Join Us AS We Celebrate World Environment Day 2023

World Environment Day is a global platform for inspiring positive change. It aims to inspire more people than ever before to take action to prevent the growing strain on planet Earth’s natural resources, halt the degradation of ecosystems, and restore them to achieve global goals.

It is our collective responsibilities to protect the earth. Only healthy ecosystems can we enhance people’s livelihoods, fight climate change, and stop biodiversity collapse.

Join us as we take action to tackle plastic pollution.

Date: 5th June, 2023

beatplasticpollution

WED2023

Join us on World Environmental Day 2023 for a virtual event focused on finding solutions to the global issue of plastic pollution!

LINK TO REGISTER:
https://bit.ly/ilawed2023

The year 2022 was a very impactful year for TGED Foundation. We were able to collaborate with both the state and non state actors as well as the academics to drive impacts and we are happy to be able to directly impact more than 5,000 beneficiaries across Ekiti State Nigeria through our various initiatives. Our initiatives ranged from tree planting, climate education, waste to wealth training, clean ups, road awareness sensitisation campaigns, advocacy visits, seminars and workshops.

We believe that this year 2023 will be more impactful than last year and more beneficiaries will be reached through our various initiatives. We want to say a big thank you to all our partners and donors. We also want to solicit for more support, donations and collaborations to enable us make 2023 a more impactful year.

At TGED Foundation, we believe that achieving a sustainable environment is everybody’s business because we only have one planet and thus, we all have a role to play.

INTRODUCTION


Tree planting remains a very important tool in keeping the planet healthy, its benefit to man and his environment goes beyond ventilating the environment , it also helps to distribute oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide and also serves as a home to different organisms on earth.
As the fight against climate change and deforestation continues, TGED Foundation in partnership with Ekiti Forestry Commission was present at the palace of His Royal Majesty Oba Adewunmi Daramola Oyinyosaiye Igbemo II to continue the Ekiti 5000 tree planting activity on the 23rd of August 2022, the tree planting activity is aimed at fighting the increased rate of deforestation and also fight climate change and global warming in the different parts of Ekiti state.

ANALYSIS OF THE PRESENTATION


The activity started with a welcoming speech by HRM Oba Adewunmi Daramola Oyinyosaiye Igbemo II where he expressed his gratitude to the members of TGED for bringing such activity into his community. He prayed and hoped that such tree planting activity will not only be of advantage to the vegetative aspect of the community, but also serves as a future investment for the future generation.

The tree planting activity continued with a speech by the team lead of TGED Foundation, Mr. Omojola Odunayo who expressed his pains for the rate at which deforestation has continued to prevail across different parts of Ekiti state. He warned that if such action persists, the effects will be very disastrous and lives will be in danger. In order to curb this incident, he urged everyone present to always plant trees.

After the speech, 100 seedlings were officially handed over to the Oba which comprises Afara and Gmelina species. The planting of the seedlings was practically done by the Oba himself , and assisted by the entire team of TGED foundation and other council of chiefs.
After the tree planting, TGED team Foundation thanked the Oba for his cooperation and urged everyone present to take the tree planting activity seriously . Some of the chiefs also encouraged others to put more effort in making Ekiti State a better and well afforested state.

STAKEHOLDERS PRESENT AT THE EVENT:

INTRODUCTION


Trees are rightfully called the ‘lungs of the earth.’ Life on earth would cease to exist if trees ceased to exist. This is because trees are responsible for sustaining the environment in several ways.Trees also release life-supporting oxygen and absorb harmful gasses like carbon dioxide during the process of photosynthesis. They also act as sponges by taking in toxic emissions and other pollutants, released into the atmosphere by industries and vehicles. The roots of trees help to bind the soil together thereby preventing erosion. The blatant and increased rate of deforestation is the primary cause of so many environmental problems in our environment. In addition to being the bearers of delicious fruits, trees are also the natural home of several species of animals, birds, and insects. Thus, the destruction of a tree implies the destruction of an entire ecosystem. It is however very saddening that trees are being felled in a very alarming way. Deforestation has become the order of the day and this is leading to serious environmental degradation. Sometimes it needs to be done and it has to be done fast. It is on this analysis that TGED team visited the palace of Ire Ekiti to donate 100 seedlings to be planted in the community and to sensitize and educate the stakeholders on the importance of trees.

