Serious concern has been raised as regards the harm
being done to our forest resources.
The Department of Forestry has, therefore, issued a stern warning and advice to the general public to forestall the “rampant indiscriminate bushfires around the country with devastating effects to our forest cover”.
This concern should be shared by all in this country, and we should all help to “conserve, protect and rationally utilize” our forest resources.
It is very essential to note that our existence as human beings is intertwined with the existence and preservation of the flora and fauna and, by extension, the forest around us.
Studies have shown that human life, especially, exists longer with much flora and fauna around it.
As the Forestry Department rightly put it in its recent press release, our survival depends to a large extent on the forest and its rich resources in terms of food, medicines, energy, income and employment.
We, therefore, cannot afford to lose our forest cover cheaply to indiscriminate bushfires.
As we join efforts at discouraging the destructive menace in our society, it is essential that we also note that most of the people that could be found wanting in the happening are the poor living in the villages and outskirts of towns, who are trying to eke out a living to meet the survival needs of their families.
Therefore, what obtains in discouraging indiscriminate bushfire really calls for a broader look, as bushfire incidence, felling of trees, and searching for survival means are actually fuelled by the rate of poverty and unemployment in the country.
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
John Muir
