The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) has called for a joint effort aimed at protecting the environment and conservation of nature.
The foundation made the call at its 32nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos on Thursday, October 14, 2021.
The NCF Director-General, Dr Muhtari Aminu-Kano, while speaking with journalists, said that Nigerians needed to value nature and protect the environment to avert further disaster.
He added that the foundation was doing everything possible for the ordinary Nigerian to value nature.
He said awareness campaigns and sensitisation had been embarked upon by the foundation to ensure people understood the value of nature and how to protect the environment.
He said that every segment in the society – the local conservation group, farmers, fishermen, among others – needed to stop damaging the environment and nature.
“Firstly, since there is a distinct possibility that the pandemic is of zoonotic (wildlife) origins, we should, therefore, recognise activities that shrink the space available for wildlife, such as deforestation.
“My view is that unless we practice requisite ‘ecological distancing’, we will continue to be forced to practice ‘social distancing’ in future.
“Secondly, as demonstrated during the lockdown, we have seen that wildlife has a remarkable ability to recover fast and recolonise spaces from which it has been hitherto displaced once it is allowed to do so by the exclusion of harmful activities,” he said.
He added that the videos and pictures of charismatic animals roaming empty streets in cities around the world during lockdowns was a symbolic manifestation of this ability.
While speaking at the AGM, he said that most of the foundation’s field projects were not severely affected.
“However, vulnerable initiatives such as the Lekki Conservation Centre, the Vulture Advocacy Project and Field Research across the country came to a standstill for some period because of lockdown.
