A truck loaded with newly-cut logs parks in Garowe. Photo: Ministry of Environment and Climate Change – Somalia | April 2023
A greener environment is vital to fostering stable, inclusive and sustainable transition enhancing healthier and more resilient outcomes. Despite the outstanding progress being made in peace-building and economic recovery, Somalia has been grappling with devastating land degradation over the past decades, including deforestation. The most recent data shows the country has witnessed a surprising level of deforestation for charcoal production. As of 2018, UN notes that 8.2 million trees were cleared mainly for charcoal production between 2011 and 2017, in Somalia. A deep-rooted socio-economic disparity and regulatory barriers have eroded the state of the environment. These include weak statutory instruments, limited access to energy, abject poverty, and poor land-use planning, to cite a few. These, therefore, have led to enormous loss of ecosystems including forests, rangelands and biodiversity deepening the state of vulnerability to climate change.
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