Environmental Rights Action Urges Nigerian Government to Formulate Policies for Ecosystem Sustainability.

By Lucky Isibor.

Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, (ERA/FoEN) has called on the Federal Government to put in place clear policies and regulations that would ensure the sustainability of the nation's ecosystems in line with the United Nations policies on ecosystem restoration by setting achievable targets for implementation. 

ERA/FoEN also calls for the urgent restoration of the polluted Ogoniland ecosystems and the entire Niger Delta region within the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030.  

The Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria,Dr Uyi Ojo  made the call in a statement to commemorate this year’s World Environment Day celebration with the theme "Ecosystem Restoration".

Uyi-Ojo who noted that the theme of this year celebration was apt added that, “Restoring the Ecosystem will enhance biodiversity, clean polluted rivers and contaminated soil and improve local livelihoods of our people.” 

He also stated that ecosystem restoration will enhance capacity of the soils and forests to store greenhouse gases rather than the false solutions of carbon capture and storage facilities that do not cut emissions at source and poses grave danger to ecosystems.

According to him, the United Nations has set aside June 5, every year as a day of shared global reflection and action towards protecting our environment but the crucial challenge requires a post petroleum economy through deep transformation in global production and consumption patterns.

"Therefore, ecosystem restoration requires concerted actions at local, national and international levels focusing on a pragmatic shift towards a sustainable decarbonized development pathway before it is too late.” 

He disclosed that the intergovernmental Science -policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services has revealed that millions of species are threatened with extinction due to human activities. 

"Seventy-five per cent of our land has been severely altered in the last five decades; 66 per cent of our ocean area is experiencing cumulative impacts; and more than 85 per cent of our wetlands have been lost."

In another statement Chief Saint Emma Pii, member, Bodo Council of Chiefs, and Chairman, Board of Trustees, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria stated that, “our surest way of escaping the looming danger is to live in harmony with nature.

"Our survival as a specie, the survival of other organisms and the future of our planet can be restored if communities are allowed to manage their resources and involved in environmental protection and conservation.”

While stating that the clean-up of the polluted Ogoniland will hopefully restore the degraded ecosystems, Emma Pii said ecosystem restoration work should focus on addressing the actual sources of environmental degradation, so that the removal mechanism does not become business as usual in the continuation of carbon emissions released into the atmosphere.

He called for immediate end to gas flaring to restore Niger Delta ecosystems, just as he also wants the nation to commit to energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources to reduce the rate of environmental degradation and ecosystem disturbance.

He also wants the government to put in place proper land governance legislation that would enhance proper land use and planning.

"This will require radical reform or wholesale abrogation of the current Land Use Act which has led to dispossession and caused untold hardship to our communities.

"Put in place rules that addresses land grabbing, solid waste management and grant easy access to justice for people and communities impacted by the deleterious actions of corporations. 

"Set up Community Resource Centers that would train communities to manage ecosystem resources and share local best practices on living in harmony with nature and community based forests management systems that ensures environmental sustainability".

He further argued that the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration will be a mirage unless concerted and genuine effort is made to provide finance and set targets to reduce the rate of deforestation and ecosystems disturbance by the number and scope of ecosystems restored, improved biodiversity, and ecosystem resilience for the health of Mother Earth and wellbeing of people.

Mike Karikpo, Esq., Programmes Director and Administration, ERA/FoEN, in a paper he delivered at an invent in Port Harcourt explained that ecosystems are dynamic communities of plants, animals and microorganisms interacting with the physical environment, landscapes, lakes, and oceans.

"Owing to human activities especially since the advent of the industrial revolution and a neoliberal economic ideology that prioritizes profit over sustainability, ecosystems are being degraded at astronomical rates across the world and many ecosystems may have been destroyed irreversibly."