DAILY TRUST
Thursday, June n, 201 1
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Environment
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Desertification: Kano to plant 2m trees 8,Rllq~YYlh Yusul AJiyu
wn'Ha view orcontrolllngdtsC'rtiIkatlo" in KanoSt,\lc, the st.ategovemmen! will breed and plant 2 million seedlings, the state governor, Dr Rabiu Mus« !("'l'lItkwltso hl!! said Kwankwaso was speaking while m:eiving membtTs of the Aliican
Dcsmi fi cation Control Initiative along with Chinese experts on d<:scrtificalioo control. lie said it ;s unfortunate Ihal there was no single tree planted by the stale govmlment in the past two years.. He said the seedlings will be planted as soon as possible while the state wilt look inlo the possibil-
it)' of planting them this rainy se.wm ifpossible. lle said planting of trees is om: of the ways through which desertification. which has COllS! i· tuted a huge problem in many COWltries orlhe ....1lfId. could be tamed. n le govnnor furthn said il is unfortunate that despite the: PfCSSmg need rortrees, ~previ0U5adminis-
tr.ltion has' nOl. planted 8 single tm in the state during the past two yean and assw-ed tha t the 2 million trees would be planted within the shortest possible time. Speaking earlier, Executive Dirtttor, Africa Deserti fication Control Initiative Umar D:mladi Dahiru said his OfKallintion which
commcnced opcmlion in 2008 has initialed lots or projeclll in the area or dcscrtifiC:llilln control. Danlatli 5.1id his organizlllion hM recently entered inlo eol1 nbomtiOfl in the area or ~ifiC"alion COfllrolsnd Kano has been selected to be one of the bcncfiningstntes in the COWltr)'.
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Don tasks FG, states on environment regeneration fromfmlM!lntI!, 1.2gc!s A uni\"CBit)' don, Profc:ssor M.A Oniludc of the Unh-mity of lbacian, 0,'0 State has cal1ed on the I'edmJ and !tate govnnmenls including indiv,duals to jcin hand in the mC"e for en\;rorunenta! regenmtion. ProfessorOnl1ude made the caD yesterday in lagos in a paper presenlation to mark this )UIS Envirorumnta! Oay. where he Slated that Nlgtria'sddOre5l800n mle Is~bout J5 percent perreannd thaI thecountry's roreslS~)'occupy92J.761km2
representing IOpm:m1 ofthenatioris IOrot land a~ [)eIil'l:l"ing hiS paperon the UltTTlt for lhls )"e\I", ~FortSlS: Nat\lre at ''Our Senn~ Ihe wm-mitvdon noItd that current Nigert!S fOrest bnd;ma is wdl below r-ood and Agrirultural Orgzni$Ilion (FAO) ~mcnded national minlmumof15pcrcenl I Ie ~ that 5OI11C SlaI.e gtJ\"ttTImcnl~ \\"~Ie rrn1O\ing UIC prot«lcd stltus from roresc esL3l.es \\lthoul ~ for the Cl1\;ronlnent and the Iawscsrabltshit'8such cst3lc:s.. 11le ~'O;(lI" hinted um as UIC Iinsts ~ exploit~ $0 Is the biodh"t'J"Sil): "P\;ull and anirmJ ~lI.'1ic resources arulsolost with 1M impor· 1."\111 genetic rtSOlIIUvit:u for breeding in futuft'. Conservi/lgthe\\ikl relatkl"S ufrulth'8ledcropsisil&l ll«ded in Ihis countrf, he !llaintainro. r:rulift-, the Permanent 5«rtfaI}~ OfflCCorDr.UmgeServicesil1 thestalH Minl5tI)' of EIl\iromllenl, Engineo Mu)'id«11 AktIl$l.Il)'8 admitted thai. in N""1gtria. \-ar1ous 1Om~ ofmvironmenial abuses. including indiscriminate re(use dumping. bush burning, high f~1 fuel consumption and defortstalion leading to depdation are widespread resulting in ule Imbalanceof the tCOS)'S'Ic:m. Hesaid, "ckbestalion Isa serious probItm In Nigeria. which currmll)' has one of the highesl rates of forest k5 in the wurld:'
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Youthshold climate workshop on thehillsand art &crafts exhibition 8, ltnll ima m T BE Nigerian You th ClimateCoalition (NYCC) which aims to inspire. empower and unlle )'oung people around a vision of a cleaner and Fairer future, in collaboration v.ith GreenBack Nigeria. oTB"nized a workshop on hills and an art and crart exhibition in Gwarimpa, Abuj~ tocelebrateth~ Wexld Environment Da),2011. . n.c ,\~wasorg:mized for yOUllg mountain hikers and frimds on the Bills of Gwarimpa to raise awareness on climale change, forest and biodiversity eonseo'3l.ion
OIt Saturda)'. Junc 4, 20 I0 loexprc:ss theirconccrnon environment in lin~ ""ith the theme of the World Environment Ony 20 11 which is "Fort'SlS: Nature at Your SCl"Vice.· People climbing the mmUltain were from all walks of life. including members of environment pr0tection organisations. doctors, entrcpreneun, artists and eollege ~~~.