ANALYSIS OF THE PRESENTATION


During the event, the Oba welcomed the team warmly and expressed his gladness for such an event. He further added that if such environmentally friendly activities in Ekiti state continues, Ekiti state will have a better vegetative environment like the city in Spain where he once visited some years ago. He also stated further that as a lover of trees, he will make sure trees are planted in his palace and within the community. He continued by telling his chiefs and other stakeholders present at the event that they should try and inculcate the habit of planting trees. He said the function of trees is not just to cut it down to make roofs, used for cooking, trees represent beauty, it is medicinal, it also protects the environment from erosion and other environmental chaos.

The program started with a speech by the Team Lead of TGED, Mr. Omojola Odunayo in which he stated that Ekiti state has long been affected by the impacts of deforestation and further expressed the need to adopt the habit of tree planting. This is because tree planting will help in the fight against so many environmental issues in the state. He further stated that the 5,000 tree planting initiative is to help in promoting afforestation and creating awareness across Ekiti state on the importance of tree planting and the negative effect of climate change. He stated that tree planting should not be a one-off thing, it should be a continuous exercise. By doing this, we are helping the environment get back to its sustainable form and it will also help the people of Ekiti State have a better afforested environment.

After the speech, the 100 seedlings were handed over to the Oba which comprises Gmelina and Afara species. After the presentation, there was a planting session where the king planted two of the seedlings together with his chiefs and TGED Foundation team lead.
In conclusion, the king once appreciated the Foundation for bringing such a wonderful program to Ire-Ekiti and prayed that God in his infinite mercy will continue to uphold the Founder and all the TGED team.

Also present at the event were:


High Chief Asaba Adelabu Adeyinka
High Chief Alawe Ologundudu Segun
Ajiboye F.A High Chief Ejelu
Kayode Abe, Eleekan Ire
Ojolo John, High Chief Ejio
Francis Adedipe, Oloja Oke
Ayeni John, High Chief Oniyein
Ajayi B.A, High Chief Olooro
Aliu Abdullahi, High Chief Olojoa Ire
Agbetuyi Francis, High Chief Arowa of Ire
Prince Adebuoyero Alonge
Olori Ebi
Other relevant stakeholders such as the town council members, community citizens were all present at the meeting. Various questions were asked which were all answered and they also contributed to the conversation.

INTRODUCTION
Tree planting remains the most reliable and best way of fighting climate change, global warming, and deforestation. It is the best environmental friendly action towards achieving a natural and a well ventilated planet. Trees have many importance on our planet, they help in the trapping of carbon dioxide and also release oxygen to our atmosphere.

In continuation of the fight against climate change and deforestation , TGED in collaboration with Ekiti Forestry commission visited the Royal Palace of the Oba of Ifaki, HRM Oba Adegbenro John of Ifaki, and presented 112 seedlings of indigenous trees which comprises of Gmelina and Afara species.


ANALYSIS OF THE PRESENTATION

Mr. Omojola Odunayo, the team lead of TGED appreciated the kabiyesi for welcoming the program in his town. He went ahead to address the people present explaining to them the reasons why tree planting is very important. He said that many people really don’t know the value of trees, the essence of planting trees and its usefulness to people and the environment. He further explained that trees do not beautify the environment alone, trees help clean the air, it produces oxygen, and some animals also depend on trees for survival. He stated further that trees serve as a form of investment for our communities and for the future generations. He urged the people to inculcate the habit of planting trees.
After addressing the people, he went further to officially hand the seedlings over to His Royal Majesty, the Onifaki of Ifaki Ekiti and urged him to use his position as the head of the community to encourage his people to indulge themselves in afforestation practices as this will not only benefits them, it will also serves as a gain to the future generations.

The Oba expressed his gladness and appreciation to the entire TGED team and encouraged everyone to put more effort in making our planet a safer one , stating that trees don’t only serve as lungs of the earth alone, they also help in making our environment beautiful and well ventilated.

