UNOC: Diri Calls For Action To Tackle Rising Ocean Threats

Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, has called for a joint effort among government bodies and stakeholders to address the growing danger of rising sea levels.

He warned that many communities in Bayelsa and across the Niger Delta are at risk and need urgent attention through a shared and proactive governance approach.

Governor Diri, who spoke over the weekend at the Ocean Rise and Coastal Resilience Summit preceding the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, from June 9-13, called for collaboration among global, national and sub-national stakeholders in order to save communities ravaged by ocean surge and coastal erosion.

In a statement yesterday by the chief press secretary, Daniel Alabrah, the Bayelsa governor said he was at the conference, which is being co-hosted by the governments of France and Costa Rica, in furtherance of his administration’s commitment to bring to global attention to the environmental challenges of his region, and particularly Bayelsa State.

In his presentation during the panel session themed: “Multi-Level Governance of Coastal Cities and Regions,” Governor Diri emphasised the primacy of collaboration among stakeholders if the challenges of global warming, climate change and ocean rise would be adequately addressed.

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He said Bayelsa communities face an ever-present threat from rising sea levels and coastal erosion as a result of its geographical location.

Diri stated that his administration had initiated innovative policies to address some of the issues, including creating a ministry.

He said, “As a coastal state, Bayelsa lies below the sea level and consequently faces the risks associated with ocean rise. About 70 per cent of its land area is occupied by rivers and it borders the Atlantic Ocean on its three senatorial flanks.

“Bayelsa is the first and the only sub-national in Nigeria to create a Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy in 2024 after President Bola Tinubu’s pioneering initiative in 2023. We have done a lot of policy innovation in the state in line with what the federal ministry has done.

“We are equally promoting mangrove restoration as a state with a lot of mangroves, rivers and rivulets. As a state bordering the Atlantic Ocean on the Gulf of Guinea, Bayelsa communities face the threat of ocean rise and are either being destroyed or at the verge of being wiped out.

“I believe this is not the time to be looking at competitiveness but rather on some form of multi-governmental approach to address this challenge. This approach should look at collaborative and synergistic governance at the national, sub-national and international levels with all the stakeholders involved.”

The Bayelsa helmsman equally advocated for global funding support for affected states and communities.

“We are very glad to be part of this process, which, if well coordinated, would lead to sub-nationals like mine having access to climate funds and other supports. So, we believe that there has to be more collaborative governance among stakeholders than the competitiveness we see.”