By Bridget Ikyado
Abuja – The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria says it plans to plant 5.5 million trees over the next five years to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The conference launched the tree planting campaign on Thursday at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja.
The project, tagged “Green Revolution Campaign”, is being spearheaded by Caritas Nigeria.
The President of the conference, Rev. Lucius Ugorji said over 50 Dioceses of the church have been directed to plant 20,000 trees each.
He said that this would ensure that at least 1.1 million trees are planted every year.
The Executive Director, Caritas Nigeria, Rev. Ft Uchechukwu Obodoechina expressed optimism that the intervention would reduce farmer-herder crises and other climate change problems facing humans and animals.
Dr Yusuf Maina-Bukar, Director-General, National Agency for Great Green Wall, commended the bishop conference for the initiative, saying it would help to address threats to the livelihoods of over 40 million people.
Represented by the Director, Planning, Policy and Coordination in the Agency, Mrs Habibah Ibrahim, the D-G said tree planting was a major way of mitigating climate change and environmental degradation.
He appealed to other faith-based organisations to emulate the initiative.
“By this tree planting today, the Catholic Caritas is raising its voice to mitigate the detrimental effects of climate change.
“We urge other religious institutions across the country to emulate the action, to ensure conducive environment and proper inculcation of sustainable environmental management in Nigeria.” (NAN/vitalnewsngr.com)
