Over the years, populations have been inflicting severe damage on the earth’s environment. The Buea population has been no exception to this debilitating practice. It has gone out of its way to cut down centuries old trees to make way for the booming construction industry, thereby plunging the environment into a furnace.
It is against this backdrop that the Buea population was advised on the 41st edition of the World Environment Day on June 5, to think wisely before performing any act on the environment; to eat of the environment but remember to save for rainy days.
This was the central message that ran through the Day as the South West Regional Delegation for the Environment, Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED) alongside other stakeholders commemorated the Environment Day in Buea.
The commemoration started on June 4 marked by a 20-km Green Walk through Buea, involving the staff of MINEPDED, the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF) and students from the Department of Environmental Sciences from the University of Buea.
The objective of the Green Walk was to raise the awareness in inhabitants of Buea on the importance of protecting their environment.
After the walk, participants planted over 20 ornamental trees at the campus of the University of Buea Medical School in Mile 18.
“The rationale of planting these trees is to continuously tell the public that this is one of the best ways we can adapt to some of our environmental problems like global warming and water shortages. Trees help to reduce the carbon in the atmosphere, thus fighting global warming and where we have trees we can be sure of water,” the Regional Delegate for Environment, Francis Leopold Ebo Ebo, explained.
At a conference to discuss the theme of the day, “Think, Eat, Save”, ERuDeF CEO, Louis Nkembi, stressed that in the face of climate change affecting food security, it is now important more than ever to protect the environment in order to be sure of what to eat tomorrow.
