Don tasks Nigerians on tree planting, environmental protection

The Vice Chancellor of Kola Daisi University (KDU), Ibadan, Prof Adeniyi Olatunbosun, has called on Nigerians to protect the environment and support green projects such as tree planting.

Olatunbosun made the call during the tree planting exercise and KDU Greening Campaign commissioning, organised to commemorate the fourth convocation ceremony of the university. Climate change and its attendant challenges have over the years gained traction globally with the United Nations calling on member states and other organisations to take necessary action to arrest the situation.

According to him, issues of global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer, drought, flood, erosion, deforestation, poor waste management systems and other human activities carried out by individuals, groups and industries have created negative impacts on the environment.

To achieve the mission, the vice chancellor said, the United Nations Climate Change Conference created a platform and opportunity for all nations to identify global solutions for limiting global temperature to 1.5 degrees. “Beyond national actions, securing our environment from the impending doom becomes a collective responsibility of all and sundry”, he said.

He urged institutions, groups and individuals to take up the challenge and be intentional towards the success of the green project. “Tree planting is an easy, cheap and important measure to mitigate the various effects of climate change,’’ the professor said, saying that the university took the step in line with the UNFCCC to inculcate the greening idea into the university system through the tree planting project.

He said: “We plan to initiate the minds of the KDU community into this project by making each person plant a tree and nurture them to maturity. This is to enable us to create an ambience conducive for both learning and leisure for everyone on campus, and to make it a culture that lives with us, mostly for our students even after graduation.’’

According to him: ‘’Trees control erosion, flood, and storm, thereby saving the environment from havocs that these could cause us; trees give us clearer and fresher air/oxygen or carbon dioxide to breathe by improving the quality of the air.

Also, trees absorb carbon monoxide, gas emissions and fumes released from usage of fossil fuels that pollute the air. Trees prevent water pollution and also act as a buffer for noise pollution. Trees conserve energy, support, and beautify our environment.’’ He, therefore, called on Nigerians ‘’to join the university in the tree planting project to engender freshness into KDU and beautify our campus.’’