THE GREEN INITIATIVE
‘Green initiative’ has become a term relatable to environmental sustainability and development; one which affirms the effects of socioeconomic activities on the environment. Being a global initiative, its core focus is to examine, as well as raise awareness about channels through which corporate and individual action consciously tend to curtail the harmful rub offs on the environment through consumer habits and lifestyles. The global challenges such as climatic changes , variations of ecosystems, and global reduction in biodiversity calls for a need to place environmental sustainability on a global frontier via fixating on environmental quality, maximization of renewable resources, protection of species diversity and climate structure, and water conservation.
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A cursory view into the Nigerian sphere reveals that Nigeria, like several developing countries, is bedeviled with environmental challenges as flooding, poaching, declination of biodiversity and marine conservation, desertification, deforestation, deterioration climatic condition, degrading land quality, and reduction of wildlife.
Owing to these crises, the Nigerian government, through its environmental agencies have initiated programmes and implemented policies with an objectives targeting environmental conservation and sustainable development. Taking a cue from the triple Rs- Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, these policies are adequate for maintaining a healthy environmental space that benefits both the natural environment and the human race. Some of the policies include:
- Environmental Impact Assessment Act
- The Land Use Act
- Harmful Waste (Special Criminal Provisions) Act
- Hydrocarbon Oil Refineries Act
- Associated Gas re-injection Act
- The Endangered Species Associated Gas re-injection Act
UNDP have as top of its agenda, a goal to assist countries through designing specialized point of actions, initiatives via partnerships to attain a certain minimum criteria of environmental sustainability. In relation to advancing schemes with an environmental sustainability focus, developing countries are also starting to gear towards building a green economy, albeit at varying paces.
One of such initiatives which promotes the need for environmental awareness is ‘Sustainable Green Environment Initiative. The Chairman, Olowosile Sanmi noted that the fundamental objective of the scheme can neither be undermined nor underemphasized as it seeks to execute projects and programmes that aids the atmospheric reduction of humanly generated carbon footprints, one that causes an alarming threat to the world as a whole. The initiative is propped towards embarking on projects that encourages sustainability of Earth for future generations. Olowosile Sanmi noted that all hands must be on deck to actualize the vision and ensure a sustainable environment, beneficial to both humans and the environment at large.