THERE is indeed no better time than now for more reflections and deliberately organized actions to checkmate the ravaging impact of climate change for a sustainable society. It instructively was Dr Newton Jibunoh, who in his book, How Little We Are issued some form of warning in the following words “ Again, let it be understood that climate change is no longer a debate for the white man and the western world. Only fools will even still consider it a topic of debate. Climate change is our reality and only when we all come to realize this, can we begin to take the necessary steps to survive it. A pity we are still talking survival when other nations are thriving “ The vagaries of climate change are fully here with us beginning from shortage in food supply to rapid desertification and the ensuing restiveness between herders and farmers. The best we can do therefore is about lifestyle adjustments towards better management of our environment. It is significantly in the light of this that I commend the activities FADE Africa in their efforts at Embracing Humanity Initiative to Mark the International Day for Climate Action with Tree Planting and Sensitization Campaign in Akwukwu-Igbo, come Thursday 12th December 2024.
This momentous event will feature a mass tree planting exercise alongside a sensitization campaign to encourage sustainable environmental practices, aimed at inspiring communities to actively contribute to climate change mitigation efforts.
The event is particularly significant as it aligns with the urgent call for climate action to protect the planet and its ecosystems. One sincerely hopes that more agencies and organisations should take up more of such positive actions towards saving our environment from speedy depletion. The tree planting initiative and preservation sensitization is rooted in the words of Dr. Newton Jibunoh, founder of FADE, in the growing need for us all to leave the Earth in a better state than we found it.
In the same vein, the hamartan season is etching in and our people need to be sensitized on the negative consequences of bush burning to the depletione of the ozone layer, the flora and fauna. Our forests are environmental heritage that should be treasured and preserved. It is in that direction that collective action need to be taken against the current scramble and unrestrained partitioning of our land ultimately leading to a fast depletion of our forests resources. Land is generally regarded as an asset with a long-term investment value usually categorized as a fixed asset on a business’s balance sheet. The iminent crisis today has to do with the brazenness of Land grabbing. Though this has been as old as the coming together of human communities the desperation being exhibited this day has led to violent conflicts and breakdown of law and order in many communities across the State. It has caused estrangement and bitterness amongst brothers and brought about war and blood shed between communities. Even in the account of the Bible Naboth’s response to Ahab in 1 Kings 21:3 to the effect that”The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee” confirms attachment of ancestral values to land ownership. In the same vein, Ahab’s wife Jezebel emerged as one of the early examples of a ruthless and mindless land grabber that even had to kill to take over a piece of land inherited from forebears. At the international space, the Israeli – Palestinian war is fundamentally and historically revolving over land. Same for Russia – Ukraine war which also shares same underlying causative factors. At the national level, people of the South East resident in Lagos are beginning to cry out rather loudly that there are systemic moves to dispossess them of duly acquired land in a bid to establish that Lagos is not a no-man’s land. The impact of that development is being felt right here in Delta with the consequent experience of significant pressure on the demand for land. This is also not unrelated to the sustained atmosphere of predictable peace which has been attracting settlers and investors in droves on a regular basis. Sometime ago,the Delta State House of Assembly was in the news when it prevailed on the Attorney – General and Commissioner for Justice to commence the prosecution of some notorious land grabbers. The dust raised over the issue was yet to settle when recovery of State government land at the Deniss Osadebay University, Anwai, by Musa camp started throwing up a number of issues on town planning laws, city development and land acquisition procedure. The chairman, State taskforce on recovery of government property, Chief Frank Omare at the demolition site reassured that the Delta State government will not under any circumstance allow land grabbers to have any part of the Varsity land, insisting that a situation where land grabbers will chase university authorities out of their land was totally unacceptable. Rather interestingly, those who had built on the university land were brandishing their development approvals from Lands and Town planning authorities. The grabbed area of the Varsity land was part of the prerequisite condition for accreditation for the faculty of Agriculture. My heart goes for some well meaning developers and investors who may have innocently bought from the grabbers thinking that it was near enough to the university and not necessarily being inside the Varsity land. Some of such persons built hostels in there for students use. Even these hostels had to be pulled down by the taskforce bulldozers. A the tough decision indeed in the light of the growing economic challenges of our time. Schools across the State have fallen victims to the activities of callous land grabbers. Some secondary schools across the State have had their football pitches taken over by land grabbers and private buildings erected on them. Some of these fellows have come up with stories claiming that their forefathers handed the land over to the schools or missionaries as the case may be and that now, the current generation of their descendants have need for the land. Communities should resist the temptation of selling all their lands to speculators and developers whose future plans for the land are neither clearly spelt out nor overall community concerns factored in. Land is understandably a fixed asset, Future needs of community should be considered even as we come to terms the need for Agricultural space and prospective development plan. In more ways than one, may we not forget that your land connects you with your future. It remains a treasurable part of our environment that must not be triffled away.
