Sea Level Rise Sinking our Communities – Niger Delta Communities Cry out for Help
By Ekemini Simon
Communities along the coast of the Niger Delta have raised alarm over the looming danger of losing their communities to sea encroachment.
Surviving Communities report that they are on the verge of being washed off into the ocean causing the eviction of several coastal communities.
Stakeholders of coastal communities including women and youths leaders from Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Rivers States, made this known in a communique issued at the weekend during a ‘National Community Dialogue on Fossil Fuel Exploitation and Sea Level Rise (SLR) in Nigeria’ organized by Oilwatch Nigeria in Yenagoa the Bayelsa State capital.
The stakeholders said a practical example of a community washed away is Koluama community in Bayelsa State. They noted that the environmental disaster forced the community to migrate to two separate locations which gave birth to the present day Kolauma 1 and 2.
They mentioned historical sites washed away to include the grave of Lord Luguard in Forcados, Delta State and the aesthetic nature of Niger Delta communities.
The gathering explained that with the current rise in sea level in the Niger Delta, they can predict that in the nearest future, many communities will go under the sea.
The stakeholders fingered the exploration and production of oil, gas flaring as what has heightened the problems of sea level rise in the Niger Delta.
They explained that flaring of gas is the major contributor to climate change, which in turn creates the problems that confront communities.
Participants observed that sea level rise is caused by both natural and human activities and some of the activities of man include sand dredging, and seismic activities.
The communique added ” The various oil industries have partitioned our oceans, putting pressure on the oceans to encroach into communities. These industries protect their facilities onshore but deliberately abandon coastal host communities to be washed off into the sea.
“The excavation of the forest has caused salt water intrusion into the freshwater swamps, technically eliminating fresh water fish and the availability of freshwater in most communities.”
The stakeholders 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.
They noted that the Nigeria government should use the Water Resources bill as a vehicle to address the issues of SLR instead of retaining the conflict-driven elements contained in the current bills.
The gathering recommended that the shores of coastal communities should be protected with natural mangrove species and concrete embankments that will prevent water from washing the community shorelines.
They further asked that all forms of fossil fuel extractive activities should be halted immediately to safeguard communities and reduce the impacts of climate change.
The communique added “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.”
The stakeholders said all environmental laws should be strengthened to address the several environmental challenges confronting communities as a result of fossil fuel extractions.
They demanded governments should make use of the ecological funds to address issues of SLR.
The Niger Delta Communities said the government needs to ensure that multinational oil companies divest and restore the damage they have done to the environment before divesting. They stressed that divestment policy should be put in place and the divestment must be done in a transparent and accountable manner.
.
Earlier, the Coordinator, Oilwatch Nigeria, Kentebe Ebiaridor, said it is fact that the impact of climate change is real and is gradually erasing Niger Delta communities in the fringes of the Atlantic Ocean, adding that it is imperative to hear from the community people and know their plight.
Also in his remarks, Mr. Alagoa Morris, the Head of Environmental Rights Action, Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN, Niger Delta Resource Centre, admonished the stakeholders for taking proactive steps in ensuring that they live in harmony with nature and consciously work to stand firmly against all activities that will cause mother earth to retaliate against human actions.