BENIN CITY- The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), has harped on the merits of an “Ecosystem Restoration” as it celebrated world environment day on June 5, 2021.

In its press statement on the United Nations approved event, which focus on shared global reflections and action towards protecting the environment, issued during the ERA/FoEN “Ecosystem Restoration”
event to mark the World Environment Day in Port Harcourt, Mike Karikpo, Esq, the Programmes Director and Administration, explained that ecosystems are dynamic communities of plants, animals and microorganisms interacting with the physical environment, landscapes, lakes, and oceans.

He harped on the urgent need to save the ecosystem and the earth due to multiple crises faced such as the climate crisis, the corona virus pandemic, financial and economic crisis as time is of essence. He reiterated, “We need to act now to save our planet and save lives as we know it.”

Drawing attention again, to the need to clean-up the polluted Ogoniland and the need to restore degraded ecosystems in the Niger Delta region, Dr Godwin Uyi Ojo, Executive Director, ERA/FoEN, backed by environmental collaborators sensitized on the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem restoration 2021 -2030, noting, “The restoration of 350 million hectares of degraded terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems could generate $9 trillion in ecosystem services. Restoration could also remove 13 to 26 gigatons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The economic benefits of such interventions exceed nine times the cost of investment, whereas inaction is at least three times more costly than ecosystem restoration.”

Uyi Ojo maintained, “The crucial challenge requires a post petroleum economy through deep transformation in global production and consumption patterns. Therefore, ecosystem restoration requires concerted actions at local, national and international levels focusing on a pragmatic shift towards a sustainable decarbonized development pathway before it is too late.”

Chief Saint Emma Pii, member, Bodo Council of Chiefs, and Chairman, Board of Trustees, ERA/FoEN stated, “Our surest way of escaping the looming danger is to live in harmony with nature.”

ERA/FoEN haven made some resolutions with civil society groups and allies on the degradation issue amongst other observations urged, “The Nigerian state, (local, state, and national) to put in place clear policies and regulations that would ensure the sustainability of the ecosystems in line with the United Nations policies on ecosystem restoration by setting achievable targets for implementation.”