Nigeria Green Awards, Ever Green Magazine. ‘’ Sustaining our Common Future’’ initiated by Environmental Safety and Awareness initiatives, A Non-Governmental Organisation with Affiliation in over forty countries
VISION
‘’To propagate and plant the idea of successful living through those committed to advancing the course of core and common concern, ’the inhabitant values’’, with safer homes and fuller lives , in achievement and recognition for commitments through understanding of sounding the alarm to encourage others to see those needs as priority to develop, sustain, and encourage exceptional policies and ideas of building our society in the course of making our environment habitable place for maximum practicable degree of convenience. Heralding our quest of upholding environmental quality, that tends to sustain our green future with exceptional initiatives coming with different ideals’’.
MISSION
‘’To continue maintaining high quality environment through such recognitions with reward anchored on reckoning, that is meant to continue to spur individuals, public and private sectors doing more for their environment. Whilst encouraging them with such, with the impression to continue to make it possible in achieving a sustainable developments for the soul benefit of our common concern, ‘’The environment’’, that every individual would be inspired, build, hope with faith in time and be encouraged to develop our rural and urban areas with laudable ideas that would rekindle the objective of meeting the expected change our surroundings demands with continuous determination of impacting on the next generation without compromising the future’’.
AIM
The aim of ‘’ Nigeria Green award’’ is to recognize and reward local and regional efforts at improving the environment, the economy, and the quality of life of growing the urban and rural populations either through corporate social responsibility or individual commitments . The award also, is aimed at providing an incentive for functional city system with managerial capacity, green revolution ideas with sharing best practice, whilst at the same time, engaging in friendly competition. Essentially, the brand would be given to city administrators either in towns, local government, private sectors organizations, consultants, professional and experts that has improved on our ‘’common concern’’ the living environment as a whole through concrete activities.
‘’ELIGIBILITY’’
All cities across Nigeria with more than one hundred fifty million inhabitants would eventually produce individual nominee and winners for the Nigeria Green awards. The AWARD is open to all geographical entity called Nigeria. In place where there is no city, it must also have another status like megapolices, towns, hamlets, villages’ mega cities and megalopolises’ Entries are assessed on the basis of twelve focal points. Local contribution to climate change, Global warming efforts, transport and logistics planning, green urban and rural areas, pollution mitigation policies, leadership impacts in various sectors waste management planning, promotion of local contents policy, production and management of the local development, leadership impact , energy efficiency and performance, crime and marine coast guard security management, water affordability and management, hazard responses and excellent coordination and tourism potentials and developments
AWARD OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the Nigeria Green award are as follows;
1- Reward initiators, inventors, commitments and leadership innovation , public and private sector experts, professionals and technicians and individuals that have a consistent record of achieving high environmental standards in all endeavors;
2,- Encourage individuals to commit to on-going and ambitious goals for further environmental improvement and sustainable development
3 -Provide a role model to inspire other cities and promote best practice and experience in all other Nigerian cities.
The internal circle of life and death on our environment outlines the importance to support and encourage development that is targeted at any approach well deserve at sustaining every habitats. It will also ensure that they become better places to live in and reduce their negative environmental impacts on the wider ecosystem. As the thematic strategy on urban environment does not contain legal measures, and because incentives are important, the Nigeria Green Award must plays key role here in renewed sustainable development goal strategy for an enlarged Nigeria, aims to identify and develop action that will enable the country to achieve continuous improvement of the quality of life of both current and future generations. This can be done through the creation of ideas, invention and initiatives for the purpose of sustaining and developing our communities which precisely, is what the Green award is intended to create.
AWARD’S MESSAGE
The message is, Nigerians have the right to live in a healthy environments, it should therefore strive to improve the quality of life of their citizens and encourage their impact on the global environment. This message is brought together with the slogan ‘’our common future’’.
A graphic identity is developed and designed to promote the winners of Nigeria Green Awards. The graphic identity is aimed at giving winners in every category a dynamic and unique platform which, at once, and at the same time, benefits the entire country through imageability and increases awareness through the awards. A key element of the graphics identity is the logo design showing a row leaf in green and blue. The colors are intended to represent fresh Air, a green approach to the environment and a positive attitude toward our country and our common concern ‘’The Environment’’. The leaf embracing the green and city symbolizes how individuals care for their citizens by improving on the environment in which they live. The logo is to compliment green leaf in plants and be used in all promotional material to create a strong and coherent environment with great atmospheric feelings.
