HYPREP Seeks Partnership With Ford Foundation On Mangrove Restoration
Edith CHUKU
The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project HYPREP, will be partnering with Ford Foundation, in her mangrove restoration project in Ogoniland in Rivers State.
The project like the shoreline clean-up, are geared towards mitigating the effects of climate change on the environment.
The HYPREP Project Coordinator, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, disclosed the partnership move in an interview with newsmen, shortly after he received a team from Ford Foundation in his office in Port Harcourt.
Zabbey briefed the team led by the Program Officer, Natural Resources and Climate Change, Ford Foundation, Office of West Africa, Mr. Emmanuel Kuyole, of the various projects of HYPREP to provide succor to Ogoni people.
He noted that apart from the land remediation, shoreline cleanup, mangrove restoration components of HYPREP, that the body was also providing portable waters for the Ogoni population, adding that 14 water schemes were been constructed to supply portable water to 68 Ogoni Communities.
According to him, HYPREP have also trained 2,500 women and youths of Ogoni in International Maritime Organisation.
On the Mangrove planting, Zabbey assured that it would help in further cleaning the environment, stressing that it was crucial in order to achieve environmental sustainability in Ogoni.
He enlightened the team of the importance of planting mangroves in areas where natural healing processes took place. He explained that such areas have reduced the level of oil contamination to levels that can support mangroves growth.
Zabbey insisted that rather than implementing actions that would further agitate the settlement to recover oil, there was need to plant directly.
The HYPREP boss said, “at the moment we are restoring mangroves in 560 hectares of naturally attenuated mangrove areas. Mangrove restoration as shoreline cleanup is the World largest remediation of mangrove areas that have been impacted by hydrocarbon.”
He acknowledged that in regions like the Niger Delta that are prone to different kinds of conflict, a situation whereby the people’s source of livelihood have been eroded, that there would be alot of interest in the project and attempt to distract the project.
To that end, Zabbey revealed that HYPREP responsibility would be to promote inclusive participation, so as to give everyone a sense of belonging to enable them support the project.
He recalled that HYPREP started the project by training women and youths on how to set up mangrove nurseries and empowered them with grants to establish the nurseries so that the community will be responsible for seedlings supply to the contractors planting the mangroves.
Zabbey added that apart from getting the community people directly involved in supplying the seedlings, that Ogoni people are also involved in the cleaning.
Addressing newsmen after site visit of lot 15, shoreline and the Centre of Excellence in Ogoni, the Ford Foundation Program Officer revealed that, “Ford Foundation is a philanthropic organisation and we are focusing on addressing inequalities across the world.
“We’re really looking at how to support communities and people whose lives and livelihood have been impacted by oil and gas and mining extraction and how we can work with partners to make our contributions to address some of the challenges.
“To this, visiting HYPREP was an opportunity to see how the project is trying to address this. The different projects we have visited, they are quite alot that we can learn from, with the water treatment.”
Kuyole added that remediation was not an easy thing, explaining that it is very expensive and a tedious job to bring back the soil to it’s original state.
He noted that “the mangrove restoration project was also something that we took particular interest in because the Niger Delta as we know it, of course most people know the Niger Delta because of the oil and gas extraction but the Niger Delta is also the largest wetland in Africa, if it is well cleaned up, the Delta can make a significant contribution to the climate ambitions of the country and also West Africa generally.
“Once the mangrove grows, we know that they are natural sink for carbon, so growing mangroves is not just for the livelihood questions but also something that will help not only Nigerians but actually the region in it’s quest for addressing some of the climate challenges.”
On her part, the Executive Director of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Dr. Emem Okon, promised that as a civil society organisation, they will contribute to make the project more successful by sensitizing the people and managing community expectations, also to ensure that the project was sustainable.
