By Obiabin Onukwugha
Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has organized a monitoring training for Kono in Khana and Dic Fiberesima-Ama, in Okirka local government areas of Rivers State.
The recent training, which was supported by the Small Grants Project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), centered on promoting and strengthening popular monitoring methods by communities and provided knowledge of the benefits of having people-managed marine protected areas that would help restore livelihoods for artisanal fishers and others.
Executive Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, while addressing community members, charged them to be eco-defenders and good monitors.
“We are here to share knowledge with you and share skills on how to protect our environment and live in harmony with nature and other beings.
“We need to be intentional in the protection of our environment because our well-being depends on it. We also want to learn how you have protected and managed some parts of your aquatic ecosystem with the objective of encouraging the government to support your initiative and to create more community-managed Marine Protected Areas.”
Bassey further stated that having community members protect the environment like in the case of Kono confirms that communities are the best eco-defenders because they have deep knowledge of their territories and derive direct benefits from their environment.
“Kono community in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State has been able to set an example that other Niger Delta communities should learn from. Through the use of cultural norms, the Kono community has been able to create a mangrove and Marine Protected Area (MPA) and has thereby ensured a healthy habitat for a diversity of species. We encourage other communities to do the same in protecting their environment,” he said.
Speaking during the training, Programme Manager and Project Lead for the Fossil Politics Desk, Stephen Oduware, stated that communities depend on their environment and aquatic ecosystems for livelihoods and expression of their cultures and traditions.
He therefore called on communities to be in the forefront of protecting their resources and ecosystem.
He said: “There is the need to understand the issues that are affecting us in our communities. Before we begin to monitor, organize, and advocate, we must first, as community people, understand that our environment is important to us and determines our well-being. When our environment is sick, we become sick as well.”
Oduware called for the need to recognize communities that protect their environment by providing them support with the tools to monitor and secure such environments for changes.
“They need to be supported to act as watchdogs, report changes, organize themselves, and advocate for what they collectively need as a people,” he said.
On his part, the Paramount Ruler, Kono community, Chief Monday Anson Nwige, charged his community members to be vigilant and keep protecting their environment while demanding improvements.
He thanked HOMEF for bringing the training to his domain, saying, “We must, as individuals, learn to play our part including in the management of our wastes.”