AFRICA/NIGERIA – Over 5 million trees to be planted in 5 years: the project to combat desertification promoted by the Nigerian Bishops

Africa/Nigeria – Over 5 million trees to be planted in 5 years: Project to combat desertification promoted by Nigerian bishops

ABUJA (Agenzia Fides) – The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) will plant 5.5 million trees over the next five years to mitigate the effects of climate change in the country. As a result, the conference launched a tree planting campaign tagged: ‘Green Revolution Campaign’, which is being championed by Caritas Nigeria.
Speaking at the launch of the project in Abuja, CBCN Chairperson, Ms. Metropolitan Archbishop of Owerriha, Lucius Ugorji, said the church’s more than 50 dioceses have been instructed to plant 20,000 trees.
Archbishop Ugorji pointed out that the project is geared towards saving the environment from imminent destruction due to the threat of climate change, which is characterized by extreme rainfall, rising sea levels, floods, severe droughts, desert encroachment in 12 northern states, loss of biodiversity and appears as. Conflict due to the scramble for shrinking agricultural and grazing land.
Executive Director, Caritas Nigeria, Fr. Uchechukwu Obodochina said the intervention would reduce the farmer-herders crisis and other climate change problems faced by humans and animals.
Archbishop Ugorji also said that improper waste management is a major cause of environmental degradation, with tons of plastic material choking communities, and clogging waterways, which, among other things, poses a threat to fish fauna. Is.
The Director General of the National Agency for Great Green Walls (NAGGW), Dr. Joseph Maina-Booker commended the Bishops Conference for this initiative, saying that it would help address threats to the livelihoods of over 40 million people whose livelihoods depend on Is in danger. by climate change and urged other religious institutions across the country to emulate the action, “to ensure an environment conducive to sustainable environmental management in Nigeria and proper inclusion”.
NAGGW, which belongs to the Ministry of the Environment, was established by an Act of the Abuja Parliament in 2015, and is linked to the Great Green Wall initiative in Africa, conceived by the African Union in 2007 to combat land degradation, increase food security and Support communities in sub-Saharan Africa to adapt to climate change. (LM) (Agency Fides, 14/3/2023)

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