The move is to commemorate this year’s World Environment Day with the theme, ‘Only One Earth’. The Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Jonathan Lawani, while briefing journalists shortly after the tree planting exercise, urged stakeholders in the state to support government’s efforts at engendering environmental sustainability, ensuring a healthier and cleaner state for all citizens.

He said: “There is no other earth except the one protected by you and l. We all know the exchange between plants and animals in terms of carbon dioxide and oxygen, without which we would not be alive. We need a good environment for our trees, which will in turn help us to synchronise the carbon dioxide and give us oxygen to live. It is our collective responsibility to protect our environment and earth.”

The commissioner, who urged students to be advocates and champions of healthier and cleaner environment, charged them to ensure proper evacuation of wastes in their environment.

Also, the principal of Oredo Girls Senior Secondary School, Mrs. Vero Iyayi, said tree-planting exercise would help mitigate the adverse effect of climate change.