WED: Conservationists Advocate More Green Areas, Less Concrete for Healthy Living

Bennett Oghifo

The global community marked the World Environment Day 2024 (WED 2024) last Wednesday with a focus on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience.

WED is the biggest international day for the environment. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and held annually since 1973, it has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach. It is celebrated by millions of people across the world.

Here in Nigeria, some conservationists held a roundtable session to mark this year’s WED at the Alliance Française in Ikoyi, Lagos. 

The conference, organised by the French Embassy in Nigeria and IFRA Nigeria, had the theme, Green or Grey Urban Jungles: What Place For Plants In Nigerian Cities?

The conference kicked off with a spoken word recital and concluded with a music performance by artiste, Ruth Mahogany.
The speakers noted that concrete has taken over most spaces, leaving little or no space for nature and green areas, which are important for a number of reasons.

With gardens, parks and green areas being overtaken by concrete construction/buildings, they expressed worry that this will create an imbalance in the ecosystem, contribute to the excess heat being experienced in the country as well as strip communities of areas of rest, relaxation and even worship.

They included: Emilie Guitard, Research Fellow -CNRS/INFRAPATRI. As an Anthropologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Emilie Guitard is documenting the relations with nature in cities in sub-Saharan Africa. She combines ethnographic research and artistic collaborations during fieldwork to study waste management in Cameroon, perceptions of environmental changes in Zimbabwe, or more recently knowledge about attachments to plants in lbàdàn.

Théo Lawson

Architect – Chief Warden Freedom Park

Theo Lawson, an architect based in Lagos, Nigeria, graduated from the Architectural Association School, London in 1985. He blends traditional African and High-tech design styles, He co-founded the “C.lLA” in 1998, contributing to
projects like Freedom Park Lagos. Passionate about public spaces, he’s involved in various cultural and historical projects
in Nigeria.

Folu Oyefeso

Activist – Save Our Green Spaces Ibadan

Folu Oyeteso is a Nigerian photographer whose work aims to capture the beauty, diversity, and resilience of Nigerian and African people. Through photography and storytelling. Oyefeso challenges stereotypes and assumptions about the Continent, and presents a more nuanced and authentic portrayal of the landscape and its people.
Iyabo Aboaba

Chief Operating Officer (COO) Freedom Park

lyabo Aboaba has worked in the Arts, Tourism and Hospitality sector in different capacities as an administrator with over four decades of experience. She was formerly the General Manager at the MUSON Centre and currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at the Freedom Park. Ms Aboaba sits on several Boards and is an avid supporter of the arts in Nigeria.
Jomi Marcus Bello (Skate Park)  Wafflesncream Founder
Jomi Marcus-Bello is the co-founder of WAFFLESNCREAM,
Nigeria’s first skate shop and a clothing brand in its Own right. Because of its pioneering position on the scene, WAFFLESNCREAM has become a pillar of the burgeoning Nigerian skateboard community. He impulsed the creation of Lagos first concrete skatepark.

At the conference, the moderator, Tabia Princewill, political advisor and journalist, asked each of them about their encounter with nature. Here’s what they said: 

Mr Theo Lawson

Freedom Park came about because I felt there’s a need for a park in Lagos Island, the CBD, I think in the late ‘90s. Was first a crime-laden area. We had ‘area boys’ notorious for slashing bags and everything. And the city just became very congested and not friendly at all. I thought Lagos State is somewhere where the city could breathe, the place where people could escape to, like, Hyde Park or Central Park where you could just get away and essentially interface with nature. And fortunately, Freedom Park, the site of Freedom Park had escaped developers, because the site was originally a prison for 100 years. And fortunately, after it had been allocated to four developers, because of the history, of course, nothing happened. So it was abandoned for 30 years, until we got to start the project. But I also heard that Chief Awolowo had cursed the place never to get developed, because he was incarcerated there. But lots of interesting things we mentioned spirituality and everything. I think we have some stories to tell by Freedom Park and the trees.

