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From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have urged the Federal Government to use the Water Resources bill as a vehicle to address the problem of Sea Level Rise (SLR).
According to the CSOs, it is an opportunity to address the issue instead of retaining the conflict-driven elements contained in the current bill.
The CSOs which made this recommendation at a National Dialogue of Fossil Fuel Exploitation and Sea Level Rise organised by Oil watch held over the weekend in Yenagoa also raised alarm that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2022, will compound the environmental impacts and suffering of oil-producing communities in the region instead of solving their problems.
They also argued that the PIA is a huge threat to the lives of the people and their environment and has the potential to worsen degradations currently plaguing oil-host communities.
Speaking in his opening remarks, Mr. Alagoa Morris, Head of Environmental Rights Action /Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) Niger Delta Resource Centre, commended stakeholders for taking proactive steps in ensuring that we live in harmony with nature and consciously work to stand firmly against all activities that will cause mother earth to retaliate against our actions.
He lamented that communities along the coast of the Niger Delta are gradually washing off into the sea/rivers, a situation that has led to the eviction of several coastal communities.
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In a communiqué issued at the end of the dialogue which was also attended by Community Based Organisations, and the academia, they called on the Nigerian government, the World Bank, and other bilateral agencies to commit funding to address sea level rise just like the attention that is currently being given to desertification.
The communiqué read in part, “All forms of fossil fuel extractive activities should be halted immediately to safeguard our communities and reduce the impacts of climate change.
“There should be strong regulations against the use of heavy duty speed boats used by the oil industries and other entities near coastal communities at risk of SLR and coastal erosion.
“Deliberate measures should be put in place to slow the destruction of mangrove forests while aggressively replacing the already depleted mangroves.
“Affected people need climate justice as a way of compensating those that never created the problems that are currently facing the consequences of SLR.
“Government should provide drinking water to coastal communities to combat increased salinity in freshwater sources due to sea level rise.
“Governments must ensure that emergency preparedness measures and databases to cope with increased climatic disasters such as floods and ocean encroachments are made available to the people.
“All environmental laws should be strengthened to address the several environmental challenges confronting communities as a result of fossil fuel extraction by mankind in our respective states.
Governments should make use of the ecological funds to address issues of SLR.”
