By Egufe Yafugborhi

UYO – TREE planting has been identified as “our surest way” to carry society along in Nigeria’s fight against existential threats climate change poses to mother earth and humanity.

The was the mantra Thursday in Uyo as the Foundation for Sustainable Development Options (FOSDO), with support from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), took the campaign to reawaken tree planting consciousness across the Niger Delta to Akwa Ibom state.

The Uyo workshop themed ‘Reawakening Practice of Tree Planting Across the Niger Delta Region’ gathered sustainable environmental champions, members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), students and other stakeholders for the critical cause of a greener planet kick started by the facilitators over two months ago.

Consultant Environmental Geologist, University of Port Harcourt, Dr Gaidom Ferdinand, jolted participants to the need for all to be counted in taking urgent actions as he peeped into the gloomy picture of unhealthy emissions in Nigeria in a presentation on, “Climate Change is Here – Observable Facts and Figures”.

According to Gaidom, “Increase in greenhouse gases especially carbon dioxide has been described by the scientific community as the single biggest threat to man’s continued existence on the planet.

“We’ve been able to, at the moment, identify 107 individual flare sites operating continuously day and night. The collective gas released daily from these flares amounts 70Million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere daily.

“It’s intriguing that at a time we should be diversifying our sources of income in this country, we are still flaring gas and burning away valuable resources, dwindling our economic wellbeing and compromising our environmental health.

“In Azerbaijan, they hardly flare gas. They gather, process their associated gas and pipe to communities. Instead of flaring this gas, Nigeria should implement the environmental guidelines and regulations already in place to cut down flaring, set up systems to process and use the gas for different energy purposes to drive industries.”

Prof Gabriel Umoh, addressing ‘Factors and Challenges of Sustainable Tree Planting and Preservation in Akwa Ibom State and Way Forward’, outlined Soil Quality, Temperature and Growth Rate among essential factors for successful tree planting.

He advocated critical steps, including Policy and International Cooperation, implementing policies to reduce emissions and collaborating on global climate agreements like the Paris Agreement.

Managing Director, FOSDO, Dr. Anthony Chovwen, said the Foundation’s is, “Glad it’s thoughts to NDDC got approval. This is why we’ve this programme going on now for over two months now across the Niger Delta.

“We started with actual tree planting on the Eastern Bypass in Port Harcourt, Rivers state. NDDC then felt beyond tree planting, a pilot stage of the programme, we should go to the different Niger Delta states to reawaken the practice of tree planing through sensitization.

“We do tree planting because it is one of the surest way to mitigate the challenge of climate change. It’s proven all over the world. The carbon balance is integral. We (humans) take a lot of oxygen and produce a whole lot of carbon dioxide. Once there is no balance between what we give and take, there is an imbalance.

“The trees are our best bet to absorb the carbon dioxide released through human or industrial footprints. There are industrial pollution everywhere. The tree is our carbon sink that takes the carbon from the atmosphere while releasing oxygen we all need.”

Chovwen urged all, “Make tree planting part of your life. Take this message to anyone you come across. When you have significant event in your life plant a tree. A birth or death is recorded, plant tree to not just remember the day but to contribute to the fight against climate change.

“And we are happy students are embracing it with all enthusiasm because they are they future. Beyond us they will carry on.”

The Director, NDDC, Akwa Ibom State Office, Evong Evong, summed that, “One of the key mandates of NDDC is to see how we can manage the environment sustainably. One key area of sustaining the environment is afforestation through tree planting.

“These trees are source of life to mankind. NDDC being a responsive agency of government took the bull by the horn to champion sustainability of our planet by this initiative.”

Among tangible step at pushing towards the initiative’s goals, a symbolic planting of an economic tree was done at the construction site of the NDDC permanent office in Uyo, just as a Corps members representing each state of the federation from among 2000 Corp members reach with the campaign were given trees to plant.