By Etta Michael Bisong
Minister of Environment, Mrs. LaurentiaMallam, has called on journalists to give more priority to reporting environmental issues to raise awareness on the importance of sustainable living.
Speaking yesterday during the opening of the week long activities marking the World Environment Day (WED) in Abuja, the minister said she expects that the media will transmit to the public, critical issues of environmental concern that will come up during the celebration to Nigerians, and the world over.
Mrs. Mallam tasked journalists to apply the instrumentality of media reportage to help shape the National agenda on the environment in the coming months and years.
Giving an insight into the theme of the WED for 2014, “Raise Your Voice, Not The Sea Level,” Mrs. Mallam is of the hope that journalists will play a critical role in attracting national and global attention to issues of bush burning, use of generators, candles lanterns, and vehicular emissions, all of which contribute to global warning.
The minister who also used the occasion to extend fraternal greetings to stakeholders in the sector, particularly environmentalist and environmental activists around the world noted that it is the responsibility of the media to enlighten the people that the world is indivisible as far as issues of the environment are concerned, adding that it is necessary for people to think globally and act locally.
While calling for mass participation in the celebration, she also wants Nigerians to deploy and make extensive use of the social media to create the desired awareness on critical challenges to the environment, especially the need to refrain from actions and activities that will or are likely to lead to ozone layer depletion, increase rainfall and rising sea levels.
World Environment Day is a day set aside by the United Nations organisation for the entire world to reflect on, and draw global attention to issues of environment. The event is celebrated on the 5th of June every year.