Let’s protect our environment

THE country has only eight national parks at the moment. As much as an International Day for Biological Diversity would help to raise awareness, its celebration in this part of the world seems already banal. One can almost predict the usual.

This time, it would take more than a televised speech from the Minister of Environment, ritual exchange of handshakes and presentation of honorary awards to achieve the desired change.

It would require a fundamental approach from parents and other societal institutions to expose their children and members to environmental education.

For parents, it is an opportunity to prepare our children for the future. I personally suggest that urban settlers leave a small part of the compound bare: no cement, no interlocking stones.

Let your children learn from nature; let them see earthworm burrow into the soil. Let them see snails crawl on the fence. Let them see how a garden is nurtured. Let them see how banana suckers emanate. Let them mix soil with their hand trowel.

Let them prune flower with their secateurs, irrigate with their watering cans and, more importantly, watch them pluck and eat from the purity of nature.

For adults, we should treasure the environment as the only treasure that bears other treasures,knowing that it is a phenomenon to consider in all life’s endeavor.

That way, we wouldn’t have to rely mainly on tourism as a factor to sustain biodiversity.

• Ogunjobi Felix

Port Harcourt,

Rivers State