With 0.6Km Speed Yearly Southwards, Sahara Desert May Eclipse 5 Yobe State Council Areas—Environmental Experts

<h4>With 0&period;6Km Speed Yearly Southwards&comma; Sahara Desert May Eclipse 5 Yobe State Council Areas<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4>By Hamisu Ado Nguru<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a> <&sol;strong>reports that environmental experts have released warning signals that with a 0&period;6Km yearly southwards speed&comma; the Sahara desert is set to encroach deeper into the desert free areas in not too distant future&comma; with dire consequence on about local government council areas of Yobe State&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This disclosure was made at the 2023 World Environment Day&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The global June 5 annual event&comma; led by the United Nations Environment Programme &lpar;UNEP&rpar; encourages awareness and action for the protection of the environment&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The 2023 World Environment Day theme titled &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Solutions to plastic pollution” with the hashtag &num;BeatPlasticPollution&comma; expatiates on plastic pollution as a major environmental problem where millions of tons of plastic waste end up in our oceans&comma; landfills&comma; and waterways every year&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to environmental experts&comma; plastic can harm wildlife&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">pollute our air and water&comma; and contribute to climate change&period;<&sol;a><br &sol;>&NewLine;However&comma; in Yobe State&comma; the challenge is all about desert encroachment&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Five local government areas are adversely affected by the menace of desertification&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The affected local government areas are&colon; Yunusari&comma; Karasuwa&comma; Nguru&comma; Machina and Yusufari&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In these council areas&comma; many inhabitants have been forced to flee due to sudden or gradual alterations in the natural environment related to at least one or two impacts of desertification and climate change&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Yobe State strategically lies between Latitude 10 degrees 27 minutes and 13 degrees 23 minutes North and Latitude 9 degrees 40 minutes and 12 degrees 30 minutes east of the equator&semi; the State falls within the Sahel Savannah region with sparse vegetation occasioned by high temperatures particularly between the months of March to July&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;While harmattan is the experience between the month of November to February&comma; rainfall for barely three to four-month from June to September with August recording the highest rainfall&comma; similarly early rains are usually accompanied with heavy sandstorms&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Yobe State is located not too far away from the Sahara desert&semi; this antecedent accompanied a very serious challenge to both our governments&comma; multinational organizations&comma; non-governmental organizations&comma; and local communities&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Accordingly&comma; Environmental activist during several forum indicated that with the speed of 0&period;6KM yearly southwards&comma; the Sahara desert is set to encroach deeper into the desert free areas in not too distant future if nothing concretely and sustainable is done to check desertification&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the event&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;