As the world marks the 2022 World Environment Day, Save the Children International (SCI) Nigeria calls upon everyone to spare this time to reflect on our habits, culture and behavior towards planet Earth. With this year’s World Environment Day campaign, #OnlyOneEarth, which highlights the need to reset the balance with nature through transformative changes in how we eat, live, work and move around, we all have every sense of accountability to live sustainably in harmony with nature.
One of the huge threats to the environment is climate change. Climate change is a threat to the rights of children, girls, women, and particularly those living with disabilities. They are the first and worst affected by the impact of climate change whether by climate-related natural disasters or the impact of climate change on food production, access to water, livelihoods, and basic social services.
For too long, we have been exploiting and destroying our planet’s ecosystems. Available data has shown that every three seconds, the world loses enough forest to cover a football pit, and over the last century, we have destroyed half of our wetlands.
SCI Nigeria recognizes the growing negative impacts of environmental degradation on children, the most deprived and marginalized people, thus reducing opportunities for children to survive, learn and be protected. We recognize that we do have a shared responsibility to the environment beyond legal and regulatory requirements hence, we are committed to making our office operations environment-friendly by taking additional measures that seek to reduce our carbon footprint such as use of solar power, automation of processes to reduce use of paper while at the same time inculcating a culture of responsible behavior among staff.
On this occasion, Amanuel Mamo, Director of Advocacy, Campaigns, Communication and Media, Save the Children International, Nigeria said, “the climate crisis is the biggest challenge of our time. It is a grave threat to children and their rights. Child rights might not even survive a global climate catastrophe. We have created a huge environmental debt for our children and future generations. Children have contributed the least to the climate crisis, and yet we know that they are paying the highest price. Hence, Save the Children recognizes the legitimacy and power of the voice and leadership of children in the climate movement. SCI Nigeria works towards a child-led campaign to promote environmental protection”.
Save the Children is committed to limiting the environmental impact of our work. Through both individual and collective efforts to change our ways of working, we will continue to play our part in reducing the resources we consume to help mitigate climate change and its adverse impact on children and their communities.
Save the Children International supports and promotes climate smart agriculture, natural resource management, early warning systems, desertification control as well as environmental conservation – including trainings on renewable energy technologies, entrepreneurship and tree planting.
Save the Children calls upon families, communities, and local, state, and national governments to join hands in bringing positive change to make planet earth a much healthier, greener, and happier place to live in, in a bid to achieve sustainable development goals.
As a policy, Save the Children International Nigeria staff, partners and volunteers will continue to be accountable for using our resources in an environmentally friendly manner, responsibly for purposes that are both relevant and beneficial to our mission to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.
We reinstate our call to all relevant government partners, MDAs, CSOs, UN agencies, academia, media, the youth and children to raise awareness, advocate and influence policy, positively shift community behavior and action regarding environmental protection.
