Analysis of City Greening Approach to Sustainable Ecosystem Management in Ondo State

Abstract

The study was carried out to access the “City Greening: A House a Tree” programme of the Ondo state government. Multistage and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 80 respondents utilized for the study while frequency counts and percentages, as well as Pearson Product Moment Correlation, were used in data analysis. The study shows that most of the respondents interviewed were young, married, literate and dominated by Male headed households. Most of them were aware of the tree planting programme through Government officials/ Agricultural Extension agents. The various levels of participation include obtaining seedlings from Ministry of Environment (MOE), Sensitization and Mobilization, Planting of trees, watering of trees and given moral support. Tree species mostly planted are Step by step (Terminalia mentabris) and Tropical Almond (terminalia catapa ). Others are meilgna tree (Gmeligna arborea), fruits /Oranges, (thuja orientals) and Masquerade tree (polyathia longifolia). Most of them planted three to six seedlings, and the rate of survival was very high. The benefits derived from the trees includes: protecting the building from been blown off by wind and reducing excessive environmental heat. It also helped in reducing erosion, creating the opportunity for pleasure and providing food for man/ animals respectively. The highest constraints to the survival of tree planting programme in Ondo state is destruction by domestic animals, followed by lateness in obtaining seedlings from the MOE. The study established a significant relationship between city greening program and sustainable ecosystem management. The study recommends continuous promotion of the program through the use of extension agents, television and radio programmes and the enforcement of Legislations for sustainable ecosystem management.