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Mrs. Abimbola Fashola (L) planting a tree to flag-off the 2009 Lagos State Tree Planting Campaign at UPS Busstop Lagos while others look on.
Mrs. Abimbola Fashola (L) watering a tree after planting to flag-off the 2009 Lagos State Tree Planting Campaign at UPS Busstop Lagos.Jul 14, 2009 - 2009 Edition Of Tree Planting Day
Today, we are once again fulfilling the pledge of our Administration to institutionalize the tree planting campaign by declaring the 14th of July every year as a tree planting day in Lagos State.
This exercise, designed to strengthen our tree planting advocacy, is part of the various steps taken by this Administration to combat global warming and regenerate the environment for healthy living.
The United Nations theme for the celebration of this year’s World Environment Day celebration on June 5, 2009 was “Your planet needs you, unite to combat Climate Change”.
Trees are known to be very useful in reducing carbon-dioxide, a major contributor to Green House Gases and replenishing the air with oxygen. Apart from these, trees improve the aesthetic value of the environment. They also provide shade; prevent erosion, help minimize flooding and act as wind breakers thereby protecting us from the adverse effects of windstorm and hazards of nature.
The danger of Global Warming is now a common knowledge with its attendant rise on water bodies- oceans, seas, lagoons, and rivers which have resulted in flood ravaging the globe.
Global warming is caused by emission of green house gases into the atmosphere thus depleting the ozone layer. The resilience and strength of trees in absorbing this gas emission cannot be overemphasized.
We are now confronted with the adverse effects of man’s unconscious battle against nature, which has caused untold hardship over the years globally. Man is gradually falling from nature’s favour hence an urgent need to retrace his steps.
When we launched the tree planting campaign last year in Lagos, we were conscious of the huge task before us and today we can confidently say that we are likely to surpass our target of 1 million trees in 4 years.
Apart from the 250 thousand trees planted during the launch, a lot more have been planted by governmental agencies, corporate organizations, Non Governmental Organizations and individuals who have not only keyed in to the initiative but have been willingly replicating it. On behalf of the Government of Lagos State, I express our appreciation for your support.
As the population of the world increases daily, there is unquestionably an urgent need to build more houses, establish more industries, make more furniture, build more schools and equip them with tables and chairs among other needs.
It is true that we get most of these materials, including the books and papers that we use in schools and offices, from trees. The challenge we face is coming up with ways of meeting our human needs without continuing to hurt mother earth and endangering our lives in the process.
It is thus of utmost importance that not only must we immediately put a stop to indiscriminate felling of trees, deforestation and bush burning, illegal reclamation of wet lands and buffer zones in Lagos State; we have a duty to preserve nature by planting more trees so that the next generation can get wood for homes, schools, hospitals, furniture, books and so much more. We simply cannot consume and refuse to produce.
You will recall that Administration took the decisive step to protect the existing trees from indiscriminate felling by embarking on a statewide tree tagging, enumeration and identification exercise.
I am happy to announce that the enumeration of trees in Ikeja GRA, Apapa and Ikoyi has been completed. At the end of the exercise, 3088 trees were counted in the three zones and they were tagged with botanical and local names depicting their usefulness.
This exercise is continuous and we shall continue to do everything within the ambit of the law to protect the existing trees and plant more.
We appreciate that at times it becomes absolutely unavoidable that trees be felled. In such situations, permission must be obtained from the requisite authorities while steps must be taken to plant replacements. Since it takes years for trees to mature, we insist that when a tree must of necessity be felled, 10 (ten) trees should be planted in its place.
Our administration will continue to work assiduously to protect the present and future generations from the scourge of global warming and Climate Change.
The Climate Change Clubs we established in our schools are growing from strength to strength and today our children are effective partners with us in the effort to contain global warming. One of the commendable efforts in this regard is the educative film on global warming produced by our school children entitled “If only…”
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I charge all Lagosians to join hands in the protection of existing trees and in planting trees at every given opportunity. Let us make tree planting a cardinal part of our culture by becoming faithful ambassadors of tree planting.
I thank you immensely for your attention.
Eko o ni baje o
Her Excellency
Mrs. Abimbola Fashola
First Lady of Lagos State