Douglas Blessing, Port Harcourt
The Centre for Environment and Human Rights Development (CEHRD), has commenced on mangroves restoration in some of the creeks in Rivers State.
Speaking at the weekend, during the planting of mangroves by the group at the Bundu Creek in Port Harcourt city, Dr Davies Chris, an Aquatic Eco Toxicologist and Ecologist, noted the need to restore the peoples heritage damaged by crude oil and plastic pollution.
Dr Chris, also a staff in the Fishery Department, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, maintained that if the mangroves are protected, there will be more fishes in the water.
He said: “We are planting mangrove in an environment that has been distorted. Ideally the environment should have more of mangrove plants but as you can see we have more invasive species, the Nipapalm. It intimidates the existing mangrove to grow.
“One of the major function of the mangrove is that it is the breeding ground for fishes. And because of the disappearance of these mangroves, they lack fish species around here.
‘So we are reintroducing what is meant to be here, the mangroves. Another function of the mangrove is that it helps to protect the shorelines area. Mangrove helps in carbon sinking and thereby help in minding climate distortion”, Dr Chris explained.
On his part, Mr Meshark Uyi, a staff of CEHRD that their was also to demonstrate and transfer knowledge of mangrove planting to Bundu community.
Uyi said “Before now this platform used to be filled up with mangrove, but because of the pollution challenges, ranging from plastic and hydrocarbon pollution, and over-utilization of the mangrove resource led to the depletion of the mangrove”.
According to Uyi, “mangrove is a heritage to all riverine Niger Deltans”.
He said planting of the mangroves intend to draw attention of government and multinationals on the need to revive the heritage of the Niger Delta people.
“we don’t just advocate in the office, we also go to the field to transfer practical knowledge to tell the government, multinationals and communities how this can be done in order to re-engineer and reinvigorate the heritage of the people by planting mangrove”.
