By Zara Okoye
Tags: tree planting in Nigeria, climate adaptation, heatwave resilience, Parkia biglobosa, community reforestation, youth climate action, Gombe State
Ask anyone who grew up in a hot place about the tree they remember. There is almost always one. The mango in the compound. The Dongoyaro tree by the road. The shade where elders sat and children played in the worst heat of the afternoon. You never really think about that tree until the day it is gone and the sun comes straight for you. Shade is one of those gifts you only notice once you have lost it.
In Akkoyel, a community in Kumo East LGA, Gombe State, that shade has been thinning for years. The land is semi-arid, the rains are unreliable, and the temperatures keep climbing. So, in May 2026, 60 school children and more than 40 community members did something about it. They planted 100 trees, and in doing so they planted something harder to measure: a generation that will remember why those trees are there.
The Heat Is Already Here
The climate crisis is not a distant warning for places like Akkoyel. It is the weather. Communities that did the least to cause the problem are absorbing the worst of it, and northern Nigeria's semi-arid belt sits squarely on the front line.
According to the World Bank Climate Knowledge Portal, Nigeria's average temperature is on track to rise by 1.5°C to 2°C above pre-industrial levels by 2030 under current emissions trajectories. Put plainly, that is not a line on a policy chart. That is how hot a child's walk to school becomes in just a few short years. Adaptation here is not optional. It is overdue.
Why Parkia, and Why It Is Not Just a Tree
The species was chosen on purpose. Parkia biglobosa, known locally as the locust bean, is a native West African tree with a wide, spreading crown and a dense canopy that throws real shade. Its roots fix nitrogen and improve the soil around it. Its pods are edible and a valued source of protein. This is not decoration. It is ecological infrastructure that feeds people and cools the ground at the same time.
The cooling is measurable. Research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that mature tree canopy lowers local air temperatures by 2°C to 8°C, and C40 Cities reports that street trees can cut surface temperatures on paved areas by up to 40%. Each of Akkoyel's 100 Parkia trees should reach meaningful canopy within four to six years. By 2030, the streets where these children walk and play will be noticeably cooler because of the planting they did today.
The Children Who Planted Them
The planting itself was a community affair. The day opened with prayers from both Muslim and Christian representatives and the National Anthem led by the school's Head Boy, a small but deliberate signal that this belonged to everyone. To make sure nobody was left out, the sessions were delivered in Hausa, the language people think and live in.
Then the teaching began. A representative from the Department of Forestry and a specialist from ACReSAL walked the children through how to plant a tree correctly and, just as importantly, how to keep it alive: how to water it, protect it, and watch it through its fragile first years. Only then did everyone pick up their tools and put 100 seedlings into the ground together.
Here is the quiet logic behind it all. Children are the most powerful leverage point in climate adaptation, not because they are the most skilled, but because they are the most impressionable. A child who plants a tree, names it, and watches it grow becomes an adult who defends forests and teaches the next child to do the same. These are what the United Nations calls Generation Restoration. One of them may grow up to shape Nigeria's reforestation policy. Another may simply make sure the trees on their street survive and tell their own children who planted them. Every one of those outcomes counts.
Keeping It Alive
A tree planted and forgotten is a wasted afternoon, so care was built into the plan from the start. The children were asked to take ownership of the seedlings, and monitoring and protection measures were put in place to improve survival rates. The next step is an Eco Club at the school, a home for the children to keep going: tracking their trees, running clean-up drives, learning more about a changing climate, and leading the next planting. It is how a single event becomes a habit.
Akkoyel Is a Model
None of this is unique to one community. A youth-led, community-anchored planting effort with real stewardship and environmental education can be repeated across Nigeria's heat-stressed north and beyond. APEARE will document the results, track canopy growth and temperatures over the coming years, and share what works so other organisations can do the same. The shade will return to Akkoyel. The children will remember who planted it.
Be Part of the Next Hundred
Every tree in Akkoyel started with a decision to act. You can help us plant the next hundred, and the hundred after that, in communities that need shade, cleaner air, and a fair chance against the heat.
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