Earth Day: Kaduna Stakeholders Emphasises Need to Protect earth species
By Our Reporter, Kaduna
Ahead of this year’s Earth Day commemoration which comes up every April 22, critical stakeholders on environment in Kaduna on Thursday marked the day with a call on protection of earth’s species.
The stakeholders, which include representatives of government, civil society organizations, media and citizens had converged in Kaduna State University (KASU) to brainstorm and come up with practical steps to address some of human activities that are responsible for rapid extinction of some of the earth’s species.
Deputy Speaker, Kaduna State House of Assembly, Nuhu Goro Shadalafiya, doing symbolic tree planting as part of the highlights of the event in Kaduna on Thursday.
The event was organised by a Kaduna-based non-governmental organization called Bridge That Gap in conjunction with the Centre for Energy and Environmental Research Studies, Kaduna State University with support from Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF).
Addressing the participants on the need to protect the nature, Director, Centre for Energy and Environmental Research Studies (KASU), Dr Yahya Saleh, said, it was the sole responsibility of human to protect all species on earth as it sole custodian.
He said, “it is our duty to protect species on earth. Hardly will you go to your grandparents village without listening to different sonorous songs from different species of birds. But do we have them today in our cities?
“Human activities are affecting our sustainable development. People cut trees for so many reasons; for cooking, road construction, for building, industrialization and all that. These activities are causing serious changes on our environment. We must discourage deforestation and encourage afforestation.
“Here in KASU, one of our top concerns is to make sure we reduce deforestation and increase afforestation. We have been on top of this. All of us here today must go back and spread this message to people around us,” he urged.
Shedding light on this year’s theme, “Protect Our species”, Dean, Facaulty of Science, KASU, Dr Sodiq Abdul, said, “when we say species, it indicate many habitats that make up the earth where human are the most dangerous due to its activities thereby endangering others.
“Thank God science community is coming up with initiative to address some of those things. Let this not just remain here. We need to spread the information. The earth itself is in danger and this is the only home we have. We need to protect it and that is why this meeting is very important to us”, he emphasised.
The Founder, Bridge That Gap, Gloria Kasang Bulus, who conveyed the meeting, decried rapid extinction of aquatic lives and other endangered species and called for concerted efforts to check the trend.
She then called on the government, civil society, media and citizens to come together and save all species the nature has for humans as it interact with his environment so as to have something left behind for incoming generations.
