Amid past and present attempts designed to alleviate the numerous ills bedevilling the Nigerian Niger Delta region, fresh hope emerged last week, courtesy of an initiative involving the Federal Government, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF).

The scheme entails the conservation of biodiversity in the restive area, which seeks to mainstream biological diversity issues into the oil and gas sector through the establishment of effective governance structure. The project is at the preparation grant phase, and a two-day forum that held last week in Port Harcourt in Rivers State featured consultations with stakeholders, identification of ongoing relevant projects in the region, as well as building partnerships.

The Niger Delta region covers an area of approximately 112,000 square kilometres and is one of the largest wetlands in the world, characterised by diverse ecosystems and abundant natural resources. Tagged a "biodiversity hotspot" by Conservation International, the area is home to varying locally and globally endangered species, and contains approximately 60-80 per cent of all Nigerian plant and animal species.

However, decades of oil exploration and accompanying land and sea pollution have led to widespread environmental degradation, such that host farming communities have been deprived their sources of livelihood.

Local and international participants at the project preparation work inception gathering in the Garden City explored a range of diverse issues in the light of numerous presentations and remarks, and later splitting into working groups to generate insights and knowledge into key areas of project work.

Environment Minister, John Odey, stated that the involvement of relevant stakeholders was informed by the environmental issues addressed in the GEF focal areas which are both specific and cross-cutting.

According to him, the social and economic consequences of these environmental issues are not restricted to any particular country or region, but transcend international boundaries.

"Our participation in the GEF programmes is one of the major ways of ensuring that these environmental problems with global dimensions are adequately addressed at the country level," he said, acknowledging that Nigeria has benefited from the GEF, which has been assisting the country through regional/national projects including the environmental component of the Local Empowerment and Environmental Management Programme (LEEMP), Fadama II & III Programme, the Nigeria-Niger Integrated Ecosystem Management, Niger Basin Authority Project, Contaminated Sites between Nigeria and Ghana, as well as the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME) project.

In one of the presentations, Jimmy Bomo Okoroh of the Ogoniland Environmental Assessment (which is being undertaking in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme) disclosed that a team of experts on ground was intensifying its field activities in the neighbourhood and had collected over 850 soil samples for analysis. The experts are likewise involved in sampling investigations on contaminated land, surface and ground water, air, aquatic life, plant and livestock tissues, and public health, he added.

Saying that security of the project staff continues to be a concern particularly in the light of ongoing violent crime and hostage-taking incidents, Okoroh stressed that reconnaissance activities were discovering more spills than in the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)/ National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) data-base. According to him, UNEP's findings have attributed most of the spills to illegal bunkering. He called for a rapid clean-up.

He said, "Considerable damage to public health and environmental quality is ongoing, and there is no solution in site. A clean-up will be unfeasible as the source of contamination will remain unaddressed."

Another presentation that highlighted the Nigeria LNG Limited's Biodiversity Conservation Initiatives underlined the need for government support in biodiversity protection and conservation activities, pointing out that there was a lack of awareness on the implication of habitat loss and subsequent loss of biodiversity.

The study further listed key challenges to include difficult access to communities in programme of schedule, recurring demands in rural areas for community infrastructural development projects, indiscriminate commercial logging activities by settlers, and uncontrolled hunting and poaching activities.

Attempting an overview of the Nigerian Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) and its implementation so far, Rufus Ebegba of the Federal Ministry of the Environment in Abuja emphasised that biodiversity was subject to being affected by issues operating at global level, and that the challenges surrounding climate change had made the conservation of biodiversity more complex in its entirety.

While demanding that the implementation of the NBSAP should be monitored, institutions given specific conservation mandate and a rigorous awareness programme put in place, he called for the establishment of a Biodiversity Conservation Trust Fund. Similarly, Ebegba wants the NBSAP mainstreamed into the Nigerian National Planning programme.

The Working Groups, four in number, debated on issues related to Biodiversity of the Delta, Potential for a Collaborative Partnership for Mainstreaming Biodiversity Management, Law and Policy at Government and Corporate Levels, and Communities and Civil Society Roles in Mainstreaming.

Underlining the importance of biodiversity conservation, Group One (Biodiversity of the Delta), called for more efforts to be put into better understanding of relevant issues.

"Sensitise people in public, government and private sector, so that full support from all these stakeholders can be achieved for the conservation of biodiversity in the Niger Delta area," group leader, Irikefe Dafe, stated.

While calling on the authorities to formulate appropriate policies and urgently review existing laws that protect biodiversity conservation, as well as effect a reform of the land policy to be sensitive to biodiversity conservation, Group Three (Law and Policy at Government and Corporate Levels), demanded government to ensure strict enforcement of the laws of the land.

Group leader Doris Nwaka declared, "States should enact relevant laws to protect their local environments, while the development of a legal system that is ecologically more sustainable than the present one will require the re-evaluation of legal principles and mechanisms as well as considerable development work requiring more than a single study."

International Team Leader, Jeffery Griffins, as well as National Project Coordinator, Johnson Ekpere, together expressed optimism over the success of the scheme, saying that the workshop was a success.

"Stakeholders were genuinely interested in the conservation of biodiversity in the Niger Delta. Hopefully, we will be able to put in place a project soon to address the issues raised at the gathering," Ekpere contended.

UNDP Nigeria Deputy Country Director, Programmes, Janthomas Hiemstra, noted that the project seeks to support the establishment of effective governance framework for mainstreaming of biodiversity conservation into the Oil & Gas Sector in the Niger Delta, for the reduction of O&G operations threats and risks to biodiversity in priority Niger Delta ecosystems, and ensure O&G industry and community engagement in biodiversity management through increase in corporate investment of O&G companies in biodiversity management.

UNDP Nigeria Team Leader, Environment, Muyiwa Odele, described the inception works as a prerequisite for the project preparation phase of the GEF-funded project.

He said, "It is timely, especially as 2010 has been designated as the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB), with the objectives of raising awareness on the importance of conserving biodiversity for human well-being and promote the understanding of the economic value of biodiversity."