Chime Bags Friend of the Environment Award

The Second National Vice-President, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, {NITP}, TPL. Chief Ogbonna Chime has received the prestigious Friend of the Environment Award.

The award was conferred on him by the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State at an event to mark the 2021 World Environment Day and the 14^th Annual Lecture of the Faculty.

The award was in recognition of his immense contributions to environmental and human development.

Speaking on the award, Chief Chime thanked the Faculty for considering him worthy for the award and assured that he will continue to lend his support to any initiatives that will help in protecting the ecosystem.

TPL Chime who is also the Enugu State representative, Town Planners Registration Council, (TOPREC) described the theme of the event, “Ecosystem Restoration: Supporting the Economy to Cope with the Challenges of Covid-19 Global Pandemic in Nigeria’’, as apt and decried increasing ecological imbalance in the country and advocated development of master plan for every settlement as part of measures to restore the ecosystem.

“The fact of the matter is that we have ecological imbalance everywhere because there are no physical development plans prepared ahead of time to guide our settlements. The ecosystem can only be restored when man realizes the need to respect the environment which is made up of biotic and abiotic variables interacting naturally to produce a balance. It is this resulting ecological balance that guarantees sustainability of resources. The Master Plan follows the course of nature by ensuring that every stakeholder takes part in its preparation and implementation”.

According to TPL. Chime, preparation and careful implementation of a master plan for a proposed settlement is a viable option to restoring the ecosystem stressing that such plan has provisions for every land user – “be it man, the lower animals or plants in a well ordered form”.

Earlier in a welcome address, the Dean, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Professor Ifeanyi Enete said the event was primarily organized to reawaken the consciousness of government, institution and individuals in taking deliberate steps to restore degraded and destroyed ecosystem and in addition fight climate crisis, water supply, and livelihood.

According to Prof. Enete, to secure the safety of nature and human race especially the 3.2 billion people, that is, 40% of the world’s population currently affected by continued degradation of ecosystem, the natural carbon sinks such as forest and peatlands must be revived so as to close the climate emission gap by 25% by 2030.

He disclosed that the institution’s Faculty of Environmental Sciences in supporting nature-based solutions to climate change and facilitating the transition towards environment resilient, ecological targeted initiatives covering afforestation and biodiversity conservation, has launched an Ecosystem Restoration Fund (ERF).

He said “The lecture is the roadmap on how to expand, or restore the country’s forest. The campaign includes restoring mangroves and forests, as well as planting trees in urban settings, including schools, colleges, public parks and green belts. The lecture is also coined to reflect the COVID-19 global pandemic, the year 2020 was a year of reckoning, facing multiple crises, including a global pandemic, and the continued crisis of climate nature and pollution.

“Reviving natural carbon sinks-such as forests and peatlands could help close the climate emission Gap by 25% by 2030. Replanting with native trees species can also help buffer some of the expected devastating effects of a warming planet, such as increased risk of forest fires. Currently, 3.2 billion people, that is 40% of the world’s population suffer from continued degradation of ecosystem, for example, by losing access to fertile soil or safe drinking water”.

He said deliberate and urgent steps must be taken to restore the ecosystem and called on government at all levels, nongovernmental organizations, institutions, communities, individuals to draw together, political support, scientific research and financial muscle to massively scale up ecosystem restoration.

“In 2021, we must take deliberate steps to move from crisis to healing, and in so doing, we must realize that the restoration of nature is imperative to the survival of our planet, and the human race. The lecture, therefore, is a call to massively scale up the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems to fight the climate crisis, water supply livelihoods.

“To achieve restoration, at the required scale incentives and financial investments must be made in changing the way lands and oceans are exploited in research and education. To us in the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, we have launched an Ecosystem Restoration Fund to support nature-based solutions to climate change, and facilitate the transition towards environmentally resilient, ecologically targeted initiatives covering afforestation and biodiversity conservation.

Delivering a lecture on the theme of the event “Ecosystem Restoration: Supporting the Economy to Cope with the Challenges of Covid-19 Global Pandemic in Nigeria’’, the Guest Lecturer, Professor Phil Eze said the adverse impact of covid-19 together with ecosystem mismanagement have crippled the nation’s economy and resulted to exploitation of the ecosystem resources which has also led to a fall in production of basis for human survival and depletion of environmental resources.

Prof Eze however recommended 20 Action Plan to address the situation which includes long-term harmony in the economic and ecological practices for all generations, reduction of pressure that initiated ecosystem degradation and keying into existing multilateral protocols to which Nigeria is a signatory and ratified among others.

Other awardees are the Speaker, Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon. Uche Okafor, the Director-General, Clear Drainage and Forest Preservation Agency, Chido Obidiegwu, Former Chief of Army Staff, Azubike Ihejirika, as well as the CEO Innoson Group, Chief Dr. Innocent Chukwuma and Member representing Enugu North Senatorial District, Senator Chukwuma Utazi among others.