Environment, climate protected today are tomorrow’s inheritance —Experts

Scholars, experts, and stakeholders in the environmental health sector have stated that environmental and climate issues are everyone’s business, emphasising that the environment and climate protected today are an inheritance of tomorrow.

The stakeholders said this in Ibadan last Friday at an event in commemoration of the 2026 World Environmental Day, with the theme ‘Inspired by nature. For climate. For our future’, and organised in partnership with the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Ibadan (UI), the Child Health Environmental Safety Truth (CHEST), and other organisations.

The organisers themed the event ‘Tech, AI, and its effects on climate change: Mitigation, adaptation, and resilience’.

The Head of Department (HoD) of Environmental Health Sciences, UI, Dr Temitope Laniyan, said climate change is affecting public health and infrastructure, and that technology, research, and stakeholder partnership should be leveraged to protect the integrity of the climate and strengthen ecosystem diversity.

The national president of the Environmental Health Scientists Association of Nigeria (EHSAN), Dr O. M. Morakinyo, said that the theme of the event speaks volumes about the realities of the climate challenges the world is facing, stressing that shared commitment in line with the theme should inspire strategic partnership and meaningful action towards protecting the climate and securing the environment.

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The chairman of the event and former vice chancellor of UI, Professor Idowu Olayinka, spoke about the existential threats facing the environment as a result of climate problems, emphasising that the theme is a call to action for the future of the climate.

“What happens in one place affects other places, which is why everyone should be involved in the action to protect the climate,” Professor Olayinka said, adding that technology is a powerful tool to address the problem, but that it should be used creatively and justly.

The National Secretary of the Forestry Association of Nigeria, Professor Olukayode Ogunsanwo, who was supposed to deliver the keynote address, was represented by Mrs Okon-Akan of the Federal College of Forestry, Ibadan.

Mrs Okon-Akan spoke extensively on urbanisation and climate realities, and how they are mounting pressure on the environment and affecting life, public health, and public infrastructure.

“Urbanisation and the climate are complexly interdependent. This relationship is a reminder that the choices we make today in shaping our cities will determine the future we are building,” she said.

The lecturer explained extensively how the current urbanisation efforts are building cities, but accumulating wastes and increasing emissions in the atmosphere, which she emphasised are pressing national and global challenges that must be confronted urgently, leveraging common sense, technology, smart city innovation, financial investment, enforceable policies, and partnerships.

There was a panel discussion anchored by Professor Godson Ana of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, UI. The panel featured Dr Ayinde Akintunde from Oyo State Ministry of Health; Mr Adebayo Salaam from Oyo State Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology; Mr Peniel Jack, South-West Zonal Director of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Environmental Enforcement Agency (NESREA), and Dr Adebisi Enoch Oghene of the Department of Sustainable Studies, UI.

The panel discussed the roles of students and young people in climate change advocacy and management, the effect of climate change on public health and the environment, and the right policies and regulations that can help mitigate its effects.

The panel recommends attitudinal changes in how people treat the environment, passion and respect for nature, staying healthy, planting trees, among others, as some of the ways to mitigate climate change challenges facing the world.

In the course of the event, there were quiz and debate competitions, a documentary show about environmental sustainability, NBS challenge, and green pitch.