AWKA — The Anambra government has called on residents to shun unhealthy environmental practices which were contributing to erosion menace and other degradation.
Mr. Obi Nwankwo, Commissioner for Environment in Anambra made the call at an event marking the 2021 World Environment Day (WED) celebration in Awka on Saturday.
The theme for this year’s celebration was “Ecosystem Restoration”
Nwankwo who was represented by Dr. Emmanuel Okafor, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry said erosion was the greatest threat to the environment in the state and needed conscious effort to be tackled.
He said the green environment must be protected to ensure that the interaction between man, air, and trees was maintained noting that apart from saving the earth, it also ensured that humans enjoy good health.
Okafor said Anambra was fast losing its land which could have been used for construction and farming to erosion with over 1,000 active sites.
He said people should plant trees, evacuate waste properly and develop buildings in such a way the flood doesn’t become a challenge to the surrounding.
“The message is that people should know that we cannot survive without the environment, our lives are anchored on the environment, the food we are, the air we breathe, the land we cultivate and others.
“Restoring the ecosystem means we have to save our greenery, ensure that the temperature does but rise such that we get burnt and our earth begins to wash away and shrink available farming land,” he said.
Okafor said there was a need the check unbridled grazing to avert desertification which was being experienced in the northern part of the country.
On his part, Mr. Mike Ivenso, Project Coordinator of Nigeria Erosion Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) said it was more cost-effective to prevent erosion than controlling it.
Ivenso who was represented by Emeka Achebe, Communications Officer of NEWMAP said instead of erosion human attitude to the environment was the greatest threat to its sustainability.
Achebe said residents should take ownership of their environment in view of its importance to human existence.
He said inculcating the right attitude to the environment was one of the greatest achievements of NEWMAP apart from the 13 sites it actually intervened and rescued across the state.
Also speaking, Mrs. Juliana Edochie, a Director in the ministry of agriculture said people should covert available land around their surroundings to homestead farms.
Edochie said this would help conserve the environment and boost self-sufficiency in food production.
This tears WED was celebrated in conjunction with “Earth, Environment and Climate Change Ambassador” an environment bases Civil Society group in Anambra.
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