KADUNA, North-West, Nigeria – A Non-Governmental Organization, GreenAid-Africa in collaboration with Greening Africa Project, Climate Change Network Nigeria and Environmentalists across Nigeria, has said that it will embark on nationwide tree planting with effect from August 24.
The group in a press release signed by its Executive Director, Dr. Tabi Joda; and Program Manager Climate Change Network Nigeria, Priscilla Offiong, respectively made available to newsmen in Kaduna on Wednesday, proposed a mass collaborative nationwide action on the project.
According to the group, the environmental dangers facing Nigeria today are enormous, and calls for serious concern, and urgent civic engagement for solutions that will reduce disaster risk and ensure resilience for all.The group appealed to Nigerians to embrace mass reforestation to protect the environment by planting trees in homes, neighborhood, schools, religious premises, farms, roadsides, hospitals, offices, riversides, parks, degraded forests and pasture fields.
“Our target is to plant 400 million trees between August and September 2019 as citizens’ contributions to sustainable national development.
“The environmental dangers facing Nigeria today are enormous. Recurrence of disasters triggered by deforestation undermines Nigeria’s development gains.
“Worsening deforestation, floods, heat-waves, landslides, erosion, drought, and desertification are resulting to small and large scale disasters killing and affecting people and destroying homes, crops, schools, hospitals, public utilities, roads and critical infrastructure worth billions of Dollars.
“We encourage everyone to come out together with families, neighbours, colleagues and friends and plant two trees each to green Nigeria and foster mutual love, unity and peaceful coexistence.
“These trees should be economic plants with food, fruit and medicinal value and contributes to biodiversity and healthy ecosystem for people, birds, animals and other species.
“It is our believe that this mass reforestation action will greatly contribute to building Nigeria’s resilience and its capacity to mitigate and adapt to climate change, at the same accelerate its implementation of, and achievement of its development commitments in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Agreement, New Urban Agenda and others,” the group said.
