ProtectOzone, Nigeria

Project name: ProtectOzone

Project location: Nigeria

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/protectozone/

Project description:

My project focuses on climate change through societal integration thereby addressing Sustainable Development Goals 11 and 13. Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities Goal 13: Climate Action.
It is no longer a theory that the debilitating effects of climate change on various aspect of life from flooding, desertification, low agricultural output, limited water supply, inadequate water reserve for power generation to many other adverse effects hence the need to arrest the trend.

The project is to mitigate the effects of climate change through children and youth’s participation.
Our activities cover these 5 key areas:

1. Excursion
2. Innovation
3. Distribution of tree seeds and seedlings
4. Establishment of demonstration farms (Nursery)
5. Trainings

So far, the organization as achieved the following:

Innovation:
We innovated the Mobile Kitchen Garden, a method of reusing non-degradable environmental waste materials (Damaged vehicle tyres) to fight Ozone Layer Depletion and simultaneously producing food (vegetable) using Local Content Initiative, we also use the innovation to fight hunger, alleviate poverty, reuse waste materials and promote child’s inclusion in community development. These tyres obstructs our drains, used to burn dirt, used for dangerous game by children and so on but we added economic/social values to it.

Excursion:
We do select active children and youth in erosion affected areas as “Environmental Ambassadors”, take them on an all-expense paid trip to botanical gardens where they were trained on tree planting as a means of erosion control and carbon sequestration. They return to their communities, train their colleagues and jointly plant the seeds to combat erosion and ozone layer depletion. 52 Ambassadors has been trained on this scheme and making positive changes in their respective communities.

Distribution of seeds and seedlings:
We collect tree seeds and seedlings of deciduous trees (Khaya senegalensis and Tectona grandis), fruits seeds/trees and vegetable seeds, we distribute them to children, youths and farmers through CBO’s, Farmers Association, Farmer Clusters, Youth Groups, Active Citizens, Youth Assemblies, Secondary Schools, Higher Institutions, Community Leaders to mention but a few. So far, we have distributed 35,000 seeds and 3,850 seedlings across the country.

Establishment of demonstration farms:
We have established 5 Eco-Friendly Demonstration Farms across 2 states of Nigeria, where we train children and youth on Eco-Friendly Farming using Sustainable Agricultural Practice.

Trainings:
We have trained, mentored and empowered 4,030 children, youth and farmers on various environmental centered topics and procedures.

Our future plan is to plant 100,000 additional trees yearly, establish Demo Farms across the 36 States of the country including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and also train 10,000 additional children, youths and farmers in sustainable agricultural practice yearly.

Goal and purpose of the project:

The purpose of this project is to mitigate the effect of climate change through trainings, advocacies, peer education, innovation, mentoring, establishment of sustainable demonstration farms, awareness raising, resources development and increase knowledge of civic responsibilities, thereby strengthening the capacity of young people to participate combating ozone layer depletion as global citizens thereby contributing to SDG 13: Action Climate and SDG 16 on Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development and making more youth attracted to public service through promotion of civil service internships and volunteering which systematically fight hunger, alleviate poverty and also improve livelihood.

Motivation of the applicant / applicant team:

On my way to Addis Abba, Ethiopia in February 2015, the airline I travelled with echoed their appreciation to passengers on board for choosing their flight and to reward their customers. They promised to plant trees in the origin of the flight country to help combat climate change. On my way back to Nigeria, I met Dr Hussien I M Shagar, a United Nations Volunteer from South Sudan who told me for the first time in my life about voluntary service. This sparked my interest of what I could to do to help my mother country as obviously, the trees were not going to be planted in Nigeria but Ethiopia according to the announcer. The thought of saving our environment to curb climate change through planting of trees stirred me up as an Agriculturalist. As soon as I returned to my country, Nigeria, I started massive advocacy, trainings and distribution of tree seeds to combat erosion and climate change systematically using Local Content Initiative in order to penetrate the rural communities – which is what we still do at the moment, which has bagged me awards locally and internationally
The society at large and the living organisms are the beneficiary.
Our future plan is to plant 100,000 additional trees yearly, establish Demo Farms across the 36 States of the country including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and also train 10,000 additional children, youths and farmers in sustainable agricultural practice yearly while influencing agricultural policies through advocacy

Use of prize money:

The prize money will be used for the Following:

1. Completion of ProtectOzone Demonstration Site in Ikorodu, Lagos. (Roofing, Plastering, ceiling, fencing and Borehole)
2. Laboratory facilities for our seedbank
3. Irrigation Kits
4. Farm kits
5. 1 million fruit tree campaign and
6. Capacity building of our existing and additional volunteers