The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria(ERA) has urged the Federal Government to set up a special Trust Fund for the restoration of ecosystems in the country.Mr Mike Karikpo, Director, Program and Administration, ERA/FoEN made the call in a statement on Monday, in commemoration of the World Environment Day, in Port Harcourt, the Rivers capital.Karikpo said as the United Nations had set aside 2021-2030 as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, Nigeria should also be deliberate in restoring the nation’s environment.
He stated that without concerted actions to preserve, restore and enhance the viability of our ecosystems, capacity to make progress in critical areas such as education, health and employment would be greatly compromised.The director said funds set aside for ecosystem restoration should be in the region of $200 billion dollars so that within the next 10 years, the Niger Delta and other environment could be restored, and within 30 years host communities would not be left to bear the burden of a degraded environment.He emphasised that the country must act now to save the environment and lives, urging government at all levels to get actively involved.Karikpo stated that restoring the environment in the Niger Delta from further degradation, as well as curtailing desert encroachment in the North, were urgent tasks that must be undertaken.“
The Nigerian state, (local, state, and national) should put in place clear policies and regulations that would ensure sustainability of our ecosystems, in line with the United Nations policies on ecosystem restoration, by setting achievable targets for implementation.“Ecosystem restoration work should focus on addressing the actual sources of environmental degradation, so that the removal mechanism do not become business as usual in the continuation of carbon emissions released into the atmosphere.“End gas flaring now to restore Niger Delta ecosystems. Commit to energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, to reduce the rate of environmental degradation and ecosystem disturbance.“
There is desert encroachment in the North, Lake Chad is almost drying up. We must also ensure that the grasslands and the savannah in the North are restored,” he stated.Dr Godwin Ojo, the Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, also explained the benefits of a restored ecosystem to the country.Ojo stated that restoring the ecosystem would enhance biodiversity, clean polluted rivers and contaminated soil and improve local livelihoods of our people.“Ecosystem restoration will enhance the capacity of our soils and forests to store green house gases rather than the false solution of carbon capture and storage facilities that do not cut emissions at source, but pose grave danger to ecosystems.“
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 de-carbonised development pathway before it is too late,”Ojo said. (NAN)
