The Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) has expressed the importance of protecting the environment, especially reversing damages done in the Niger Delta region through tree planting and aquatic marine litter clean up exercise.
In a ceremony tagged “Ecosystem Restoration,” held to commemorate the 2021 World Environment Day at the new NDDC headquarters, the Interim Administrator, Mr Efiong Akwa, represented by NDDC Director, Environment Protection and Control, Engr. Onuoha Obeka, noted the need for a healthy ecosystem.
He maintained that a healthy ecosystem will counteract climate change, end the collapse of biodiversity and enhance people’s livelihoods.
“We are pleased to be active participants in the campaign for the restoration of our ecosystem. Part of our efforts will be in planting trees, cleaning the litters along the waterways for the preservation of our aquatic environment for future generations,” he said
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer noted that symbolic tree planting would gradually become a natural event that everyone would undertake, not just for the celebration of World Environment Day but a spark for awareness creation for preserving the environmental heritage of the Niger Delta region.
He explained that People are an integral part of nature, with the environment as “man’s only abode”.
However, he stressed that growing social-economic activities have hampered the environment, causing Ozone layer depletion, flooding, ocean erosion, deforestation among others.
Similarly, while speaking, Dr Uzoma Chima, the guest speaker and a lecturer of the Department of Forest and Wildlife Management, University of Port Harcourt, stated that protecting the environment will add value to humanity.
He noted that trees play a crucial role in the restoration of the ecosystem because they help in the mitigation of climate change, providing the needed shelter belt which goes a long way in checking erosion.
The NDDC Director, Health and Social Services, Engr. Ukeme Nkamare, in his remarks, noted that the world’s ecosystems involved the interaction between plants, animals and people and their surroundings.
He deplored the devastating effects of the soot in the region, which he said is bad for the environment and health of the residents of the Niger Delta region.
The highlight of the event was a symbolic aquatic marine litter clean up exercise at the Port Harcourt Tourist Beach and the presentation of cleaning equipment, including shovels, pans, rakes, wheelbarrows and waste bins to the management of the beach.
