Extraction of wood for fuel: a threat to landscape conservation in Nigeria.
Nigeria, a developing nation with the estimated population of 170 million people (Moghalu, 2013) has about half of this number residing in the rural areas where their effort towards the extraction of wood for fuel is highly recognized. Wood extraction for fuel is economical and serves as alternative to every other source of energy for cooking, parboiling of certain grains like rice, smelting, and smithing, among other things. This trend has gone beyond rural activities; rather, urban dwellers in Nigeria have joined. In their case, both dead and live woods were harvested, and in the newest approach, wood is reduced to charcoal and used for the same purpose. The magnitude of impact done on the landscape by this activity is what the local nationals are ignorant of and should be properly informed. Employing ethnographic techniques, this study investigated the diversified areas of wood extraction for fuel among Nigerians, the likely impact, and suggests the control and conservative measures through which the impacts can be mitigated. Keywords : Wood Extraction, Fuel, Threat, Landscape, Conservation, Landscape Conservation, Nigeria
Urbanisation and the Choice of Fuel Wood as a Source of Energy in Nigeria
Abstract This paper discusses the problem of urbanization and fuel wood consumption in Nigeria and the main objective is to examine the causes and effects of degradation of the environment. Between 1990 and 2000, Nigeria lost an average of 409,700 hectares of forest, equal to an average annual deforestation rate of 2.38%. Additionally, between 2000 and 2005, Nigeria lost 35.7% of its forest cover, or around 6,145,000 hectares. The paper found that the factors causing fuel wood demand in urban areas include, Rural-urban migration, Urbanization, Poverty, Hikes in prices of kerosene and cooking gas amongst others. The paper relied mainly on secondary information from both empirical and non-empirical researches. Furthermore, the consequences of indiscriminate felling of trees such as Deforestation, Desertification, Erosion and Bio-diversity loss were highlighted. The Prospects of harnessing other renewable sources of energy in Nigeria as a measure to reduce the rate of consumption of fuel wood is recommended.
A Rapid Method for the Extraction of Radioiodide from Urine
THE extraction of radioiodide from urine is important in radioiodide therapy, since without it the large quantities of highly radioactive urine which accumulate must be stored until the activity decays sufficiently to allow disposal.