Emilie Guitard

I think I was in close contact with nature when I was growing up in France, etc. Then I took some interest, actually about this relationship dancing in urban African cities. When I started to do ethnographic research in northern Cameroon, I was working on another topic, but then I already witnessed some stories about genes living on certain trees, also trees being seen as markers for the story of the two cities. So then this interest was reinforced when I worked a bit in Zimbabwe and instant parts because I worked specifically there on the perceptions over environmental changes by inhabitants of a small mining town. So it was more the title to that topic. But it was really when I arrived in Ibadan in 2015 that I started to work on the specific topic of knowledge about plants and attachment to plants. And it started with a very, very simple question. Actually, it’s when I went through the center, the old center of Ibadan, I saw this very beautiful architectural landscape, very typical, we all know this point, IGP clock, etc. But I also witnessed that there was still quite a love to all the big trees standing. And so my very simple question was, but how is it that these trees are still standing in this very densely populated and built up area? And that’s how I started actually doing some ethnographic research. So first, I was just myself with Adeniji Adebayi, who was my research assistant then. And then in 2017, I invited some friends who are French visual artists to come with me to the button to do some field work together. And that’s how they started to take pictures and draw what was happening under the trees of the old center at Ibadan, while I was doing my research that was basically talking with people living there observing what was going on. And so finally, I went back to France and in 2001 we got some big funding to start an international programme on the same topic, but this time, with the possibility to compare four cities in Sub Saharan Africa that are young in Cameroon, Ibadan, Nigeria PortoNovo in Benin Republic, and Dakar in Senegal. People again, are interacting with plants in these big cities. And we set up a team of about 15 Researchers in Social Science and Humanities and Botany, together with about 15 artists from all over those countries and friends to work together and we were invited again in 2023, So last year, I offered Abayomi Antony who’s seated here. Who is a photographer to join us as well to make pictures and we started also to work not only on trees in the center of Ibadan, but on wooded areas that are quite emblematic like Igbo-agala for those who know that the forest around our store at the center of the city or an old cemetery that is called Songo cemetery. And so the exhibition that is displayed at the Alliance gallery is the result of this collaboration.

Folu Oyefeso

For me, I think it’s difficult to remember a time where I wasn’t surrounded by plants or surrounded by vegetation or interested in nature in general. It’s always kind of been my thing growing up. While most people were watching Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network, I was on Animal Planet or Discovery. That was my thing. So I’ve never really felt apart from nature. I’ve never really felt apart from the trees. It’s always been a part of me and when I got older, I started doing what I’m doing, documenting landscapes, and just trying to put the word out there of some of these really beautiful places in Nigeria that people can visit. I unconsciously or consciously ended up leaning towards the greener spaces, the forest reserves, the nature of conservatories. The Greenfingers initiative is a wildlife rescue habilitation center in Lekki and it’s one of the most interesting and one of the most heartfelt places I’ve had the opportunity to talk about. So it’s always been a part of me and as I’ve grown older, it’s become my work. It’s become part of my activism. And it’s definitely featured in daily conversations I have, because day by day, you hear chainsaws. I couldn’t tell you how much anxiety Ruth’s chainsaw mimicry gave me. That sound really makes me uncomfortable. And yeah, we see the defects every day with how hot things are with the concrete everywhere. The flooding. We can’t go on like this. It’s gonna get to a point where Mother Nature is going to be like enough is enough. And she was here first so we’re gonna go we’re gonna be kicked away.

Jomi Marcus Bello

First of all, I like animals and plants a lot. I suppose  this was not my destiny at all. Just like him, I resonated with the fact that I was not watching Cartoon Network and everything. I was actually playing outside of the dirt. I was riding horses and you know, doing as much as I can to be outside. So, how I got into plants, because concrete is our playground, but I actually am an HR person as well. So the first for me, my background was tales by moonlight, right? That was my first memory of how people interacted with trees. You know, the children around under the tree. And then also when I was going to visit my grandma in the village and I lived in Benin, I just noticed everybody was always under a tree. A lot of people gust under a tree for a long time till it’s dark. So that was like my own first interaction with trees. So speaking about concrete I mean, we escape what is an urban spot is a reaction to bad waves. Which is natural. So if you know the history when it’s not off surfaces and three friends took some woods. Sorry, I put wheels on it and we’re skating to catch waves. So I don’t know if this was amplified enough. But when we got introduced to Freedom Park, I was, you know, like a very tree tree place and trees kind of give birth to more trees and more trees and more trees. We had like four different specialists help us to kind of figure out how we can maneuver the space. We went to Takwa Bay and we went as a group to plant 70 trees somewhere around the church, some of the area so we thought we did Mother Nature justice by giving even more back to society. I am also an urban planner. I did real estate so I kind of understand that when you cut one tree you have to put it back. 

Iyabo Aboaba

I grew up loving plants. When I was seven years old Dad was taken to a hospital and had to move medically. That’s General Hospital and I find that every time I enter the hospital and the doctors room, somebody comes in and puts water on some plants by the window and I was wondering, so this must be good for this man. We were living on the island. And if you know where the museum is now used to be what was called the love garden. Love in trees and plants. We were living in Ajasa and we go there regularly and that’s also understood as this must be something good for our health. I used to plant little things around my house. Now I worked at the museum for many years and was accused by people many times. Why do we have this concrete and you destroyed our Love Garden and I said fine. Sorry about that. But we have to do it for a very beautiful lawn. And then I moved to Freedom Park. Not exaggerating, I think we have over 30 fully grown trees there. And every time somebody wants to come and say where do we sit in case something happens as they go under the tree. What if anything happens? And we say nothing will happen. Just stay under the tree and the leaves will fall. Sometimes we put a little canopy around it, fabric, sometimes masks, just to welcome them and they have enjoyed it. It’s not very easy taking care of it during the rainy season. But we manage, we tell them don’t worry. You have a shade. Trees are lovely to have around, oxygen all the time.