The Executive Director of the Gender and Environmental Risk Reduction Initiative (GERI), an NGO, Mrs. Elizabeth Jeiyol has advised people against indiscriminate felling of trees.
Jeiyol advised at a two-day workshop, organized by Elim Christian Vocational Training Centre for journalists on Wednesday, in Makurdi, while delivering a paper on climate change.
She expressed worry over the destruction of the environment by felling trees and using them for logging, firewood, and charcoal, among many other reasons.
According to the executive director, cutting down trees unnecessarily poses a grave danger to humans and their existence.
“Human beings will cease to exist or go into extinction if all trees are cut down.”
She noted that the vulnerable groups of the society were the ones mostly affected by the impact of climate change because their sources of livelihood depended largely on agriculture.
In an address, the Programme Manager of the center, Mr. Emmanuel Egbodo, said that the center was working round the clock to tackle stigmatization against people living with disabilities.
Egbodo said the goal of the center was to provide quality, accessible, affordable, and sustainable rehabilitation of persons living with disabilities.
The Coordinator of the center, Rachel Dzever, said that the center was also training journalists so that they could use their influence to reach out to the people with correct and timely information on environmental and climate issues.
Dzever further said that the training would also allow journalists to champion advocacy and sensitization efforts for governments and the public on the effects of climate change.