Stumpage, user fees, tarriffs and other forms of revenue should be paid by users to provide to the government, whose responsibility it is to sufficiently use to manage the forests, to ensure its sustainable use.

Keywords: Lithology, climatic conditions, forest depletion and loss, environment, human influence, soil deterioration, theoretical review.