CRUDAN presenting a tree to one of the community leaders.
By Marie-Therese Nanlong
Jos – The Christian Rural and Urban Development Association of Nigeria, CRUDAN with the support of the Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World), Germany in commemorating the 2024 World Environment Day in Jos shared over 300 diverse resilience trees with some residents.
The association tasked the beneficiaries to nurture the trees and plant more trees to tackle climate change and restore the environment for the good of society.
Speaking on Saturday during the brief ceremony, the Executive Director of CRUDAN, Joseph Gyandi represented by CRUDAN’s Director of Programme, Agbo Boniface stressed that deforestation is adversely affecting the environment and man must tend the earth, care for and replenish the environment.
He said, “The theme for the year is Land Restoration, Desertification, and Drought Resilience but our chosen theme is Adopt a Tree because we must restore the environment.
“One of the things that we are passionate about is man’s relationship with the environment so that man can have a healthy and prosperous living. CRUDAN is giving out free tree seedlings to individuals willing to adopt and nurture trees to heal the environment.
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“God wants man to tend the environment and this is what we are doing. We are giving out over 300 trees and the significance not only in the activity but what happens next in ensuring that the issue of climate change is addressed.
“So, this is a potent strategy that we are using. We will monitor the trees and provide support where needed and see how the beneficiaries are making use of them.”
A range of stakeholders, including the National Orientation Agency, NOA, Development partners and Mennonite Central Committee, GIZ, member organisations of CRUDAN, the traditional institution, community leaders, and members attended and benefitted from the gesture.
Some of the trees included coconut, mangoes, cashew, orange, sour sop, guava, pear, and others.
The State Director of NOA, Mrs. Kaneng Pam-Hworo through the Deputy Director (Special Duties) Ayedime Aileku, said, “We are here to talk about tree planting and the effect of desertification. There is a need to plant trees to replace the ones that have been felled over time and stop harmful practices that are not good for nature.
“Felling of trees, erosion, and continuous farming of the same land affect the quality of land and this in turn affects human lives and well-being. We need to plant trees that are resilient to erosion, we are calling on Nigerians to plant trees and rebuild our forests.”
The Programme Manager of the Mennonite Central Committee, Kitshiwe William added, “This gesture is unquantifiable because this is life, the conflicts we have particularly on the Plateau are needless but these are pushed as the result of climate change challenges and are attributed largely to the felling of trees which has impacted us negatively.
“We must be intentional in the way we live, adopt and nurture trees so that we can restore our climate, habitation and live in peace.”
