The Media Awareness and Justice Initiative (MAJI), an NGO, on Friday urged the Federal Government and other stakeholders to deploy advanced data tools in the campaign against ecological challenges.
The Executive Director, Mr Okoro Emmanuel, made the call at a media briefing to mark the 2024 International Day of the Tropics in Port Harcourt.
Represented by Mr Ikechukwu Ahaka, the Project, Policy and Governance Officer, Emmanuel urged the Federal Government to collaborate strongly with relevant stakeholders to tackle environmental challenges in the tropical regions.
“Nigeria’s Southern Tropics is facing loss of tropical biodiversity and environmental degradation from human-induced activities such as oil spills, artisanal crude oil refining and uncontrolled carbon emissions.
“There are also other environmental challenges arising from indiscriminate mining and war in the Northern Sahel Tropics.
“The tropics host nearly 95 per cent of the world’s mangrove forests, covering an area of about 99 per cent of mangrove species.
“These mangrove species are essential to society’s survival, they serve as both a carbon sink and a habitat for a wide range of animal species,”he said.
The executive director identified the lack of adequate environmental data and an evidence-based intervention system in Nigeria as one of the challenges in tackling ecological problems.
He stated that MAJI with support from the U.S. Consular-General’s office, had developed an environmental data analysis Mobile App called DATACAB, as part of its contribution towards data-oriented environmental protection system.
“This mobile application collects existing environmental data. It refines and analyses these data into free and easy to read formats for stakeholders to use.
“It is available in downloadable formats for Android and IOS based mobile platforms.
“We call on stakeholders to use this year’s international day for tropics to ponder on the current challenges facing Nigeria’s rich ecological environment.
“The government should make specific efforts to document environmental data in a sustainable and effective manner,” he said.(NAN)