Overview of the potentials of forestry and sustainable environment in reducing poverty in Nigeria

This paper examines the potentials of forestry and sustainable environment in reducing poverty among the people in Nigeria. Forestry and sustainable environment are described as critical sectors of the economy whose prospects are tied to the management and quality of renewable natural resources, particularly arable land, forest, water and biodiversity. Poverty reduction is briefly explained as collective responsibility of all and sundry to fight all avoidable forms of deprivation and this involves collaboration to make poor people less poor. The paper then assess how forestry and sustainable environment, as sectors, can help in reducing poverty in Nigeria through the provision of food, income generation and employment creation. Food that could be got form the forest and sustainable environment is either in the form of leafy vegetable such as Moringa Oleifera. Fruits such as Irvinga gabonensis or bush meat like thrynonomys swinderinanus (Grasscutter). The paper equally review the various ways participatory forestry management can help to ensure sustainable environment, sustainable forest management and development in Nigeria. It stresses that local communities have a mutual relationship with forests and sustainable environment could be partners in forest and sustainable development efforts if the needs, desires, aspirations and perceptions of the various participants are accommodated in the planning and decision-making process. It is posited here that no strategy to conserve or manage the forest ecosystem and sustainable environment on a sustained basis would be successful unless the needs of the least advantaged and most vulnerable sections of the society are considered.