Copenhagen, Dec 15, 2009

There was a press conference today on Nigerian rainforests and REDD:

“More than 90% of Nigeria’s rainforest is gone. The remaining 10% of Nigeria’s rain forest is found in the south of Nigeria, and over half of what is left is only found in cross river states. The rate of deforestation across Nigeria as a whole but Southern Nigeria in particular, is 2% a year, and that is one of the highest rates of deforestation anywhere in the world. And I think over 55% of Nigeria’s carbon emissions come from deforestation, far outweighing Nigeria’s carbon emissions from transport or from industry or any other form, so REDD and addressing land use change is actually critical for Nigeria bringing down its emissions.”

“And I think, if the rate of deforestation continue unchecked, we could see the disappearance of cross river states rainforests within the next 10 to 15 years maximum. ”

“The overall size of the forest – about 800,000 hectares of tropical rainforest.”

Report by James George