The Charcoal Trade Conundrum in Climate Emergency in Nigeria

Boma Geoffrey toby

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Trade in charcoal made from wood yields millions of dollars to developing states exporters every year. Regrettably, felling trees to produce charcoal eats up thousands of hectares of fertile land in such states annually harming humans, flora and fauna. This work found that the high demand of charcoal in the international market has made the trade in charcoal very attractive. The economic gains from this trade which has resulted in high numbers of traders of this article has reckoned beyond the adverse affects of the trade on the environment. Adopting the doctrinal methodology this work posits that charcoal trade is counterproductive, offends national commitments to addressing climate change, and prejudicial to the international community’s effort at dealing with climate change. It therefore, made useful recommendations towards addressing the problem, which include but not limited to a call for urgent review of extant global environmental governance regimes with the view to making charcoal trade unattractive.

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