NCF canvasses collaborative efforts on environmental sustainability

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) in commemoration of the World Environment Day (WED) 2017, has called for collaborative efforts amongst the government, private sectors, and all stakeholders on environmental sustainability as a proactive action plan and response to the climate change challenges.
The World Environment Day, celebrated annually on June 8 in more than 100 countries, brings together over six million people across the globe to create awareness about the state of the environment and deliberate on what local actions are necessary to ensure global environmental sustainability.
The 2017 WED, organised by the NCF in conjunction with IHS, United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) with the theme, ‘Connecting pPople to Nature’, engaged over 500 students from both public and private schools across Lagos on tree planting, advocacy and environmental sustainability.
Adeniyi Karunwi,NCF’s Director General/CEO, in his address, said efforts to defeat poverty and pursue sustainable development would be wasted if environmental degradation and natural resource depletion are allowed to continue unabated.
According to him, “today’s occasion is a vital avenue to remind ourselves, especially the children of today who are the adults of tomorrow, that we need to cherish our natural resources and its history as a sacred heritage for our children and the future generation,” he opined.
Speaking on the importance of this year’s theme, Karunwi said it challenges humanity to find exciting ways to experience and cherish the relationship with nature. “We should not continue wrecking our poor planet as we have not inherited the earth from our forebears to do with it what we wish but have borrowed it from our children and must be careful to use it in their interest as well as our own,” he said.
WED serves as an advocacy tool for engaging the government, private sector, NGOs, and other stakeholders to protect and sustain the environment.
WED celebration is a major medium by which students’ express global environmental concerns within the peculiarity of their environment. The 2017 celebration equally availed the students the opportunity of public enlightenment and advocacy on Climate Change, Waste Management, Ocean Surge, Deforestation, and other human activities that affect the environment.