Expert advise on the importance of tree planting

  

    An ecologist, Mr Abdullahi Aremu, has urged Nigerians to plant more trees this rainy season to aid efforts to preserve the environment.

   Aremu, who is the Director-General, Advocacy for Environmental and Sanitation Integrity, an NGO, gave the advice in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday. He urged the government at all levels to provide tree seedlings for the citizens and intensify its public awareness campaigns on the importance of trees to the ecosystem.

   According to him, if more trees are planted, it will assist the Federal Government in its plans to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. NAN recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22, 2016, signed the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) designed to deal with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance with effect from 2020.

   It is aimed at strengthening global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. It is also aimed at pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Aremu urged Nigerians to plant more trees to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the consequences of climate change. He said that trees were indispensable in the ecosystem as they absorbed gases, smoke and other forms of pollution that were released into the atmosphere.

   The ecologist said that trees particularly absorbed carbon dioxide, which was exhaled by human beings, while releasing oxygen for human beings to inhale. However, Aremu underscored the need for Nigerians to have access to tree seedlings and be trained in the art of tree planting. He said that the citizens should also be educated on how to adopt global best practices to mitigate the adverse effects of human actions on the ecosystem. (NAN)