The Global Environmental Development Platform

  May 22 is International Day for Biodiversity. It’s a day that has been set aside by the United Nations to celebrate biodiversity on the earth. Biodiversity is so important that without this concept and ideology, there will be no life on earth.  When God created the earth,  He made various life forms which include plants, insects, land animals, aquatic animals, terrestrial animals and human beings. All these life forms can be found on land, water and in the air. So, then biodiversity can be defined as the variation or the variability of life on earth. And there are different types of biodiversity namely: genetic biodiversity which occurs within species. Secondly, there is species biodiversity which occurs between species. Then, finally we have the ecosystem biodiversity which is between ecosystems. The three levels of biodiversity are also genetic biodiversity, species biodiversity and ecosystems biodiversity. These, however, explain the variability or variation of life ...

  Plastic pollution is presently becoming an increasingly dangerous problem to the environment especially on land and water ecosystems. It’s even worse in countries with suburbs which do not yet have recycling as part of their environmental management culture. Also, in  coastal areas or regions with beaches and rivers, plastic wastes is seen to litter the environment with these plastic wastes floating in nearby rivers, streams and drainage canals. This isn’t proper if we are going to gain back our natural ecosystems. The use of public trash cans or dust bins should be strictly adhered to at all times to keep the environment and beaches clean. Owing to the fact that these plastic or synthetic wastes are non biodegradable. They are not like organic wastes which are biodegradable and decompose into the soil and help provide the necessary nutrients for plants. Most times these plastics made out of synthetic fiber or polyvinyl chloride can remain in the environment just the way the...

  The activities of mining and extraction of minerals and especially petroleum crude oil has gone on now for more than half a century. Crude oil  and gas production has helped in no doubt to solve the energy problems of man and his society at large. But when in the bid to solve a problem, you create several recurring problems, then it is expected and mandatory we go back to the drawing board and analyze our options. Imbalances in weather patterns and atmospheric conditions are problems which have come about as a result of the quest to solve our energy needs. The continued production and consumption of fossil fuels is gradually destroying the environment, and it’s time to say it plainly as it is. We can’t go on pretending that we do not actually know the crude sources of the pollution and degradation we are currently experiencing in the environment.  If we continue to mine crude oil, refine and flare petroleum gas, even when it is glaring that these activities are pollutin...

  Last week, I wrote about the root causes of global warming and climate change, which are mainly migration, urbanization and overpopulation. The second major root cause is deforestation. Deforestation is the indiscriminate removal of vegetation and forest cover from the earth’s surface. As more and more trees and plants are cut down for building and construction purposes, the atmosphere and environment suffers greatly. Trees and plants give out oxygen while they inhale or take in carbon dioxide. Human beings on the other hand, breathe out carbon dioxide and inhale oxygen.  So, you see,  there is an interaction between plants and humans. What they exhale is what we inhale,  while what they exhale is what we inhale. Therefore, the need to have adequate vegetation cover in the form of grass, shrubs, flowers and trees in our immediate environment can’t be a overemphasized. The presence of green plants contributes immensely to public and individual health. Secondly, cons...

  Like I have often said, the battle with global warming and climate change can only be won only if we get to the root causes of these reverse trends. We can’t talk about ameliorating or mitigating these situations without first addressing the issues that brought about these changes. First and foremost, the issue of migration has to be dealt with. This I believe is the major root cause of global warming. There are many reasons why people move from one city, town or region to another, and there are also factors that propel or pull people from one place to another.  The search or quest for better living conditions is one of them. When a region or city has become the center of economic and commercial activities, this has a tendency to pull people from other regions to it. Then a trend begins. Migration from less, or no economic or commerce regions begin to occur and you find people moving in droves from the country or villages to the cities and towns in search of business, better...

  The remains of once living animals and plants were converted  into gas and oil which often occurs together. The fact that natural gas is frequently found with oil has contributed to the growth of the natural gas industry. But to get rid of this gas, it has to be flared as in the case of the Niger Delta regions of Nigeria. Countries like the United States discovered the use of natural gas since the 1820’s exactly two hundred years ago, with the first natural gas well drilled in the country which was opened up at Fredonia, New York in 1821. Prior to that time, manufactured gas from coal, coke and from oil was the main stream. This is still in use in various communities today. The Chinese however, made use of this property as early as 140BC!  They piped the gas through hollow bamboo rods from the sites where it was channeled to the sea shore and there they burned it to evaporate the brine and produce salt. Such commercial use of natural gas was not common and for thousands...

  Climate can be defined as the atmospheric conditions of a place over a particular period of time. If conditions are altered even in the slightest bit, there is climate change. Most recently, in different parts of the world, climate change has become an increasingly growing problem, stemming largely from man’s quest to solve his energy problem and answering that quest by employing the use of three primary fossil fuel resources namely: coal, petroleum crude oil and gas.  Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel resource in the United States, China and major parts of Africa. As oil prices have   plummeted and the availability of oil is slowly declining, the use of coal again is most likely going to increase if the United Nations Decade On Ecosystem Restoration strategy isn’t strictly adhered to especially in oil producing nations of the world. And this has tremendous environmental problems and consequences caused by the sulfur content of coal and not to mention the release of...