With regular emission of carbon into the atmosphere, climate change has continued to impact adversely on the ecosystems and organisms, causing significant damages in all spheres of life.
Severe weather and rising sea levels are affecting people and their properties in developed and developing countries.
Unprecedented flooding is destroying the ecosystems and causing infrastructural damages. People are facing different health challenges due to either excessive cold or heat wave and other forms of weather hazards.
If nothing is done as a matter of urgency, climate change will undo a lot of the progress made over the past years in both human and infrastructural development.
The consequences could be severe and almost irreversible. We must do all within our capacity, and fast, too, to reduce the greenhouse gases and emissions to the barest level as well as build climate change resilience.
Concerning the preservation of our environment, tree planting remains a veritable and age-long means of fighting desertification and reforestation. Trees provide enormous benefits to our everyday lives.
They filter the air, prevent erosion, provide fresh drinking water, and create home for thousands of species of plants and animals. Trees serve as wind breakers and help insulate homes as well as reduce heat.
It is on this premise and their continued effort to mitigate Climate Change, achieve a sustainable greener environment that CE Solutions, GSR 360, SMP Media Group and One Million Tree Initiative, (NGO) are collaborating in a tree planting drive.
The exercise is scheduled to hold at Omole Housing Estate, phase 1, Ikeja, in commemoration of the 2024 edition of World Environment Day, on June 5.
With the Theme 2024: Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience, the 2024 edition of World Environment Day focuses on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience, as the year marks the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, up to 40 per cent of the planet’s land is degraded, directly affecting half of the world’s population and threatening roughly half of global GDP (US$44 trillion).
The number and duration of droughts has increased by 29 per cent since 2000. Without urgent action, droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world’s population by 2050.
Land restoration is a key pillar of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, which is critical to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
According to Josfyn Uba, Co-founder, One Million Tree Initiative, “We cannot sit and fold our hands while we watch our planet ebb away. We must take action, fight the scourge and build a sustainable world for everyone.
Therefore, for us at the One Million Tree Initiative, we passionately seek to preserve the ecosystem by planting trees in various communities and schools.
“This is not the first large-scale tree planting project we are executing. We have carried out several tree planting projects in collaboration with Rotary Club of Lekki Phase 1. Last year, we planted 100 cocoanut trees in partnership with the Club, under the eigies of Rotary International”.
“We desire to lay solid foundation for enhanced adaptation and mitigation capacity to combat climate change. Our focus is not only to steer conversations across board about tree planting, environment and climate science, but to also create action. In the next ten years of this project, we are projecting that people will learn, connect, conserve, plant and care for trees in our communities.
“Now, we are glad to partner with CE Solutions, GSR 360 and SMP Media Group because we share the same vision and ideals of impacting positively on humanity. We desire to save our planet through our collective effort. Together, we can achieve our common goal while looking forward to worthwhile venture.”
For David Adesanya of GSR 360, “We are proud partners in this tree planting drive we acknowledge the enormity of the economic destruction and unprecedented deaths from floods, wildfires and severe drought due to climate change. These are enough proof that Climate Change is real. The impacts and risks are becoming increasingly complex and more difficult to manage. We have to vastly increase our efforts because the world obviously is sitting on a time bomb.
“It is imperative, therefore, that the world must transform its energy, industry, transport, food, agriculture and forestry systems to ensure that we can limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees, maybe even 1.5. We also need to anticipate, adapt and become resilient to the current and future impacts of climate change. All hands must be on deck to save the earth”.
In the words of Ugo Ogoke, Chief Brand Strategist/MD of SMP Media Group, “Our involvement in this project is driven by the Carbon Neutral policy and posture of our organization. That means even, when some emissions are generated, it should be offset somewhere else with things like tree-planting to make overall emissions zero. The strain on the climate is eliminated by shrinking or compensating for global greenhouse gas emissions including carbon dioxide.
Confirming this, Emeka Ikade, Chief Creative Strategist/ED of SMP, “it is carbon neutral, or nothing”