By Barbara Nwaiwu
The Network Advancement Programme for Poverty and Disaster Risk Reduction (NAPPDRR) has urged host communities in Nigeria’s extractive sector to participate actively in monitoring and reducing methane emissions from extractive activities.
The Executive Director of NAPPDRR, Mr Emem Edoho, made the call on Wednesday during a town hall meeting and Capacity Strengthening Workshop on Methane Emissions Reduction for extractive communities in Ibeno Local Government Area (LGA) of Akwa Ibom State.
The meeting was organised by NAPPDRR in partnership with Policy Alert, with support from the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) and funding from the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI).
Edoho described the engagement as an important step towards promoting environmental justice and strengthening community participation in efforts to address methane emissions in Nigeria’s extractive sector.
He said host communities should have a central role in climate and energy discussions because they are among the first to experience the environmental and health effects associated with extractive activities.
According to him, efforts to reduce methane emissions would not be effective without the involvement of stakeholders, particularly communities located around extractive operations.
“The workshop was designed to equip participants with knowledge, tools and a voice in how methane emissions are tracked, reported and reduced,” he said.
Edoho said the workshop was also aimed at improving participants’ understanding of methane emissions, their significance and their effects on public health, livelihoods and the environment.
He said community focal persons were trained to monitor environmental issues and engage operators and regulators, adding that evidence generated by communities would be important in promoting transparency and accountability within the extractive sector.
“We built their (participants) skills by training community focal persons on basic monitoring, documentation and engagement with operators and regulators,” he said.
Edoho said the contributions of host communities could help shape policies and improve industry practices on methane emissions management, assuring participants of continued collaboration to document community perspectives for use in policy and industry practice.
He reaffirmed NAPPDRR’s commitment, alongside Policy Alert, CJID and NRGI, to supporting host communities in securing a safer environment and promoting equitable natural resource governance.
“We remain committed to working with host communities to secure a safer environment and a fair share of benefits from natural resource governance,” he said.
Participants at the engagement included traditional rulers, community leaders, women and youth representatives from the five oil-producing LGAs of Ibeno, Esit Eket, Mbo, Onna and Eastern Obolo in Akwa Ibom State.
At the end of the meeting, participants adopted a communiqué calling for measurable measures to reduce methane emissions and stronger environmental enforcement.
They also demanded greater transparency in emissions data and meaningful participation of host communities in environmental decision making.
