By Joseph Joy, Chiekezie Emmanuel, Ruth Ani and Onyekachi Agu

Ahead of Thursday, June 5th World Environment Day, Mr Michael Odenigbo, spoke EXCLUSIVELY to ESUT Monitor on why he is attempting to break the Guinness World Record (GWR) on the most number of trees planted by an individual within 24 hours.

The record for the most trees planted by an individual in 24 hours is 23,060, achieved by Antoine Moses of Canada in La Crete, Alberta, on July 17, 2021. This record was achieved in 14 hours and 51 minutes of straight planting.

However, Mr Odenigbo is aiming to suppass the record by planting 27, 000 moringa trees in 24 hours. The tree planting, expected to cover four hectares of land will take place at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) on June 5.

Excerpt:

My name is Michael Odenigbo, a Nigerian climate advocate from Enugu State.

Why are you attempting the Guinness World Record on tree Planting?

Right from childhood, I always have passion for planting of trees and nature in general. I’ve been into climate advocacy for some time now. However, currently, I want to take my climate advocacy to an international level.

So I want climate change to be a topic among young people, because it’s not every young person in Nigeria that has interest in going for conferences, or relating with climate change.
Butt we can make climate change a training topic among young people.

I decided to go for this record breaking attempt, where I intend to plant 27,000 trees to set a new world record on most trees planted by an individual in 24 hours which will be taking place from 5th to 6th of June. 5th is world environment day. It is clearly out of passion, for nature and environmental conservation.

How would you sustain your energy doing the 24 hours period of the planting?

I’m human being but again some of us are very strong and fit and we have been practicing for the challenges ahead. Therefore, apart from being fit, I am preparing personally for the physical challenges that will be in place that day. It will not be much of a problem.

What kind of physical challenge do you envisage?

Tree planting is a physical exercise, it demands a lot of strength, constant training and practicing makes it easier.

How will you ensure that the trees you plant are being sustained?

That is a very important question, because sustainability is very essential, without it, the trees, everything about this record will be a waste.
But there is a sustainability plan which I am working with the school, and in the plan I will be partnering with ESUT to be able to take care of the seedlings from the tender until they grow up and become very developed. There is a sustainability plan for that.

What message do you hope to convey through this record?

The major message I want to convey, using this particular record attempts, is about climate change. Young people should understand that climate change is a big problem that affects everybody.

Some people think that climate change only exist on papers and all that, but it affects our daily lives, both in agriculture, the price of goods in the market, and so many other instances.

The climate change is not just a climate problem, it’s not just an environmental problem it is a health problem. It is also an economic problem. Health problem in the sense that the environment you live in, there are so much carbons that are emitted and we need trees to be able control them

In the aspect of economy, it affects adequate agriculture, for instance,, farmers are complain there is no adequate rainfall, it’s one of the problems caused by climate change, including heats and other problems that come.

So the the awareness that I’m trying to create is, I want young people through this Guinness World Record, because Nigerians love Guinness World Record very well, so through that, climate change will become a topic among among them and by so doing we can enhance climate illiteracy in Nigeria and the world at large.

What system do you have in place for your teams?

In terms of financial support system, first of all, I have a support system via the state government because they facilitated the approval of 4 hecters of land by Enugu State University of Science and Technology, which the document has been issued to me as well.

In terms of thenurseries that we are doing here, I will also say that I have not really gotten a systemized support from any institution. It is just based on my own personal fund and friends, and wellwishers that have been supporting in their little ways, which I appreciate so much.

And I’m also looking forward to getting support from various institutions, not just about encouraging us, but also bringing out financial support.

Even if you don’t have financial support, there are some logistics that we will be needing that day and you can come to us and we will let you know the logistics that we need.

Another support is that I have some volunteers who have been, helping me in terms of the process of this nursery. We have been doing this thing for like a month now. So it has not been easy, and I really appreciate them.

But on that day, which is this Thursday, we are appealing for more supporters, more volunteers on ground, because it’s not something that we are going to do alone. Although it is an individual attempt, I will be needing teams that will be supplying the seedlings and this continuous supply is going to be consistent for 24 Hours, and it’s not something that few persons can do, we need as much as people possible, especially students here in ESUT.

Students should try and encourage us by volunteering. This particular record attempt is unique, and not just like others

It’s not about clouds. It’s about environmental protection and climate change is one of the SDG’s that is prioritized by so many governments across the globe. This, students should show concern and volunteer for this.

And there are so many things that student can benefit from volunteering for projects such as this, in a way that is a community development service aside that, it is also an environmental project.

It means that if you partake in it, and we succeed, is going to boost your CV in a lot of ways, in the sense that you will be acknowledged as one of the people that participated in a global project such as this and anywhere you go, you can always identify yourself with these projects, and there are so many doors that it can open for you.

Aside from that, these are project that everybody supposed to show interest in.

How do you document and verify the tree planting?

I’m not the one that will verify it but I’m the one that would document it.

The verification is left for Guinness World Record. Just like I made a post in one of my videos on my social media handle, many people have been going, you know, attempting Guinness without approval.

But in this one, we have approval from Guinness and in my dashboard on Guinness website, there is already a column for uploading of evidence or asking of question or anything that is specially designed for people they have already approved for the attempts.

So once we are done with the attempts, we would simply upload them and all the document that are necessary.

We upload them to Guinness World Record site and wait for their review.

Once they are done with the review, an Email will be sent to us on the outcome of the review.