Ethical challenge of desertification in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Desertification is an urgent environmental problem that is faced by Northern Nigeria. As an environmental problem it creates a lot of challenges for the human community. These challenges include: conflicts over grazing lands and farmlands, pollution of water sources and the air by encroaching desert wind and sand, internal displacement of people, force migration of people, destruction of human lives and properties, and so on. If desertification is not stopped it impedes development and sustainability. This paper uses a critical analytic method, to examine the ethical challenges that desertification poses. It makes a conceptual analysis of the main concepts such as ethics, desertification and Northern Nigeria. It looks at how desertification is an ethical issue. The paper finds and concludes that if desertification is curbed through tree planting, and other ethical consciousness raising that leads to other practical actions, it will save both human and natural environment in Northern Nigeria.