Varsity Don Tasks Coys On Pollution

An environmental expert, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, has advised companies whose operations have to do with pollution to implement the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) to check “ ruthless unnatural disaster.’’

Ezemonye, who is the Director, National Centre for Energy and Environment, University of Benin, gave the advice on Saturday in Benin, in a lecture to mark the World Environment Day.

He noted that many “ecosystems have been frayed to the point where they are no longer resilient and able to withstand natural perturbations, thus, setting the stage for ruthless unnatural disaster.’’

Ezemonye said that the scenario “ plays out when pollution based companies fail in the implementation of their EMP”.

He noted that by degrading the forests and releasing untreated wastes, “ we are unraveling the strands of complex ecological safety net.’’

The director further noted that though the country had recognised the inherent link between environmental management and mitigation of pollution, no enforcement measures had been put in place.

“ Lack of laws, enforcement measures and nonchalant attitude within the political regime has weakened this linkage,’’ he said.

He, however, said that the commission would continue to facilitate networking, skills, information and tools on pollution abatement and energy conservation with stakeholders, to ensure effective management of the environment.

“ Charting a pathway for pollution abatement and energy conservation is certainly a panacea to reducing the emission of obnoxious green house gases which have been implicated as one of the causes of climate change,’’ he noted.

Ezemonye called for concerted efforts by government, local authorities and other stakeholders, through a more “coordinated, comprehensive and ambitious response,’’ to tackle climate change successfully.