By Obiabin Onukwugha
In a landmark move to address the issue of under-funding of the Marine in the Gulf of Guinea, the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at the St Andrew University, United Kingdom has embarked on a research.
The research, which is being funded by the Norwegian Institute, is to examine local communities participation in the use of their natural resources and why funding gaps for marine ecosystems exist.
Speaking during a focus group session in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Monday, the researcher, Dr. Cyril Effiong, stated that the research is either to confirm or counter an earlier mapping carried out by the department.
“The aim of the session is to examine how decisions about Nature and natural resources are made and implemented within the Gulf of Guinea, particularly how these international actors interact,” he said.
He stated that the research is also to look at, if local communities are part of decision-making and to also see the level of exposure in terms of environmental impacts that have affected the people.
“We have done an initial mapping and from that mapping we noticed that local people are excluded in environmental governance. So this focus group is either to confirm whether what we mapped was true or it’s not true.
“And we have also had opportunity of interfacing with the federal ministry of environment and also different government agencies and now we are interfacing with different NGOs and community members.
“We hope that this forum will bring out the core aspect of the work and confirm our findings that we initially did from our mapping,” he said.
Dr. Effiong observed that despite activities in the Gulf of Guinea, funding organizations have not given attention to its health. “We noticed that marine seems to be the least in terms of funding and because marine is the least, when we looked at land, we looked at other ecosystems, we saw marine as the least that international organizations are funding.
“So we raised a question, why are Marine not included in the funding. And that necessitated the research; to trace the gap that has existed. Why marine is an ecosystem but,. for example like fishing, why are they not involved, but other resources are getting funding.
“For example, the GEF – Global Environment Facility; UNDP, is funding projects in erosion, is funding projects in flooding, but when it comes to the coastal areas which these Niger Delta people dwell, we seem to see that much has not been done in terms of funding. And they are part of the Gulf of Guinea,” he stated.
Dr. Effiong expressed hope that at the end of the research, the result will raise a bar in terms of focusing much more funding for marine aspect of the resources.
Participants who were drawn from fishers, farmers, civil society organizations, and resource users, lamented the impacts of pollution and climate change on the livelihoods of local communities.
They highlighted that both marine and food harvests have continued to diminish as a result of uneremediated pollution, flooding and excess heat.
Dr. Sam Alubari, Research Director at the Community for Sustainable Development and Innovation, CDSI, stated that “the situation in Ogoni and the Niger Delta region is lamentable and devastating.”
Also, Engr. Abali Chimamkpa, a farmer and community-based environmental monitor, said a lot of persons have lost their lives as a result of oil operations in his local community, Rumuekpe, in Emohua local government area of Rivers State.
On her part, Mercy Elemchukwu-James, the Executive Director of Ese Usamali Foundation for Rural Development (EUFORDe), pointed out that women and children are more impacted in the issues of environment. She lamented that persistent flooding and climate change have led to food shortages in the Orashi region of the state.