After the presentation of the seedlings, the king and all his subordinates proceeded to the garden for the planting of the seedlings. The Oba ended the program with a word of thanks to TGED for not only initiating such a beautiful idea, but also helping the future generation in having a better and well afforested environment.
Also present for the program are:

  1. Chief A.R Bello, the Aro of Egun
  2. Chief Famoroti G., the Aro of Iwore
  3. The palace workers.

The fight against climate change can not be overemphasized. It remains a continuous process towards achieving a better and healthier planet. Human beings, especially children, must be mindful of the various actions that are carried out in the environment. This is because if proper actions are not put in place , climate change will exacerbate the inequalities that children are already facing, and future generations will suffer the cause. Educating children on climate change is therefore very important as it will enable children to have the knowledge of climate change, its causes, effects and find ways of fighting it.
TGED continued her Eco Savers School Project(ESSP) , which is targeted at helping to achieve a well healthy and sustainable environment through educating people , especially pupils on climate change. The ESSP team visited FRESH Waters Nursery and Primary School Ado Ekiti on the 22nd of July 2022 to educate the pupils on climate friendly ways of living.

The program began with a presentation where the presenter explained that the planet is losing its qualities more rapidly than expected, which is mainly as a result of man’s activities and also due to the various changes that are occurring in his environment. He further urged the pupils to be very attentive to all that were being taught that day and to follow the steps in making our environment a better place to be.

A climate change educational video was played for the children ,this was to help in educating the pupils about how urgent it is for us all to come together and fight climate change. This was followed by a pre test and post test questions segment, whereby the pupils were tested on their knowledge of climate change . Thereafter, rooms were given for the children to ask various questions on how they can help the society in fighting climate change and also how they can help in spreading the news about climate change.
In conclusion, the pupils were engaged in a brief practical session which involves teaching them how to reduce the effects of climate change. The practical involves teaching them how to conserve water by switching off the tap when not in use, switching off the light, proper waste disposal methods and also composting.
Climate change education is important, this is because it plays a paramount role in raising awareness and promoting behavioral change for climate change mitigation.

Clean up activities remain an important tool in ensuring a cleaner and pollution free environment for every life on earth. It is an activity that involves the collaboration of different people with like minds to come together and keep the environment clean and healthy. Clean-up activities help to raise awareness about the scale of the litter problem and get people thinking about changing their behavior and actions towards their environment. Clean-up actions is an effective tool that brings communities together by enhancing social bonds, and also gives them an appreciative view of their common environment.

In the quest for a cleaner and healthy environment and to commemorate the World Clean Up Day 2022, TGED Foundation , in partnership with Ekiti State Waste Management Agency carried out an environmental cleanup activity on the 17th of September 2022 which involves the collaboration of various agencies such as, the Ekiti State Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, National Environmental Safety, Regulations and Enforcement Agency (NESREA), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) , State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), Ministry of Health, members of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), Peace corps, Man O War, Plogging Nigeria, students from Fountain International School, Olaoluwa Muslim Grammar School, and many other individuals who volunteered to participate in the activity.

The activity started with an opening remark by the representative of the Governor of Ekiti state. In his speech, he emphasized on the need to keep the city clean, he further said that keeping our environment clean can help reduce the chances of different diseases such as cholera and dysentery, as well as typhoid, intestinal worm infections and polio from affecting our communities. At the same time, he urged the society and every single person to work hard and make a difference in our society.

The activity which started around 7:30am at Fajuyi park , involves a road walk to various targeted areas such as Ojumose , Ojo Oba, Old garage, Ijugbo. To make it more lively, many who were fascinated by the event joyfully joined in the clean up activity. The activity came to a conclusion around 12 noon, it lasted for about 5 hours.
Ekiti Clean up event directly impacted over 500 people as these people were all involved in the clean up and sensitization of the community. The participants of the event expressed their joy in participating in such an event and hoped to continue in such a healthy act of cleanliness. These participants also indirectly impacted over 3,000 people in the community as they continue to sensitize people along the road, marketplace, bus garages and homes using different sensitization techniques such as word of mouth, flyers, posters, music and public address system. Different native languages were also used to sensitize people on the day so as to make the event more impactful.

