ONGOING ENVIRONMENTAL REFORM WILL TRANSFORM LAGOS –ENVIRONMENTALIST
A Director in the Lagos State Public Service, Dr. Abiodun Afolabi, has reiterated that the ongoing environmental reform of the State Government, tagged “the Cleaner Lagos Initiative’’, will transform the State into a more adorable place to live.
Afolabi, a specialist in Environmental Resources Management and Director Enforcement and Advocacy in the Ministry of the Environment, made the remarks at the 2nd Public Lecture of Centre for Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development of the Lagos State University (LASU).
Speaking on the topic, “Good Governance and Environmental Sustainability”, Afolabi noted that government needed to be more proactive in ensuring the sustainability of the environment through forthright decision making, forward-looking policies and focused execution of such policies in the interest of all.
According to him, “Environmental Sustainability involves making decisions and taking actions that are in the interest of protecting the natural World with particular emphasis on preserving the capability of the environment to support human life.”
He stressed that the Lagos State Government had always taken steps towards actualizing its vision of maintaining a flood free, hygienic and beautiful Lagos and also risen to the challenge of achieving a clean, livable State.
He said further that through the annual tree planting campaign, the greening and beautification programme, advocacy and public enlightenment campaigns, Lagos State Government had been in the forefront of efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, stressing that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had characterized climate change as ‘the defining human development challenge of the 21st century.’
Afolabi posited that the adverse effect of climate change was considered one of the most serious threats to humanity and sustainable development because if left unabated it would cause global loss of GDP in the order of 5-20%.
He disclosed that to further sustain the environment, Lagos State Government was embarking on effective solid waste management reform through Cleaner Lagos Initiative, stressing that the initiative would transform the State into a cleaner and more beautiful one.