THE AWARDS AND INPUT OF IMPROVEMENT ON THE QUALITY OF OUR ENVIRONMENT
It is important to reward citizens with creative efforts t at improving the environment, moving towards healthier and sustainable green living. Progress has its own reward, but the satisfaction and pride involved in winning the title of a prestigious Nigeria Green Award will also bring advantageous side effects such as increased personality profiles of individuals and corporates organisation, striking a balance between resource exploitation and sustainable environment, more investment in service to humanity that would serve as influence to influx of young Nigerian professionals, bodies of privates and public sectors ; It is therefore our country’s interest that our surroundings become a prosperous place to live and work
BENEFITS OF WINNING THE AWARD
The Awards has benefits such as providing an incentive for developments, to inspire each other and share best practice, while at the same time, engaging in a friendly competition in other words, our environment becomes role models for each other.
AWARDS IN VARIOUS CATEGORIES
SMART GREEN AWARD
This category of Awards is given to any individual’s private or public sector whose beautification and other efforts put in place are geared toward making it surroundings smart and livable for convenience throughout its circulation and where the entire environment is indeed worthy of note. The ability to project excellent landscape with buffer-zones in various settlements, organisations through leadership influence is abound, and that which would serve as needed tonic for both habitats and the inhabitants
CITY LEADERSHIP AWARD
Award in this category, would dwell on individual’s effort at ensuring city development that is geared towards improving our common concern, ‘’the community environment’’. Stake holders whose investment has positive cost benefit analysis in these direction would be rewarded. Every effort of others not withstanding would be welcomed.
GREEN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AWARD
Business commitments is an attraction to any given environment with great advantages to individuals, habitats, government and private sectors and that which also, would be encouraged through our rewards in this category. People whose investment had impact on such given environment are to be recognized, these category of award will also encourage individuals investors that places priority on health and safety of its domain and workers, encourages cleanness in and out of its investment surroundings
GREEN LEGEND AWARD
Landscaping originally encourages beautification and buffer-zone and future development. and every efforts in these direction through policy priority by individual influence, private, public and others that encourages corporate social responsibility are built in these direction would be rewarded, government making policies geared towards this direction also would be given consideration in reward in this category landscaping encourages greener environment and help make cities a serene place for livable environment, and every efforts in these direction would be encouraged. Green star are green belt achievers, buffer-zones and are also pointer to sustainable environment. Awards in this category are golden and always seen as place of pride
ENVIRONMENTALISTS GREEN AWARD
Professionals of the built environment, real estate valuer and engineering whose impact are significant in every place of Endeavour would be rewarded. Media professionals whose contributions in environmental advocacy are traceable in such direction would also be encouraged. Others whose profession are related as well and had made significant contribution too, will not be left behind in this category of Award.
CRIME AND COAST GUARD AWARD
Coast guard security is pointer to sustaining our eco-system and other natural resources within our coastal land zone. The security personnel who have been able to distinguish their self are scheduled in this category of Award. Personnel’s in private and public sector whose jurisdictions are on the nation estuaries; land security, coast and managing our bays effectively are to be evaluated. Those commands would be specific ally have its focus on ‘security’ to the Nigeria land and sea. The current efforts would be evaluated and scrutinized and subsequently give out coast guard Award to those found to be the best, under the platform of the city and green. Those agent whose ability is adjudged to be the best in terms of it merits in operational efficiency, combating environment crime and safe guarding our natural resources and estuaries would also be encouraged.
ENERGY GLOBE AWARD
The energy sector and development of Nigerian energy green exploration of its natural resources for maximization of economic potentials has remained a continuous hazard to the coastal zone and its estuaries on arable delta zones of Nigeria. Apart of its effects on global warming, Pollution and subsequent killing of aquatic life is also the bane, as the remains of emissions coming out as liquid waste in the exploration of crude has since remained unabated in the coast of Nigeria water , and its management seems agrarian in nature. The energy globe award seeks to use this platform to encourage best practice in its drive for safer and healthy environment, efforts so far at cleaning the pollution of surface water contamination is yet to any yield fruits, whilst encouraging individuals, public and private sector whose unique techniques has, to a larger extent, mitigate those identifiable challenges on the estuaries to be rewarded, the evaluation of local contents that impacts on its redevelopment using sustainable solution mechanism and reducing it to a bearable minimum ,the over bearing consequence those various types of pollution has continue to cause on the inhabitants with having unique effort, stemming environmental hazards for both the inhabitants, biotic and abiotic animals in the coastal zone of the delta.
ENVIRONMENTAL FOUNDATION AWARD
Development of our environment indeed, needs foundational planning. Many today never knew how important it is to plan before execution of designs. Today we have seen building collapse that has continued unabated, roads construction without design plan for proper execution. The implications are very severe some times and of course, the resultant effects are usually unquantifiable in terms of its collateral damages. Using environmental foundation Awards as source of encouragement to those who merits it, it will further boost others who do not know, never had it before, or do not see it importance, that there is the need for foundational design, reconnaissance survey at every elementary stages of any developments to help sound the alarm and educates other who truly are willing and do not know how best to follow the process, helping to save life and informing others is indeed our ‘’common concern’’.
