By Joy Ude
Some Civil Society Organisations(CSOs) in Rivers, has called on stakeholders on environment to halt environmental destruction on land to restore ecosystem.
The President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Engr. Olu Wai-Ogosu made the call on Monday during a meeting organised by the Habitat Protection and Sustainable Development Initiative(HAPSDI) for CSOs in Port Harcourt.
Wai-Ogosu said that the meeting with the theme”Role of CSOs in promoting application of customary law to protect women’s right of access to ecological resources, services, and benefits in Nigeria “was apt.
The MOSOP President expressed worry over the increasing forest invasion and related environmental degradation in Nigeria’s tropical areas.
Wai-Ogosu called for renewal of environmental education and advocacy action to effectively address avoidable destruction of ecological systems.
He observed that what used to be regarded as forest degradation or deforestation had grown to a dangerous form of ecological violence.
Wai-Ogosu who is also the President of Nigerian Environmental Society (NES),frowned at agonizing experience of progressive abandonment of cherished indigenous knowledge, values and practices of nature protection conservation in the country.
He stated that society can no longer accept the menace in ecological violence, noting the obvious colossal cost for not protecting ecological systems from economic blunders and mindless resource exploiters.
The MOSOP President said that significant ecological values of sustainability importance would be adversely affected.
He warned that failure of commitment by society to properly address the need for ensuring sustainability of ecological services and benefits for the survival of humans would spell doom.
Wai-Ogosu also warned against the consequence of weakening community resilience and safety, and negating sustainable development processes.
Similarly, the Coordinator of Community Environment and Development Network(CEDEN), Mr Menidin Egbo, while speaking on the imperatives of protecting women’s right of access to natural resources in the drive to strengthen ecological sustainability effort,called on stakeholders to target strengthening customary law enforcement opportunities to address these challenges.
Egbo stated that these challenges would hinder the protection of rural women’s right of access to ecological resources, services and benefits.
Egbo noted that the rural women are custodians of cherished ecological values, adding that they must be provided with opportunities to play their needed roles in forest protection.
Also Ms Ethel Onyimbo, leader of Oloibiri Women Association (OWA), mentioned that the forests were no longer safe as loggers and lumber merchants have grown daring and desperate for quick gain from indiscriminate forest resource exploitation.
According to Onyimbo,the women of Olei clan of Byelsa state would be glad to be involved in forest ecology protection plans to salvage the worsening situation.
The Executive Director of HAPSDI, Mr Collins Kenneth, explained that CSOs promoting application of customary law to protect women’s right of access to ecological resources, services, and benefits was targeted at advancing indigenous knowledge and practices of ecological management to enhance environmental governance in Nigeria.
Kenneth said that the meeting would ensure effective advocacy to build stakeholders’ collaboration for elevating customary law application toward protecting women’s right of access to ecological resources and values.
He called for a sustained national campaign to form part of the global environmental justice advancement effort, and to strengthen action against the disturbing concern of the declining rate of Nigeria’s forests at 3.5 per cent annually.