World Environment Day (WED) 2020

Environmental protection is one of the focus areas of the Association for Community Awareness; ASCOA joins the international community every June 5 to commemorate World Environment Day. For some time, the organization has been very much involved in different environmental activities. With the ravaging COVID 19 pandemic, this 2020, ASCOA while respecting barrier measure to fight against the pandemic decides to carryout tree planting exercise in Muea, a locality in the Buea subdivision.

Members and volunteers of ASCOA took to the above-mentioned neighborhood to carry out the tree planting and plastic picking exercises to mark the 2020 edition of World Environment Day. The aim of the project was to improve on the quality of the environment in the Muea community. The available participants with working tools such as machetes, diggers and others tools would among other things identify and mark the spots for the nursed saplings to be planted. Areas with high plastic concentration were also identified.

Introduction

The World Environment Day is celebrated worldwide on the 5 June every year. World Environment Day (WED) is an initiative of the United Nations to raise awareness on the need to protect the environment and preserve nature. This day has been observed since 1947. To commemorate this day, individuals, communities and institutions take actions to protect the environment and preserve nature, such as environmental cleanups.

The World Environment Day 2020 was celebrated under the theme: Biodiversity. Biodiversity forms the basic life support of all living things both on land and under water. However, the activities of humans on the environment over time continue to pose a serious threat to the survival of biodiversity through actions such as deforestation and pollution that have resulted in the loss of some species.

Since 2014, the Association for Community Awareness (ASCOA), joins the international community every year to celebrate the World Environment Day. This ties with its mission to “Improve the quality of life for underserved communities by increasing self-reliance”. ASCOA commemorated World Environment Day 2020 under the theme: “Save the Earth, Plant a Tree”.

Tree planting has been globally recognized as major action towards saving our environment because trees help to reduce the impact of climate change, clean the air, provide a habitat for small animals and birds, provide shed from direct sunlight thereby promoting walkability, and regulate the water cycle. All these contribute immensely to increase livability of the environment by humans.

For June 2020 celebrations, the members and volunteers of ASCOA mobilized to carry out activities in the Muea neighborhood in Buea, South West region of Cameroon on 5 June, 2020. Activities such as community sensitization, tree planting and environmental cleanup, plastic waste removal, sorting and proper dumping were carried out.

Aim and objectives

The aim of this project was to improve the quality of the environment in the Muea community. The objectives were to plant trees along the main street of Muea New layout, and to carry out clean up of the environment by picking, sorting and proper disposal of solid waste.

Material and Methods

The material selected and used during the execution of this project included items for tree planting and cleanup. Activities were carried out from 9am to limit the direct impact of sunshine on the saplings during transplant.

For the tree planting exercise, saplings were purchased from a plant nursery based in Tole. The selected species of trees used was Bakul tree. This tree was selected because it is a fast growing, environmentally friendly shade tree.

The method used for tree planting was transplanting of saplings. Since the soil was moist from rain that fell on the 4 June, the ASCOA team proceeded to:

• Identify and mark the best positions for tree planting
• digging of 30cm deep holes
• planting of the nursed saplings
• covering up of the holes and;
• protecting the young trees by placing stones around them to make their presence more obvious to passers-by

Digging of 30cm deep holes                             

Environmental cleanup involved picking up of poorly disposed solid waste in the community, sorting of waste especially the removal of plastic waste and its proper disposal at authorized community waste disposal sites.

Community sensitization was carried out on a one to one basis, where ASCOA team members split in pairs, spoke to residents of the community.

Picking of plastics

Techniques/databases used

• Data collection form was used for plastics

Equipment handled

This project was carried out with the use of the following tools:

• Diggers
• Cutlasses
• Waste bags
• Hand gloves
• Face masks
• First aid box

Results: ASCOA was able to successfully educate the local population on the benefits of effective waste management, that is, sorting and proper disposal of waste.

• 823 plastics were collected.
• A total of 180 trees were planted along both sides of Muea New Layout main street.
• Over 80 members of the local community were sensitized on the importance of tree planting

Conclusion

ASCOA commemorated the World Environment 2020 on the 5^th June, 2020 by successfully engaging in community sensitization, tree planting and environmental cleanup in Muea New Layout Buea, Cameroon. ASCOA anticipates engaging in consistent follow up and involvement of the local community in environmental protection as a sustainability strategy for this project.