It is the people who must save the environment. It is the people who must make their leaders change.And we cannot be intimidated. So we must stand up for what we believe in.”– Wangari Maathai

My mother complains that Lagos has been so hot in the last couple of months and I know that she is not the only one.However,my mother takes to sitting in the shade: a spacious balcony surrounded by coconut and palm trees that is slowly attempting to fan stale air. The heat is very troublesome and with incessant power cuts and the shortage of fuel for the generators, it is becoming harder to power the fans and air conditioners.

The reality of the problem is, that no amount of air conditioners, cold showers and fans is going to sort out the problem. We have an environmental concern, if you  don’t believe me, just look around you, are there any trees, where you are? Do  you live in a concrete jungle? No  sight of trees where you live, no one.. We tend to build more houses and not enough trees. The little trees we do have, we fell them for firewood.

I remember, my grandfather digging a hole to plant a guava tree in front of our home, that was many years ago. He told me that every man should plant a tree. It is only now that I understand that: “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.”

Economy

Well, to me I now understand that the future generation depends on the actions of their forebearers and that  benefit  will be felt for generations to come. My father  also planted the trees around his compound, the ones by the balcony, the very same that the young and old sit under for shelter, the young also pluck its fruits. When  I was growing up, it is common to see people take shade under the trees, and families gathered under the trees, men  meet up and play Ayo and Ludo.

Let’s be honest, most people see trees as a waste of space and, as long as they  build their homes, what is the need to plant trees or what use is the  trees that stood in their plot for many years?   Nigeria, is blessed with a land area of 983, 213 km2 occupied by more than 160 million people. We have a green enough landscape but have not been good at tending and cultivating the land, We have instead, abused, over used and under used our green spaces, while many people fell trees for building and building materials, mining resulting in soil erosion, deforestation, over crowding, urbanization, desertification and pollution.

The Data for Nigeria in the Little Green Data Book 2015 indicates that 94% of the Nigerian population is exposed to air pollution levels that exceed WHO guidelines (compared to 72% on average in Sub-Saharan Africa) and air pollution damage costs about 1 percentage post of Gross National Income.

Nigeria has no excuse, if Dubai can be an oasis in the middle of a desert, why can’t Nigeria? We should be protecting our environment and the government should be   organizing grassroots environmental programs so as to include every citizen to participate in making a a greener and a healthier Nigeria. Like environmental day, everyone has to get involved from ward to local government level and  raise community awareness training in schools, colleges and universities.

Let’s be clear: We  need to plant more trees and we need trees more than trees need us. Trees help to combat climate change, it absorbs carbon dioxide that builds up in our atmosphere, the trees store the carbon and release the oxygen back into the air. That means the quality of air in places that have more trees is better and the quality of life of those that live near tree lined areas breathe better quality of air, which is good for their lungs and less pollution and incidence of asthma and breathing problems.

So  for instance, where there is an acre of mature trees, this will provide enough oxygen for 18 people. In cities like Lagos, with over 21 million people, the pollution is very high, too many people experiencing breathing problems from the fume emissions from heavy traffic, constant emission from generators, air conditioners and  the heat intensity due to lack of  greenery and trees.Dr. Olanweraju Yusuf ,an environmental health specialist said that one of his many concerns is that electricity is unreliable and many residents in Lagos have generators in small, improperly ventilated homes. He said  “They breathe that in and it slowly poisons the blood system,”

The health  implications of these pollutants are numerous and it does markedly affects the mortality rates of its inhabitants. So, we cannot underestimate the benefit of trees in our environment. A tree lined street can help cool the streets by up to 10°F,  it  will help shade the homes and streets,and it will  provide air conditioning without the use of air conditioning, reduces the use of generators and air conditioners.

And reduces the emissions from pollutants and carcinogens from air conditioners and generators and  thereby  improving health, saving energy and money. Trees help prevent soil erosion and helps hold the soil in place and it  will prevent flooding. Although we have dark skin,we are not immune from the rays of ultraviolet exposure and skin cancer, so planting trees provide shades to protect people’s skin who tend to spend hours outdoors and for the children, there is nothing better than being able to play under the trees.

The World Health Organization, in 2012, pollution contributes to the preventable deaths of an estimated 9 million people each year. This lack of  advancement in environmental health is not lost on Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Environment, Laurentia Mallam. Speaking on Earth day event, Mallam has  pledged to improve environmental health 50 percent by 2020. “Nigerian citizens deserve air that is clean, water that is drinkable, and land that is safe from contamination,”  I  am not  convinced that the government has the commitment and will to reduce pollution by 2020.

The World Bank is working to curb the level of pollution in Lagos; by taking many cars off the road and making more public transport more efficient and accessible, but more needs to done in terms of  carpooling, greener cars and greener fuel and perhaps, tax deductions for those driving greener cars.

This is a challenge to our government officials in office; make the environment one of their top priorities and plant trees.