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Gallery|In Pictures

Photos: In Nigeria’s forests, loggers outnumber trees

In Nigeria, the cutting of trees for logging, farming and feeding the energy demand is putting pressure on forests.

Logger, Komiyo Ikuejamoye, arranges logs on the river in Ipare, Ondo State, Nigeria
Logger Komiyo Ikuejamoye arranges logs on the river in Ipare, Ondo State. [Nyancho NwaNri/Reuters]
Published On 9 Jun 20229 Jun 2022
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Deep in a forest in Ebute Ipare village, Egbontoluwa Marigi sized up a tall mahogany tree, methodically cut it down with his axe and machete, and as it fell with a crackling sound, he surveyed the forest for the next tree.

Around him, the stumps dotting the swampy forest are a reminder of trees that once stood tall but are fast disappearing to illegal logging in Ondo State, southwest Nigeria.

“We could cut down over 15 trees in one location, but now if we manage to see two trees, it will look like a blessing to us,” the 61-year-old father of two said.

From 2001 to 2021, Nigeria lost 1.14 million hectares (2.82 million acres) of tree cover, equivalent to an 11% decrease in tree cover and equal to 587 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to Global Forest Watch, a platform that provides data and monitors forests.

After felling the trees, Marigi put markers on them, a message to other loggers that he is the owner. The logs would be transported via creeks and rivers all the way to Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos.

“During the time of our forefathers, we had big trees but sadly what we have now are just small trees and we don’t even allow them to mature before we cut them,” Marigi said.

Cutting down trees for logging, opening up farmland or to feed energy demand for a growing population is putting pressure on Nigeria’s natural forests.

On May 9, President Muhammadu Buhari told a COP15 meeting in Abidjan, Ivory Coast that Nigeria had established a national forestry trust fund to help regenerate the country’s forests.

But that may not be enough as the country loses forests at a faster pace.

“Protecting the forest means protecting ourselves,” said Femi Obadun, director of forest management for Ondo state’s agriculture ministry. “When we destroy the forest, we destroy humanity.”

It is something Marigi knows all too well, but his priority is to eke out a living.

Months after cutting the trees, Marigi returns to the forest to pull the logs together and fasten them into rafts. He has a collection of more than 40 logs.

With other loggers, they have put together money to hire a tugboat to pull the rafts through creeks and rivers from Ondo State to Lagos.

Makeshift shelters on the rafts are made from wood and help shield the men from the weather. Food is shared while they belt out local folk songs to lift spirits.

“We don’t sleep at night during the journey,” Marigi told Reuters. “We monitor the logs and make sure that (they don’t) detach from the tugboat.”

The boat stops at several locations to pick up more loggers and their rafts. A single boat can carry up to 1,000 rafts, each containing as many as 30 logs.

Marigi’s journey ends at a lagoon in Lagos, where rafts from Ondo State and other parts of the country converge and the logs are processed at sawmills and sold to different users.

Hunters carry monkeys they have just killed in the forest in Ipare, Ondo State, Nigeria
Hunters carry monkeys they killed in the forest in Ipare, Ondo State. [Nyancho NwaNri/Reuters]
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Logger, Egbontoluwa Marigi, 61, poses for a photograph, holding his axe while felling trees, in the forest in Ipare, Ondo State
Logger Egbontoluwa Marigi, 61, in the forest in Ipare. "During the time of our forefathers, we had big trees but sadly what we have now are just small trees and we don't even allow them to mature before we cut them," Marigi said. [Nyancho NwaNri/Reuters]
Logger, Komiyo Ikuejamoye, fells a tree with a chainsaw in Ipare
Logger Komiyo Ikuejamoye fells a tree with a chainsaw. After felling the trees and cross-cutting them, the loggers pull the logs out of the flooded forest floor onto the river, where they will eventually be hammered into rafts, ready for transportation to Lagos State. [Nyancho NwaNri/Reuters]
Logger, Egbontoluwa Marigi, 61, pulls a log through the flooded forest floor in Ipare, Ondo State
Logger Egbontoluwa Marigi, 61, pulls a log through the flooded forest floor. [Nyancho NwaNri/Reuters]
Logger, Komiyo Ikuejamoye, talks with some locals as he pulls his logs through the river in Ipare, Ondo State
Logger Komiyo Ikuejamoye talks with some locals as he pulls his logs through the river in Ipare. [Nyancho NwaNri/Reuters]
Logger, Egbontoluwa Marigi, 61, paddles his logs out of the flooded forest floor onto the river in Ipare, Ondo State
Egbontoluwa Marigi paddles his logs out of the flooded forest floor onto the river in Ipare. [Nyancho NwaNri/Reuters]
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Sunday poses for a photograph, while the captain of the tug boat, Elewuro, is seen through the window, as they set out on their journey to Lagos from Ipare, Ondo State, Nigeria
Sunday poses for a photograph, while the captain of the tug boat, Elewuro, is seen through the window, as they set out on their journey to Lagos from Ipare. After hammering their logs onto rafts, various loggers come together and rent a tug boat, which is used to transport all of their logs through water channels from Ondo State to Lagos State. [Nyancho NwaNri/Reuters]
Loggers stand on floating rafts of logs while being transported from Ondo State to Lagos State
Loggers stand on floating rafts of logs while being transported from Ondo State to Lagos State. The journey usually takes at least one week. The loggers live in small makeshift huts on the rafts, where they eat, bathe and sleep. [Nyancho NwaNri/Reuters]
Rafts made of logs transported from Ondo state and other parts of the country are seen gathered in the Lagos lagoon, near the Ebute Metta sawmill in Lagos
Rafts made of logs transported from Ondo State and other parts of the country are seen gathered in the Lagos lagoon, near the Ebute Metta sawmill in Lagos. [Nyancho NwaNri/Reuters]
Sawmill workers roll a log out of the Lagos lagoon
Sawmill workers roll a log out of the Lagos lagoon at the Ebute Metta sawmill in Lagos. [Nyancho NwaNri/Reuters]

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