Experts urge campaign to protect nation’s biodiversity

With 90 per cent of the world’s population exposed to dirty air and other environmental challenges on daily basis, experts have called for increased awareness on nature conservation in order to reap its immeasurable benefits in products and services.

They spoke at different fora to mark the World Environmental Day (WED) in Lagos and Abuja. At an event organised by the Lagos Zonal Office of the Federal Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and the National Environmental Standards and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA), the Minister of State for Environment, Jibril Usman Ibrahim said reconnecting back to nature will afford the society an opportunity to reawaken consciousness to the countless ways Natural systems support human existence and wellbeing.

Ibrahim who was represented by the Federal Controller for Environment, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Agbenla listed ways to maintain connectivity to nature to include; planting economic trees, properindustrial/waste management, protecting bio-diversities, a walk through the forest or horticultural garden and collective effort to preserve the planet earth.

The Founder, the Friends of the Environment (FOTE), Mrs. Joanna Maduka harps on the need to adopt renewable energy to avert the crimes of deforestation, which she said is leading the society to social and ecological problems.

The guest speaker, Prof. Abiodun Denloye of the department of Zoology and Environmental Biology, Lagos State University, said that despite the fact that Nigeria population constitute about 2.3 per cent of the world population, its unfriendly activities towards the environment would significantly affect the global population.

Also speaking during a tree planting exercise to commemorate the day in Abuja, the president of Association of Flower Nursery and Landscaping Practitioners Abuja (AFNALPA) Mary Omoh noted that the environment is highly polluted by poisonous chemicals and increasing level of industrialization.

She said deforestation and other adverse climatic conditions have caused some ailments in the country today, and this is as a result of emission released into the environment,

In a related development, the Director General, Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), Mr. Adeniyi Karunwi has urged Nigerians to protect the earth by avoid any habit that could wreck havoc thereby making the earth lose it natural vitality.

Speaking at the event organized by the foundation in collaboration with some environment friendly partners namely IHS, United Nations Information [UNIC], Nigerian Bottling Company and about 500 students from different private public schools in Lagos, he said the theme of the celebration, “Connecting people to Nature “ is crucial because people no longer appreciate nature’s beauty and its importance as well as ignorant of the role they could play in protecting the earth and the nations’ national heritage.