A 2 day workshop was organized by New Initiative for Social Development (NISD) in collaboration with Ekiti state Forestry Commission with the support of Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) on the 11th and 12th of August, 2022 at Kototel Ado-Ekiti to deliberate on the development of the Ekiti State Forest Roadmap implementation action plan tagged the forest we want. The workshop was to draw out an implementation action plan for the roadmap for sustainable management of Ekiti forest which was developed in 2021.

The objective of the workshop is to help the Ekiti State Forestry Commission to develop the Ekiti State forestry roadmap implementation action plan, which will be a guide for the commission from 2021 to 2035.
Stakeholders present includes officers from forestry commission, tree crops, NUJ, academia, Gadef as well as TGED Foundation ably represented by Omojola Odunayo.

In his welcome remark, the Director, Mr Adekunle David representing the Executive Secretary advised all stakeholders present to participate actively in the workshop so as to have a robust action plan. He said that there is a need to nurture the forest because of the symbiotic association that ought to exist between humans and the forest, but such association has been turned to a parasitic association which is one of the reasons for climate change and global warming.
In his presentation of implementation action plan template, the Consultant, Mr Tolu Osakuade said the responsibility that has been identified in the roadmap cut across many stakeholders and there is need for all MDAs to be carried along and be aware of their responsibility and commitment during the implementation stage.
The purpose is to align all activities in Ekiti state to be tailored towards the identified goal with reference to the document on Ekiti State Agenda. He explained that forestry is listed on the Ekiti State economy budget and development priority and strategy of the roadmap is to incorporate the Sustainable Forest management (SFM) to forest management in Ekiti state.
Eight (8) goals and thirty eight (38) associated objectives has been developed for the forest we want with three (3) major outcomes to include;

–Ecologically sound forest,
–Socially just forest and
–Economically viable forest.


Key priorities for implementation include promoting public awareness for the roadmap, collaborating with other stakeholders such as schools, forestry clubs, conservation clubs, NGOs and related institutions with the need to teach students in the higher institutions what is needed on the field. Mr Osakuade expressed the need for publicity and research of Ekiti Forest, especially the Otun herbal heritage, Otun-Ekiti. The survival of the heritage was said to be based on the interest of the host communities and the traditional rulers to protect the forest. The Otun herbal heritage is recognized by UNESCO with many features preserved within the forest and there is a need for more of such places to be established in the state. Stakeholders at the workshop retreated from the need to collaborate with traditional rulers to protect the forest in their domain and to always get across to the commission through the toll free number that has been put in place by the commission.
The stakeholders present were thus grouped into 3 clusters for consideration and deliberation of goals allotted to each cluster.

The presentation of the costing/ Budgeting of each of the goals was done by each group leader while the collation of the document was done by the NISD team.
In his closing remark made by the Director, Mr Adekunle, tendered his appreciation to all stakeholders present and requested for collaboration in the future to make Ekiti forest sustainable.

The need to educate the world about climate change is very important , especially now that the effect of climate change is on the rise. The world needs to be informed and enlightened about climatic related problems and also measures needed to mitigate its effects on the environment. Education on climate change is an essential tool in the ever growing global fight against climate change . Understanding the causes and effects of climate change is another step in creating new ways of reducing the impacts of climate change in our world.
In line with this, the Eco Savers School Project (ESSP) team was at Dorcas Palace Academy Ado-Ekiti on the 18th of October 2022 to continue her fight against climate change which was to help raise awareness among little children about climate change and how they too can join in the unending fight and help combat climate crisis.

Among the highlight of the program was a presentation on climate change which was later followed by a short video on climate change, titled “The Time is Now”. After that, a pre-test and post-test questions on climate change were distributed to the pupils to assess their level of understanding of what was being taught. Another climate song titled “Save the Earth” was played for the children to sing and dance. At the end of the program, TGED (ESSP) word puzzle booklets were distributed to the children to take home and continue learning about their environment and particularly climate change.

The earth is very precious to us, and it is so sad to know that our activities are making the earth lose its qualities. We must help our planet to recover its lost qualities. We must come together with ideas that will help make our environment a healthier place to be for us and all that exist in it. Catching them young and teaching them early about one of the problems they will be facing in future is one of the major goals of ESSP.