MEDIA ECO JOURNALISM AWARD
Advocacy remains a focus objective of sustainable environment. The media now has environment and property reports on their various platforms. Both the print and electronic media now has various form of environmental page to disseminate environmental reports via their platforms. Developments of this kind are germane to ‘’ our common concern’’ in sustaining our environments. Most policy makers are not in the know, of what has been happening to our environment. The media are those projecting it for the consummation of the public. in doing this, we tend to see drastic action taken place, and subsequently, solution are abound. This platform sort to encourage the best amongst them and pose burden to others who are not given, to do more in other to come first and be recognized, the essence of this is to allow for inclusive participation in the development of our environment
LEADERSHIP CONSERVATION AWARD
Our ever green resources are multifaceted in both human and natural. The importance of these category lies primarily on the future generational need through conservation of our ‘’common concern’’. The potential individual with the ability to conserve the green environment with its potential resources to meet with the future generational needs would be awarded in this category. Private and public sector who give priority to environmental conservation of nature and its ecosystem are potentials in these rewards.
HEROES OF GREEN ENVIRONMENT AWARD
The need for sustainable development is to ensure environmental sustainability as accepted world over through the millennium development goal which was in agreeable terms with member countries of the united nation to meet its target before twenty fifteen. In line with this development, every positive step towards emancipation of the environment by individual effort, private or public shall be rewarded with such in that category
NATURE’S EXCELLENCE AWARD
Water distribution and management is one of the prominent problems we are being faced with in Nigeria amidst plenty. The reward in this category would focus on the efforts so far coming from distinguished Nigerians in provision of drinkable and portable water in demand for humanity, government encouraging private sector on improving on this particular efforts, how far have they feared?, this will determined those that are to be nominated and subsequently win the mentioned award, The inhabitants and the levels of demands of nature are truly in high demand that are in need of intervention of this magnitude. , individual Nigerian with better out come with putting smile to the people would be rewarded to encourage others to do more.
CITY AND GREEN LEADERSHIP AWARD
Cleanness is next to healthiness, our observers would Beam their search lights on local efforts and state capital that are conscious of their environment with ensuring adequacy in cleanness, it would reward any city with good policy, channeled towards sustaining sanitization of its environment. Development and management of this kind shall be rewarded.
WASTE MANAGER’S AWARD
Waste management has something to do with refuse collection from origin and its destination of evacuation, health implication of dumping sites location and policy planning that is primarily driven by the public sector must involves the people and their environment. Many public sectors in our cities today have successively hand off the managements of this development to private sector. In rewarding, we shall look at the effectiveness of regulation on the part of the public, the drive and its management in best practice from the private sector, we shall look at it levels of effectiveness and sufficiency in meeting demand especially during evacuation in line with the principle of best practice, and at best, give the deserving sector the Award for encouraging others to do more.
TOURISM AMBASSADORS AWARD
On area Nigeria policy makers has not yet develop and tap its opportunities fully is indeed tourism developments .while some had made frantic efforts in developing those potentials in their states. Our teams’ intend to use this platform of best tourism Award to reawakens those policies makers with such drive, and help in building those potentials to the benefit of mankind and the development of our common concern
SAFETY RESPONSE AWARD
One thing we must not shy away from is hazards; they certainly must occur whether man made or natural disaster occurs. Our ability to stem the tide through proactiveness and excellent coordination remains one sure means of containing it. The ability also at bringing it to a halt with Sharpe responses is another test case of ensuring a safer live and the effectiveness of the environment. Team work, coordination, mitigation and response would be the organizers yardstick of rewarding the best in this category of safety response Award
POLLUTION COMPLIANCE AWARD
Many industries today do not understand the importance of developing a policy drive that would ensure safety of its workers and the entire environment. Majority of those that work in many organisations not understand the importance health hazards prone environments talk less about its potential risk, and that which can lead to permanent incapacitation or one health problem or the other. Physical observation of some organisation has Liquid waste channeled toward in-appropriate channel. the health and other damaging implication alone could be linked to what was outlined earlier, making it also more difficult to allow those waste to pass through normal sewers, many sewage are left undercharged, some do not have evacuation channel and that alone sincerely poses danger to those consuming the product and indeed the workers who are producing it. The award observers would be focusing on organisations with ensuring pollution compliance with those identifiable areas of concern as being factors that must be considered to reward individuals and corporate organisation in other to encourage others to use such to encourage others most especially in the areas of compliance and also as basis for standard
EVER GREEN AWARD
A life time achievements of this kind can be golden. Having individuals who has significantly help in replenishing our common future and not those who only know how to remove from it and not knowing how to replacing it back with ability to rebuild, individual s who had given their time to ensure our environment is not abuse, encourages others through influence, motivation, give adequate attention the environment deserve to actualize and sustain our green environment, even with other additional endeavored that the organizers so deem fit. Such individuals must have been a success in human and manpower development, committed to the course of ensuring environmental planning always, development and management of our common concern is indeed priority.
