Continued from Sunday, November 10, 2024
The first act of this heinous crime opens with the clear felling of over 50 hectares of a delicate ecosystem; the tree-rich, biodiverse, Ogunpa Forest Reserve surrounding Agodi Gardens.
This has effectively destroyed:
• A massive watershed for the Ogunpa River
• A strategic flood buffer for the Ogunpa River
• An extensive floodplain for the Ogunpa River
• An important carbon sink forest for Ibadan City
• A natural habitat for up to thirty thousand bats and various migratory birds and small animals
• A precious Gene Bank for teak in Ibadan – all the mother trees have been cut down, uprooted and sold
• A few hundred trees specifically planted for research purposes for students and research scientists alike
• An inland forest space which played a pivotal role in the natural hydrological (water) cycle
• Over 50 hectares of old-growth trees engaged in atmospheric cooling, the preservation of water quality and soil protection.
All in flagrant violation of a federal law, which insists that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) be carried out before any activity that may likely, or to a significant extent, affect the environment.
For centuries probably, the hilly watershed area of the Ogunpa River, protected by the rich profusion of trees in Ogunpa Forest Reserve, was an important flood buffer for the well-known excesses of the Ogunpa River.
Even the heaviest rainfall was captured by the millions of tree leaves as they intercepted every raindrop, efficiently directing the large volume of rainwater into each tree trunk and storing it in the extensive underground root network and surrounding soil.
A bit like a giant natural sponge.
This natural sponge action considerably slowed down the rate at which rainwater flowed into the Ogunpa River.
In addition, it gave the trees enough time to extract all the atmospheric and other pollutants from the rainwater and store them safely in their trunks.
While the deep underground root system patiently released the rainwater a little bit a time into the Agodi Lake and Ogunpa River.
One rainy season after the other, those magnificent trees kept the soil firmly in place, preventing soil erosion and landslides, with a minimum of sedimentation along that stretch of the Ogunpa River.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what will happen to all that water in a torrential downpour, every raindrop dislodging particles of the soil it comes into contact with, now that the entire watershed has been shorn of all vegetation.
Millions of gallons of water, with no trees to slow them down, will hurtle down the slopes of Premier Hill, laden with red laterite soil, atmospheric pollutants, surface impurities and anything else that is lying around, and end up in the Ogunpa River as it crosses the floor of the valley.
And the swollen Ogunpa River, moving at full speed, with its riverbed now raised by all the surface sand dumped in it, will obligingly overflow onto its floodplain.
The very flood plain on which Oyo State Government in private partnership with Baywood Infrastructures Limited, is hoping to build a high-end residential estate.
I am frequently astounded that the commissioners and other high-ranking officials in Oyo State Government didn’t think it necessary to read through existing literature on urban forests, watersheds and floodplains, and the consequences of destroying any of these along the path of a river notorious for its violent, high-velocity flash floods.
For one thing, the added knowledge would have justified their high-sounding job titles.
For another they might have been inspired to persuade the executive governor to be a little more circumspect in his dealings with Baywood Infrastructures Limited.
It is possible that they read the literature and didn’t understand a word. Or they read and understood it clearly, and unable to process the enormity of what they were encouraging the Oyo State governor to go ahead with, swung to the side of denial.
Either way, the consequences of their negligence are “showing face” already.
I doubt that anybody fully appreciates the sheer volume of water that can be absorbed by over 50 hectares of old-growth forest.
Or the weight of soil that it’s tree roots can hold in place.
Now that the chainsaws and earth-moving equipment deployed by Baywood Infrastructures Limited have converted the enormous Ogunpa Forest Reserve into a barren desertified landscape, there is absolutely nothing to stop rainwater from hitting the ground with full force and rushing straight into Agodi Lake and Ogunpa River, carrying with it a fair amount of the red earth it has dislodged.
All that excess water, heavy with frank mud, will be included in the turbulent Ogunpa River as it rushes downstream into the densely populated neighborhoods of Ibadan City.
The big question is: what volume of unrestrained mud and water are we to expect?
By Rosalie Ann Modder-Oyefeso, on behalf of The Save Our Green Spaces Group and The Ogunpa Forest Reserve Team
To be concluded
