World Environment Day: Rivers Calls for Collaboration to Restore Ecosystem
From MAUREEN DICK, Port Harcourt
Rivers State government has said partnership and public engagement are vital in the restoration of the environment.
State Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tambari Sydney Gbara, made the call at the event marking the World Environment Day 2024, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He said this year’s theme, “Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience”, was timely considering the fact that collective action is needed to restore the ecosystem.
According to the commissioner, the ecosystem has been badly hampered by pollution, climate change and biodiversity decimation.
Gbara noted: “Through human activities, our healthy lands have been turned into deserts and our thriving ecosystem turned into dead zones. We are bringing forests, grasslands into extinction and reducing the strength of land to support the ecosystem, agricultural activities and communities.
“This means our crops are failing, water sources are drying up, our economies are weakening and communities are becoming endangered, with the poorest of the poor being the hard hardest hit. We all need to take action in addressing these challenges our environment is facing on a daily basis.”
He noted: “World Environment Day is a golden opportunity to spur hundreds of millions of people across the world to take action.
“Our priority now must be on restoring the ecosystem, by replanting our forests, resetting our mashes and reviving our soils. Restoration can create havens for both wild and aquatic life, including humans, helping to foil extinction crisis facing our plants and animals. It will create buffers around communities protecting them from climate-related disasters, which are becoming common by the day.
“Restoration can also be a boom for the economy. But, for restoration to be successful, we need everyone onboard.”
The Commissioner for Environment noted several climate challenges confronting Rivers State, and the need for replanting to secure it from extinction.
He said: “As a deltaic area, Rivers State is confronted with the challenges of flooding, erosion and environmental degradation, as our lands and homes are continuously threatened by flooding caused by rising sea levels.
“We are also confronted with the problem of environmental pollution due to man, industrial and mechanical activities. Fumes from car engines and noise from loud speakers also constitute sources of environmental pollution in the state.”
He added that Rivers State government is embarking on shore protection, sand filling and canalisation of some Riverine communities to protect them from flooding occasioned by rising sea levels and heavy rains.
Gbara, however, said Rivers State government will continue to synergize with the Federal Ministry of Environment and other sister Ministries in the State with the aim of improving the environment.
“Let us refocus our mindset and take all necessary steps to restore our lands in order to eliminate desertification and drought which are the focus of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on this year’s World Environment Day.”
Earlier, chairman of the occasion and former Commissioner for Environment, Prof. Roseline Konya, charged politicians to focus their agenda on protecting the environment through their manifestos.
She said: “I am expecting our politicians during the next electioneering campaigns to tell us their programmes on how to preserve our environment.”
Ends.