By Usman Aliyu
Experts in catastrophe threat administration and environmental sustainability have urged youths to embrace climate-friendly practices and develop into energetic brokers of local weather change mitigation.
The consultants made the decision on Friday at a local weather change consciousness programme organised for college students of Word of Faith School, Benin City, Edo.
The programme was organised by Nigeria News Source, an internet newspaper targeted on environmental points, with assist from the Benin Youth Leaders Forum (BYLF), to commemorate the 2026 International Day of Climate Action.
The occasion with the theme: “Every Action Matters: Taking Individual Responsibility for Mitigating Climate Change Impact,” sought to encourage younger individuals to undertake environmentally accountable habits in school and at residence.
Speaking on the occasion, Chuks Oluigbo, Founder and Publisher of Nigeria News Source, stated tackling local weather change required collective motion by governments, companies and people.
“Businesses, governments, individuals — everyone is involved but for us, it begins with individuals.
“That is why we are moving beyond the generic and drilling down to the role every individual can play in protecting the environment and mitigating climate change impact,” he stated.
Oluigbo, a member of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), stated younger individuals wanted to know that their actions at present would form the setting they and future generations would inherit.
“It is important for them to understand that the action they take or fail to take today will determine the kind of world they, their children and their grandchildren will inherit,” he stated.
He urged the scholars to embrace sustainable practices and perceive their accountability as caretakers of the setting.
“We want them to understand that we, as human beings, are created to be stewards or caretakers of creation.
“It is, therefore, our duty to do whatever it takes to protect creation and use everything that nature has bestowed on us in a sustainable manner,” he stated.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) stories that the occasion featured the donation of two waste baskets to the varsity by Nigeria News Source to encourage correct waste separation.
Oluigbo stated one basket was designated for biodegradable waste and the opposite for non-biodegradable waste, urging the scholars to practise accountable waste disposal.
The visitor speaker, Dr Festus Atewe, a lecturer within the Department of Geography and Disaster Risk Management, University of Benin (UNIBEN), educated the scholars on the causes and results of local weather change and sensible methods to mitigate its influence.
Atewe inspired tree planting, explaining that bushes soak up carbon dioxide from the environment and helped mitigate local weather change.
“Whatever you do, the environment will definitely get back to you, if not now, then in the future,” he stated.
He suggested the scholars to shun bush burning, deforestation and different actions that contributed to greenhouse gasoline emissions.
The lecturer additionally advocated for the usage of renewable vitality sources, significantly solar energy, as alternate options to petrol- and diesel-powered mills.
Other measures he beneficial included planting bushes round properties, adopting electrical and hybrid autos, and decreasing reliance on non-public vehicles by means of strolling, biking, car-pooling and public transportation.
Atewe urged the youths to develop into environmental protectors moderately than destroyers by making climate-conscious decisions of their every day actions.
In her remarks, the varsity administrator, Mrs Peace Akan Sebastian, recommended the organisers for the initiative and pledged the varsity’s assist for actions selling environmental sustainability. (NAN)
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Edited by Chioma Ugboma
