Horticulturist Advocates Tree Planting

By Israel Afolabi

An horticulturist, Mr. Asaolu Caleb has advised residents to cultivate the habit of tree planting to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Asaolu  who is also a Community leader in Alekuwodo made this known while speaking with Osun Defender on Tuesday at his office in Osogbo, capital of the State of Osun.

He stressed that to reduce the effect of flooding, tree planting is one of the mitigating measure to control such menace.

According to the horticulturist, “today we only see buildings, mansions, cars and concrete instead of tree and beautiful flowers. We are used to having polished lifestyles which have no benefits to the ecological system at all”.

He urged house-owners to have it in their mind to focus on tree planting whenever they are building houses either living or rented.

He hammered that the benefits that urban trees bring cannot be quatified in the society in terms of reducing temperatures.

He said “apart from their capacity to reduce urban temperatures, they can also absorb pollution of all kinds of particles, chemical and even noise from the environment”.

Asaolu confirmed that tree planting remains the cheapest mitigating option and the world second largest most effective means of absorbing excess carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere.

He also stressed the needs to copy the life of British men who cherish tree and flowering environments they live which will enhance their living.

According to him, “you hardly see an European building a house that lack green area, no matter how little, but in this part of the world reverse is the case. Therefore we must do likewise to control flood in our environment in order to avoid any disasters that would consume life and properties “.

He advised government parastatals, churches, mosques, schools and individual to plant trees by road side to control erosion that almost wash away the soil of the land.