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OPENING ADDRESS BY HONOURABLE
MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AT THE FEDEN WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY SYMPOSIUM
HELD AT THE AUDITORIUM OF CHIC AFIQUE HOUSE, 3, THORBURN AVENUE,
SABO, YABA, LAGOS ON JUNE 2, 2004
I am greatly
honoured to have been invited to present this short address at the
symposium organized by Foundation for Environmental Development and
Education in Nigeria (FEDEN), to commemorate this years World
Environment Day in fulfillment of the United Nations general
Assembly Resolution 2997 of 15th December, 1972.
The WED is a
day set aside by the United Nations to encourage the International
community to consider the problems of the environment and how to
solve them, so that the world can be cleaner, safer and healthier to
live in.
The theme of
this years celebration which is: “WANTED: SEAS AND OCEANS – DEAD OR
ALIVE” and that of this symposium – “The Seas and Oceans:
Towards a Sustainable heritage” has special significance for us
here in Nigeria.
COASTAL AND MARINE
POLLUTION
Nigeria’s
coastal and marine environmental has been endangered by continuous
discharges of domestic sewage, industrial effluents, petroleum
hydrocarbons, dredging wastes, garbage and agricultural run-offs.
These have
reduced the value of our marine resources for recreation, artisanal
and industrial fishing and transportation.
Moreover, the
environmental pressures are increasing at an alarming rate because
of rapid urbanization and industrialization in our coastal
settlement plus intensive oil exploitation in the Niger Delta. The
coastal zone is vulnerable to frequent oil spills which threaten
fish stocks, birds and the fragile mangrove ecosystems.
OUR SEAS AND OCEANS
The worlds seas
and oceans covers nearly three-quarters of the earths surface and
contain about 1,350 Million cubic kilometers of water, over 97
percent of all water on the Earth. With numbers so large it is easy
to think of seas and oceans as in exhaustible sink for human wastes,
but they are not . In 1990 the international joint Group of Marine
Pollution (GESAMP) concluded that “mans fingerprint is found
everywhere in the ocean”. Chemical contamination and litter can now
be observed from the poles to the tropics and from beaches to
abysial depths. GESAMPS report puts a global focus on marine
pollution. Marine pollution, however, are in the main local or
regional based..
The bulk of
scientific opinion is that the open oceans are contaminated, but not
yet seriously polluted. But many coastal zones are under severe
threat. This is because coastal waters are generally shallower and
less well mixed than areas further from the shore and before can
assimilate fewer pollutants.
But they
receive more pollution because most marine pollution originates on
land and reaches the sea at or near the coast, via rivers,
pipelines, ground water seapage or fallout from the atmosphere.
These inputs
are, concentrated discharges from industries that tend to site
themselves along coasts, typically due to raw material availability
or product transportation need.
Coastal
pollution before must cause concern because of the economic and
ecological importance of this zone.
With the
exception of a few areas of the open oceans where nutrient rich
waters rise to the oceans surface, coastal wasters are the only
marine environment with significant biological productivity. They
are the marine equivalent of tropical rain forests on land.
More than half
of the Worlds human population lives within 60 kilometres of the
coast and the proportion is rising. People have long relied on
coastal waters as a source of food. About 95 percent of the world’s
fish catch comes from them and half of the population of this world
depends on seafood for more than 30 percent of its dietary animal
protein. Contamination of the sea and of its food organisms causes
health problems as well as economic problems for communities
dependent on the sea for food or tourism.
Because of the
importance of oil spills and waste dumping, early international
efforts to protect the seas concentrated on controlling marine
sources of pollution that threatened mainly the open oceans.
As scientific
understanding of the impact of land based activities increases as
integrated approach is now being pursued.
SAVING OUR SEAS
AND OCEANS
The global work
plan for sustainable development prepared for UNCED “Earth Summit”
recognizes the importance of land-based sources of marine pollution
and sets out priority actions that nations must take individually,
collectively and globally.
Nigeria’s
National Agenda 21 of 1999 aims to protect the marine and coastal
areas from point and non-point sources of pollution, promptly
remediate any accidental spillages and regulates the exploitation of
the contained natural and mineral resources.
The Federal
Ministry of Environment in collaboration with relevant stakeholders
has carried out various projects and activities in relation to the
marine environment.
These include
but not limited to
v
The Gulf of Guinea Large Marine Ecosystem
v
The Niger Delta Action Plan
v
Marine Observatories – which is operated by the dept of
Meteorological Services Institute of Oceanography and Marine
Research.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion,
several measures are being taken to control marine pollution. These
range from isolated national actions to control pollution in
specific sites from easily identifiable sources to measures to curb
pollution at regional levels and to global approaches to controlling
pollution through the general provisions of international agreements
to which Nigeria is party.
However, there
is the urgent need for a concerted effort by all to reduce
drastically discharges into the seas through
v
Disposal of solid and industrial waste in an environmentally sound
manner.
v
Ensuring that effluent from industries are treated before discharge.
v
Indiscriminate dumping at sea by ships should be stopped and
monitored
v
Rational and environmentally sound management of coastal areas.
The combined
efforts of us all at the individual, community, national and
international levels will save our seas and oceans for generation
yet unborn.
I thank you all
for your kind attention. |
