The Edo State Government  said it had revoked the Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) of 1,160 plots in Benin to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The state Commissioner for Environment, Mr Clem Agba, said in Benin in an interview that the revocation translated to recovery of 109,048 hectares of land because the state government was very conscious of the threat posed by climate change.
He said that the revoked plots were those allotted to individuals and corporate organisations which failed to utilise the land within the stipulated period.
Besides, he said the state government had begun the implementation of the stomp water master plan for Benin City, the state capital.
Agba said the government had identified 23 catchment areas in the state capital that required primary drains to de-flood the city.
The commissioner said the last primary drain that was constructed in the city was done about 30 years ago.
He said that presently the government was working on four primary drains in the city to guard against unexpected flooding.
Agba also said that the state government planted no fewer than two million trees yearly and provided 400,000 trees to the residents for its aggressive forest regeneration programme.
He noted that with global warming there was threat to human survival with accompanying threat of flooding, landslides, erosion, draught, biodiversity loss, desertification and temperature increase.
The commissioner said that the major challenges before the ministry were capital, behaviour and attitude of the people toward the environment.