The Kano state governor, Abba Yusuf has warned that anyone caught engaging in indiscriminate felling of trees without authorisation from appropriate quarters would be arrested and prosecuted.
This was just as he threatened that the only way to guide against the effect of climate change is to protect and guide against forest degradation.
Governor Yusuf read the riot act during the flag-off of the 2024 tree planting campaign of planting over 3 million trees held at Kwankwasiyya City in Kano on Wednesday.
He, however, disclosed that because of the huge benefit of trees in human lives, the government would not relent in its effort to bring anybody found wanting in felling trees to book in the state.
“Ladies and gentlemen, because of the huge benefit of trees in our lives, I wish to put it in record that the Kano State Government will not relent in its effort in bringing to book any resident found wanting in felling of trees without obtaining an authorized permit or clearance from the state ministry of environment and climate change.
“This is in cognizance of the fact that global warming is real, the world is changing by adapting different techniques of mitigating climate change hence the good people of Kano state must key into the changing trend,” he said.
Governor Yusuf then appealed to the private sector, civil society groups, voluntary organizations, academia, investors, self-help groups and other non-governmental organizations to complement the government’s concerted efforts in building a healthy and safer environment, free of all sorts of diseases.
He equally urged the citizens of the state to give maximum support to the exercise and cooperation it deserves and to imbibe the culture of tree planting for the collective good of our environment.
“To our environmental health workers, a lot of work is needed to ensure that our efforts yield positive results. I therefore urge you all to be extra committed and dedicated to ensuring that our environment is made clean and devoid of any hazards.
The “2024 Tree Planting Campaign” is meant to checkmate the menace of indiscriminate felling of trees, climate change, soil erosion, and land degradation as well as enhance the productivity of agricultural land and decrease the rate of desertification.
“It is on record that in the year 2023 and the first quarter of this year. Kano State experienced extreme heat with temperatures rising up to 44 degrees which was partly attributed to inadequate trees thereby harming the environment.
“Let me reiterate here that as individuals or groups, we should inculcate the habit of planting trees in our minds and take responsibility for preserving and management of the trees so that our environment would be healthy,” he said.
While speaking on the occasion, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi ll directed all district heads, ward heads and village heads to plant trees at their respective houses.
He also reminded the state residents of how they suffered excessive hits that nearly crippled the general activities of the citizens, saying that was enough lessons for everybody to go ahead and plant at least a tree at his house.
Emir Sanusi hinted that in connecting the excessive hits that befell the state with global warming, he said that global warming is real and at least Kano people have suffered before the full rainy seasons took full effect.
However, earlier, the state Commissioner of Environment, Nasiru Sule Garo, The commissioner for Environment and Climate Change Alhaji Nasir Sule Garo stated that human activities such as bush burning, and illegal felling of trees is continuously putting pressure on the already fragile ecosystem thereby threatening food security among other negative climate impacts.
He stated that tree planting is critically important for several reasons, impacting the environment, human health and overall ecosystem stability.
According to him”Governor Yusuf had approved the provision of 3,000,000 seedlings against the last year which is 2,000,000 to be planted at roadside, institutions, avenues and community.”
The Commissioner however disclosed that “This is all to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change action in our society,”
He added that the planting exercise would be through the Agro–Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscape Project (ACReSAL) which is a project under the State Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
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