WELCOME
ADDRESS BY
DR. (MRS.) IHUOMA P. ASIABAKA,
AG.
DIRECTOR CENTRE FOR WOMEN,
GENDER
AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, CWGDS, FUTO,
ON
THE OCCASION OF THE 201 3, WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY CELEBRATION IN FUTO, HOLDING
ON THURSDAY, 27TH JUNE, 2013.
PROTOCOLS
I feel highly delighted and honoured to
welcome you all to the 2013 World Environment Day Celebration in FUTO. The
World Environment Day was first celebrated in FUTO last year. The highlights of
the 2012 celebration in FUTO were as follows:
ü Sanitary inspection of classrooms,
student hostels, laboratories, workshops, cafeteria, toilet facilities and
surroundings of all the buildings in the University.
ü Grassing of the environment for beautification
and erosion control.
ü Tree planting for
beautification/aesthetics, erosion control, wind breakers and environmental
purification.
ü General environmental sanitation
through grass-cutting, clearing of blocked gutters, sweeping etc.
ü Lectures, demonstrations and
exhibitions on environmental issues.
CWGDS has decided to make the
celebration of World Environment Day in FUTO an annual event to enable the
University Community join the global conversation on environmental issues.
World Environment Day celebration aims
at emphasizing the importance of protecting our planet and promoting an
understanding that we can individually and collectively play significant roles
in tackling environmental issues; especially considering the fact that the
environment is intimately connected to global health. According to WHO report,
environmental risk factors play vital role in more than 80% of diseases; and
about 25% of the death can be attributed to the negative impact of the
environment.
Through the celebration of World
Environment Day, the United Nations (UN) personalized environmental issues
enabling us to realize not only our responsibility, but also our power to
become agents of change in support of sustainable and equitable development.
The celebration draws attention to environmental challenges such as climate
change, global warming, ecosystem management, resource efficiency etc. It also
provides the platform on which the political, social, and economic problems of
global environments are discussed at an intergovernmental forum with a view to
actually taking corrective actions. It is celebrated annually on June 5th.
This year's Theme "Think-Eat-Save
(TES) is chosen to encourage the prevention of food wastage and to raise
awareness about the environmental impact of the food choices people make
because when food is wasted, natural resources are wasted. TES also aims at
reducing food loss along the entire chain of food production and consumption,
particularly food wasted by consumers, retailers and hospitality industry.
It is an anti-food waste and food loss
campaign that encourages us to re-assess our "food print" (food
production). It is estimated that a third of food produced globally is either
wasted or lost; and this is an enormous drain on natural resources and a
contributor to negative environmental impacts. Global food production occupies
a large area of habitable land, consumes about 70% of fresh water, accounts for
80% of deforestation and 30% greenhouse gas emissions thus resulting in loss of
biodiversity and land-use change. When food is wasted, all the resources and
inputs used in its productions are also lost.
According to United Nations Food and
Agricultural Organization (FAO) 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted annually;
and this is equivalent to the same amount of food produced in the whole
Sub-Saharan Africa. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported that 1
in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry and more them 20,000 children
under the age of 5 die daily from hunger. Thus this enormous imbalance in life
styles and the resultant devastating effects on the environment make this
year's theme: "Think-Eat-Save" most timely.
It encourages us to become more aware
of the environmental impact of the food choices we make and empowers us to make
informed decisions about the food we eat so as to reduce the overall ecological
impact.
This year we have articulated the
following activities for the World Environment Day celebration in FUTO:
ü Sanitary inspection of Schools in FUTO
to ascertain the cleanest School.
ü Environmental Sanitation
ü Students' Debate and Drama
ü Lectures
ü Slide Show
ü Prize-giving/Awards
It is hoped that at the end of 2013 World Environmental Day celebration
in FUTO we will develop positive ways of
protecting the
environment through preventing food wastages by:
·
Sharing
our excess food
·
Developing
preference for local
food
·
Using
traditional preservation methods
·
Re-cycling
of organic food
·
Conversion
of organic waste into fertilizer
There is need for collective efforts at
reducing food wastage, save money, minimize the environmental impacts of food
production and make food production processes more efficient.
May I most sincerely appreciate in a
very special way our beloved Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Chigozie C. Asiabaka KSM,
JP and the University Management for approving and financially supporting this
celebration. I also thank our Keynote speaker Prof. A.I. Ihekoronye for
accepting to deliver the Keynote paper in a very short notice. I am grateful to
the Deans, Directors, Managing Directors, Heads of Departments, Co-coordinators,
the Unions and indeed the University Community for their unending love and
support. To the Planning Committee led by Dr. (Mrs.) G.N. Okwu and our beloved
students i say thank you for your efforts at ensuring the success of this
celebration. Finally I thank all our distinguished guests from within and
outside the State for honouring our invitation. Once more, I welcome you all to
the 201 3 World Environment Day cerebration in FUTO
Thank
you and God bless you.
Dr. Ihuoma P. Asiabaka
Ag.
Director, CWGDS, FUTO
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