2017 World Environment Day: Connecting People to Nature

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The World Environment Day (WED), which is the UN’s biggest annual event for positive environmental action and takes place every 5 June, was celebrated across the globe on Wednesday under the theme: “Connecting People to Nature.”

“ ‘Connecting People to Nature’, the theme for World Environment Day 2017, implores us to get outdoors and into nature, to appreciate its beauty and its importance, and to take forward the call to protect the Earth that we share,” says a press release by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).

“World Environment Day is the biggest annual event for positive environmental action and takes place every 5 June. This year’s host country Canada got to choose the theme and will be at the centre of celebrations around the planet.”

The statement stated that WED was a day for everyone and everywhere adding that since it began in 1972, global citizens have continued to organize thousands of events ranging from neighbourhood clean-ups, to action against wildlife crime and replanting forests.

As part of this year’s celebration of WED, the Bayero University, Kano (BUK) and Environmental Management Association of Nigeria on Wednesday hosted a public lecture themed: “Urban and Rural Greening in the context of Dry Land Realities.”

Delivering the keynote address Professor Ibrahim Baba Yakubu of BUK’s Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences said it was not all about planting trees rather about taking care of trees after planting, urging people to always plant trees at the beginning of the rainy season.

“If let’s say you plant a tree after the rainy season, it will die due to lack of water unless it is being well taken care of. Therefore, the best time to plant a tree is the beginning of the rainy season so that it will germinate and grow successfully,” he said.