Governments, corporate organisations, civil society groups and the masses in the country, have been called upon to take urgent and transformative actions geared towards environmental protection and conservation.
The Federal Ministry Environment and other stakeholders made the call at a programme to commemorate this year’s World Environment Day in Lagos.
Speaking on the theme of the Celebration, “only one earth”, they explained that following the devastating effects of climate change, pollution and others, the earth was no longer safe to live in and must be redeemed now for it to continue to support lives and livelihoods.
Organised by the Lagos Zonal office, Federal Ministry of Environment, the programme was attended mainly by school children,in a deliberate attempt by the ministry at catching them young in the goal of making sound environmental practice, a way of life among Nigerians.
The Federal Controller, Ministry of Environment, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Agbenla, in an address of welcome said among the actions to be taken to redeem the Earth included adoption of cleaner energy sources and other sustainable lifestyles such as tree planting, water conservation, eating more of plan-based meals and avoiding food wastage.
Others are cleaner modes of transportation and shopping locally.
The Federal Control pointed out that the theme of this year’s celebration was a call for collective transformative action, changes in policies and choices that shift towards sustainable greener lifestyles, with emphasis on three core areas, namely nature, climate and pollution which must carried out on global scale.
Mrs. Agbenla who stated that everybody should get involved in the campaign as all relied on the environment for survival, urged that everyone should rise to advocate the conservation of nature and protection of the global environment.
“Every human being is a Stake-holder that should be conscious of their impacts on the environment; we should all rise to advocate for the conservation of nature and protection of our global environment.
“Ladies and gentlemen, school children and colleagues, it is noteworthy to mention that this year 2022 marks the 50th edition of the World Environment Day, that commenced since 1972 and planet earth still remains the Only One Earth, we have, the only liveable planet and home, we have, therefore, we need to take the transformative actions geared towards safeguarding the earth , it’s resources, ecosystems and processes is therefore, one call that cannot be ignored.
“These actions would create a sustainable balance between humans and nature for an environmentally safer future for all”.
“The event is hosted annually by different countries,, with special focus on the central theme, given by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) who desires that the day should be enshrined as the Peoples’ Day for doing something positive,to care for the earth.
“This year’s World Environment Day celebration is hosted by Sweden and the theme is Only One Earth. The theme focus is on living in harmony with nature. It calls for collective transformative action, changes in policies and choices that shift towards sustainable greener lifestyles. The campaign pins down actions on three core area; actions on nature, actions on climate and actions on pollution on global scale, to help protect and restore our planet earth.
“You would agree with me that all life on earth is linked to the Environment, we breath in air and are sustained because other elements in the environment are supporting the metabolic processes , any damage to the environment reflects in our health and the wellness of our rich biodiversity, it is therefore our collective responsibility, to protect the environment because there is no other planet where man can survive except the Planet Earth. The World Environment Day (WED) remains the biggest International Day for the Environment and it if usually observed annually on 5th June, since 1972”, she explained.
Mrs. Agbenla reiterated that the world Environment Day has become an undeniable global platform for environmental outreach to raise awareness on contemporary environmental problems such as pollution, climate change, deforestation, illegal wildlife trade, unsustainable lifestyles and others.
In a paper, Dr. Excellence Akeredolu of Department of Zoology, University of Lagos said for meaningful progress to be achieved in the task of redeeming the earth, enormous work should be done in the area of enforcing existing laws.
According to Dr. Akeredolu, the nation has rich and robust environmental laws and policies, but the missing gap lies with enforcement.
The Zoologist who identified plastic pollution as the biggest environmental issue in the country, urged the authorities to evolve innovative approaches to tackle it.
He also called for urgent action to check the problem of biodiversity extinction as well as illegal wildlife trade trade, especially as it concerns pangolin which he described as about the most endangered wild animal.
The event featured presentations like poems and dramas by school children which helped to properly pass the message of this year’s world Environment Day.
