Stakeholders in Ekiti State have called on the people to cultivate the habit of planting trees as part of efforts to mitigate climate change and address global warming.
The stakeholders spoke at an event commemorating the 2022 World Earth Day with tree planting at the Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology Ikere-Ekiti, organized by the leading environment organisation, TGED Foundation, in collaboration with the Ekiti State Forestry Commission.
The 2022 World Earth Day was themed, ‘ Invest in our Planet Earth’.
Speaking, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of TGED, Oluwaseyi Ebenezer, lamented that deforestation was contributing to the increasing natural disasters being experienced in the community, noting that constant planting of trees is the only antidote to averting future occurrence.
She said places with no trees attract erosion and other factors that work against the environment.
“One special way of mitigating climate change is through planting trees. We know trees produce oxygen which we take in and when you take away oxygen, there will be no life,” she said.
She further stated that the environment is very important and “if one fails to protect it today, it will later haunt the society tomorrow”.
She added, “The idea behind this year’s theme is to encourage governments and citizens to take concrete steps toward following more sustainable practices and taking more of an active role in the earth’s well-being.”
The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Victor Adeoluwa, commended the organisation for coming up with the event, promising that the university would do everything possible to contribute their quota to the preservation of the community.
Adeoluwa, who expressed regret over the recent destruction of property in the institution due to wind storm, directed deans and directors to begin the process of planting of trees in their respective offices.
On his part, the Commissioner for Trade, Industry and Investment, Muyiwa Olumilua, lamented that human activities are daily having negative on the environment, saying the continuous felling of trees in the forest is a major threat to the people’s well-being.
” All activities of human being are killing the planet and people don’t care. Felling of trees in the society is causing serious problem, thereby making the environment vulnerable to disasters,” he said .