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First they discussed the impact orelimate change on forests., II\'in8 environment oFhumans and human health. 1llen uley raised various suggcslions on promoting environment prolectlon b."'IS«l on pc:BOn:J!
experiences, soch lIS use of clean energy and proper dispooal of garbage. In lhe end, the people signed indicating Ulcir commitment towards the push for a climale mange commission bill which wi ll make Nigeria ha\'e a sustainable plan for protecting !he environment. "In our daily life as youngpeopie. wc can do a lot to prolect the environment. One of them is by raising awareness about the need 10 protect the elwironment. The: 5«ond is by changing our li festyle." said Esther Agbarakwe. fOl.lllder and National Co-ordinator of Nigeria
Youth CI imate Coalition (NYCC). She further decried the lack of suslainro youth invol\'C111ent in national climate change re,<>.ponsc: stmtegies and implom:l thatthc climate chonge bill be signed by the I'resident. The World Em'ironment Da), (WED) was established by the United Nations Gtnml1 AS5Cmbly to mark the opening of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Iluman and EnvrronmenLCelebrating WED IS about the inspir.ltional POWCI" of individU:lI actions that collecti\'ely become an exponential fOltt for positi\'e change.
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pie o Fthe state in order to reduce THE Bauchi State Governor, Mal unemploymenl part icularly among the youlhs in tllestale. l~ Yuguua, has ass ured that the long ab<'lndoned Kali n Zakl Dam A stalement from the Chief rro;ect will ~ \igorou~l)' pursued Press Secreta!)' to Ihe govcrnor. by his administration un til it is Ishola ~ liehad Adcyemi also indiealed thai when eventually comcompleted in the nex t fou r rears. TIlc govcrnor audcd thai the plcted.lhe mUlti-purpose dam will l im of his administration 10 seeing be used to open up the industrial hat the Kofin-Zaki Dam project capabil ities ofule Sl31e, adding that ""as completed is to use it as a II couole or manufaeturin2 comoa-
It is also expecled that clashes between cattle rearers and fanners wi ll be II Ihing of the past with the completion o r Ihe project as more gr.t.1.i ng grounds will be opened up enough for call ie to gnu:c throughout the yenr thcreby promoling cordiality among nil ihe people of the areas. Already. most of Ihe feasibi litv works M well as en"ironmen-
done while all thai is remaining is Pulling fi nishing touches into the mod:llities Ihal will be used in thc conllnencement orlhe work II the projcet sile. wilh the gO\'emor calling 011 all Ihe 5takeholders 10 join hands wi th his administration in completing the project. Among man ufacturing companies thai wi ll be established on comoletion of the oroiect is the
wel l as rice milling company COilsidering thaI rice wi ll be produeed in a large quanUty all-round Ihe year. Yugudn then appealed for cooperation from al l those who are skeptica l aboutlhe project saying thaI all inten:-sts have bttn considered and at the end oril all, the benefit ofthe project will come 10 all. includinl!. I!.enerations unborn.