By: Amisu Damilola Christabel
In 2018, Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) disclosed that the country has lost 96 percent of its forest due to deforestation, and that the country currently only has four per cent of its original forest cover.
With this, the impact of the global carbon cycle will and has been increased in the country. Trees help store carbon and release oxygen into the air for human consumption but when they die, they release the stored carbon in great quantity in the air. This then suppresses the quantity of oxygen in the atmosphere
Taken this to consideration, the Lagos state and Cross-Rivers state embarked on Street Tree Planting across the states which will in a bit restore the lost oxygen across the cities; thereby, preventing the country from the fury of global warming and climate change.
Over time, Lagos State government, which has planted over 7.5m trees in 11 years, and private bodies have taken street tree planting across the states in mitigating the effects of urbanization on the environment particularly in the area of climate change. Also, the state in recent time extended the benevolence to hinterland, car parks, and even to the rural parts of the state.
However, the necessity of street tree planting sensitization and awareness around Lagos is to sustain the greening policy of the State Government, noting that it has become crucial to continuously reawaken the consciousness of the people to plant trees and combat the negative effects of climate change in their community. As stated by the former governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Raji Fashola, the benefit of community tree planting cannot be exchanged for anything.
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