LIFE-ND plants 3,000 trees in Abia communities–
By Leonard Okachie
The Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise for Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) says it has planted over 3,000 stands of economic trees across communities in Abia.
The State Project Coordinator, LIFE-ND, Dr Uchenna Onyeizu, spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia on Thursday, in commemoration of World Forestry Day, also known as the International Day of Forests.
The World Forestry Day is marked every March 21 to raise public awareness about the values, significance and contributions of the forests to balance the life cycle on the earth.
He explained that LIFE-ND, as an agribusiness project, had been involved in a lot of activities to mitigate the impact of climate change on the environment.
Onyeizu, who is also the State Chairman of Nigerian Environmental Society, argued that agriculture was the first human profession that has had serious damage on the environment.
According to him, part of the wisdom of the project is to mainstream climate change and environment.
“And in doing that, we have been able to ensure that most of the things we do have a reduced impact on the environment.
“We have planted over 3,000 stands of economic trees across our communities and in the next two or three weeks we will also push for another 3,000.
“We make efforts to ensure that we identify a community member who will help us look after those trees for the next six months, when they must have stabilised,’’ he said.
Onyeizu said the project had also gone towards sensitising the community members on the need for them to engage in selective cutting down of trees.
He said that the project had always encouraged the people to always plant at least two or three trees, for every tree they cut.
Also, the Environment and Climate Change Specialist for LIFE-ND, Abia, Mr Chidozie Kanu, urged individuals to plant a minimum of two trees within they found themselves.
He said that LIFE-ND had been involved in tree planting activities and sensitisation in order “to save our environment.”
Kanu said that the core emphasis was to make the beneficiaries and the community stakeholders see the exercise as a way of life.
“Trees purify the air we breathe, control erosion, provide us fruits, add aesthetic value as well as give us that ambient climate environment,” he said.
NAN reports that LIFE-ND is a project of the Federal Government in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The project which targets youths from 18 to 35 years old, as well as women-headed households, is designed to solve food insecurity in the nine Niger Delta states.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Chijioke Okoronkwo
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