Horticulturists advocate tree planting for pure air on World Environment day

The Landscape horticulturist Association of Nigeria (LAHORAN), has advocated intensified tree planting activities by the government and people of Nigeria to combat air pollution for safe and purer air.

Mr.  Sanya Falemu, LAHORAN President

This is on the sideline of World Environment day which is being commemorated 5th of June each year. The theme for the year 2019 is  "Air Pollution".

The National President of the Association, Mr Sanya Falemu, who spoke with newsmen on this year's  theme, said that trees and foliage shield the environment by way of absorbing excess carbon dioxide as designed by  God to filter air pollutants in the air we breathe.

" Naturally, trees remove pollutants from the air, so every tree that is removed from an ecosystem means some particular pollution remains that should have been filtered out.

"Air quality is improved by trees, as they remove smoke, dust and other pollutants from the air".

As said by LAHORAN President, one tree can remove 11.79kg of carbondioxide from the atmosphere annually, equalling 17, 699 km of car carbondioxide emission, saying that there is heavy pollution daily resulting from carbon emission from vehicles, motorbikes, power generation and others.

He submitted that it therefore becomes imperative to intensify deliberate effort on tree planting to mitigate the negative effect on human health and wellbeing.

Falemu opined, "in solving today's infrastructure development needs, care must be taken so as not to create future challenges.

"For instance in constructing a hundred kilometer road, as inevitable and desirable as it is, several hundreds of trees would have paved way for such development and without any deliberate and concerted effort to replant at least 10% of what has been destroyed could be disastrous"

He called on government to begin to demand for Green Plan alongside Environmental Impact Assessment  for any project that will consume more than an acre of land for its development, while urging fellow Nigerians to embrace clean and sustainable energy.

This year world environment day is being hosted by China with a theme of AIR POLLUTION.

Air pollution refers to the release of pollutant into the air that are detrimental to human health and the planet, Mother Earth as a whole.