CITY AND THE OVERVIEW OF OUR COMMON CONCERN ‘’THE ENVIRONMENT’’
Cities exist because individuals are not sufficient. If each of us produced everything we consume, and that we didn’t want much company, there will be no need to live in cities. We aren’t self-sufficient; however, it is expedient we exchange our labor for other resources. Most of us live in cities because that’s where most of the jobs are. Cities also provide a rich admixture of potentials and services. By living in cities, we achieve a higher standard of living but we must also be mindful that it shall be coming with more pollution, crime, hazards and congestion.
A system is generally described as an organized or complex whole, an assemblage or combination of things or parts that form a unitary whole which is greater than the simple sum of parts. Every geographical region (continent, nation, state and local government) constitute a system, indeed a system with high level of reciprocal interdependency. For instance, in Nigeria cities like; Lagos, Ibadan, Benin, port-Harcourt, Aba, Onitsha Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, are strategic regional Centre which are sufficiently connected by activities that keep the total system going.
The concept of system seeks to define established framework of organization for effective decision making and policy formulation within functional operating system. This is essential for the regulation of social and economic activities in the system, as well as providing appropriate level and mechanism of integration. Urban Centre is a distinctive system, consisting of activities which make it to function.
These activities are viewed as the sub-system, functionally interrelated like the organ of a body which results from environmental factors which mainly determines its overall population. One distinct aspect of development processes which are greatly dependent upon the objective of environment is the aspect of natural resources which explains the sources of supply or support that is generally held in reserve. In other words, the natural resource are material with living organism that are natural for the substance of their life or any component of the natural environment that can be utilized by man to promote his welfare is considered as a natural resources.
Natural resources can be a substance, an energy unit or a natural process or phenomena e.g., water air soil, minerals, coal forest, crops and wild life are all examples of an eco-system which indeed are part of our common concern. All these essentially make city system work and functions where-with, the Award seeks to operate from, in helping these means to strike a balance on human induced infliction and how the environment is replenished, sustained and developed through human efforts, commitments with consciousness of future generational needs.
Generally, the term environment is our surrounding, which essentially involves material and spiritual influences that affect the growth, development and existence of a living being. This definition is in consonance with what offered by Wilkinson and nayman as all the interesting factors and circumstances that surround influences and direct the growth and behavior of individual being group species and communities.
Environment is indeed a product of man and its understanding and experience of his surrounding, and is perpetually shaped by man’s usage and interaction with it. Stockholm conference on human development assert, ‘’man is both creature and modular of his environment which gives him physical sustainace and afford him the opportunity for intellectual, moral, social and spiritual growth’’ in adopting the environment ideas in world charter for nature, where it emphasized the certainty of man and its environment.
It declares that functioning of natural system ensures the supply of energy and nutrient. The definition explains its anthropocentric nature of ecology, its habitats and inhabitants such as Fiona and fauna and micro-organism that shapes the condition of the entire environment.
Environment has also being viewed as a complex relationship that existing between the ecosystem and its inhabitants. Scientific explanation contends that environment is a product of a complex ecological system in which human being and other livings and non-living organism co-exist. In this context, environment is characterized and classified into two broad categories; physical and cultural. The Physical environment is the natural environment which consist of biosphere, atmosphere hydrosphere and lithosphere and their inherent resources. The cultural environment generally encompasses the way of life of people in density, including human settlement, cultural, historical and religious aspect of human activities, its use of natural resources with leadership impact, which perceive environment as the totality of nature and natural resources. Also going for it, is the cultural heritage and the infrastructure in addition to conservation which is essential for socio-cultural activities like waste management, industries services, natural resources, income and consumptions, education and employment, tourism, coastal zones, bay recreations parks and gardens, landscaping ’. All these consist of our wide environment, and finding individuals corporate body, government at all level in sustain it through leadership impact , commitments to epoch making innovation that affect the inhabitants must be encouraged, hence the need for reward of these kind.
Doing this should include motivation that will encourage, help in shaping both the habitats and inhabitants through those that are committed in replenishing the environment after lots of damages has be done to it , where little or less are actually being done to putting it back in good shape. Ours is to sound the alarm through this avenue, whilst encouraging others to do more in sustaining our environment for our common concern’ The Environment’’. ‘’Reward,’’ ‘’with Nigeria Green Award’’.
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