Recognition of People's Rights to Land as a Panacea to Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract

Globally, biodiversity conservation is increasingly threatened by human activities. With the aim of augmenting man’s state of livelihood vide various environmental development activities such as construction of roads, buildings, companies and most notoriously, extraction of mineral resources, nocuous effects are melted on biodiversity. Although, Nigeria is praised as being rich in biodiversity, the traditional activities of its citizenry which are not limited to farming and hunting, as well as the uncurtailed oil exploration by its government since the discovery of oil towards the end of the 1950s, have posed an increasing threat to biodiversity. Peculiar to all the aforementioned activities is that they are all executed above or beneath the surface of the earth. Meanwhile, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with other international instruments not left out, recognizes the right of persons to immovable property – with land being the subject of this right. This article examines the recognition of this right to land as a panacea to biodiversity conservation. It finds that with due regard given to the right to land, ensuring its enforcement where activities of another erode it and also by imposing considerable responsibility on owners of the land as regards biodiversity conservation, the incessant biodiversity loss will drastically deplete. In reaching its findings, the article expatiates the state of biodiversity conservation in Nigeria, after which it elucidates the legal framework for biodiversity conservation, and then; amplifies the extent and limitations of the right to land as a panacea to biodiversity conservation before concluding and proffering recommendations on how to attain the findings of this article.