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Environment and Sustainability
INTRODUCTION
This collection of essays, on issues, policies and contentions
relating to environment and sustainability, has been put together as a Tribute
to Professor Peter Akinsola Okebukola, OFR, formerly Executive Secretary, National
Universities Commission, Nigeria; the First African to win the prestigious
UNESCO, Kalinga Prize for the Communication of Science; consultant to a number
of international organizations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank and UNDP;
African Representative and Member of the Board of Directors of the
International Council of Associations for Science Education; former Acting Vice
Chancellor of Lagos State University, Visiting Professor at the Curtin
University of Technology, Austria; Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing
Council Osun State University; and Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing
Council Crawford University, Ogun State.
Why a tribute in the area of environment and sustainability to
this unique and accomplished scholar one may ask? Professor Peter Akinsola
Okebukola’s revealing portraits is that of a highly respected man of ideas who
has done so much to promote the organized learning, teaching and
training of environmental education in Africa. The book has been
conceived against the background of the rapid, breath-taking, untamed economic
development and global environmental change affecting the different spheres of
our national and international life. In
a manner and on a scale never witnessed before, humanity is confronted with
environmental challenges at national, regional and global levels, while
communities continue to grapple with strategies aimed at reconciling the
conflicting demands of economic growth and environmental protection.
What emerges with clarity from the foregoing is the need to
continue to deepen our searchlight on the critical issues using a
multi-disciplinary approach. This is imperative in the light of the
far-reaching implications of such issues as climate change, massive loss of
biodiversity, deforestation, increased soil degradation, drought and desertification
among other challenges to environmental security. The mantra of Agenda 21 that “Humanity stands
at a defining moment in history” must not only continue to resonate, it must
also be implemented with a good vision and serious commitment of all and sundry. It remains to add that this is the only way
to come to terms with the challenges of today while preparing for the
foreseeable future of forthcoming generation.
Environment and Sustainability: Issues, Policies and Contentions
is thus being published against the background of an acute awareness of
developments within and outside Nigeria.
The book is divided into three parts, consisting of eighteen chapters,
bound together by a common purpose, namely, to critically examine issues,
policies and contentions relating to environment and sustainability.