The mangroves of the Niger Delta in Southern Nigeria are one of Africa's largest and most significant forests. They are among the worst degraded globally with unregulated man-made activities and climate change. The mangroves are left unprotected as the depletion continues.

At the intersection of land and sea lies this gift of nature I am part of. The mangroves and the creeks and rivers offer climate regulation, flood and erosion control, and wood and forest crops for cooking, construction, and traditional medicine. It is a major source of food and livelihood for millions of people, a habitat for fish nurseries. This ecosystem also plays an important role in climate change mitigation because of its high blue carbon sequestration potential.

Warri as a metropolitan city in Southern Nigeria was myriad of creeks with huge coverage of mangroves but with the establishment of the Warri Port, the Warri Refinery and other oil companies, several hectares of mangroves were cleared down to accommodate its new era of development from the early 1930s. The high rate of air pollution and flooding today can be attributed to the total loss of its mangrove ecosystems due to a lack of political will to enforce urban development laws. This according to our history books was the first frontier of mangrove depletion.

I have lived experiences of how the second frontier of mangrove forests depletion started. I was in primary school when the Warri crisis began when many families with the burning and destruction of their properties were forced to relocate to safer havens. More people like my family moved from the rural/riverine parts to the uplands like the main Warri and its environs. This massive human migration saw virgin tropical rain and mangrove swamp forests giving way to residential buildings and aquaculture schemes.

This development has also attracted the establishment of over six tank farms and tanker parks in the communities where I live and work. My work in environmental conservation and public health as a director in Coastal and Marine Areas Development tells the stories of the impact of mangrove depletion. I live near one of Nigeria’s refineries and the tank farms, and the continuous gas flaring which releases carbon dioxide among other gases has resulted in black dust in our homes, white-coloured clothes turning black when dried outside, many people have long standing rhinitis and upper respiratory diseases and a rising prevalence of cancer in the communities.

Mothers with malnourished children attending clinics are unaware of the impact of using the polluted water to prepare local baby food as there is a lack of access to safe and clean drinking water in many coastal communities due to oil spills.

The massive migration to the uplands in places has resulted in more depletion of the mangroves as there is overcrowding and people are cutting down the mangroves to make way for more residential buildings. The consequences of this action can be seen in the rising sea tides causing flooding which increases the risk of waterborne diseases, especially among the vulnerable populations. The unregulated deforestation for fuel and construction without restoration reduces the mitigation of the lands from flooding, erosion, and disease control.

The social services rendered by the mangroves cannot be overemphasised, just as trees are needed for protection against desertification in Northern Nigeria, so are the mangroves needed to protect the shorelines of coastal communities against the unending sea waves. As a co-initiator of Falcorp Mangrove Park, the only privately owned mangrove conservation park in Nigeria since 2007, we understand the value addition alongside the environmental and socioeconomic benefits of mangrove in our coastal communities. Without a proper mitigation plan, communities in the three Warri local government areas risk relocation or would become nonexistent.

The mangrove ecosystem is a source of livelihood for people in the Niger Delta. Everyone relies on these forests for livelihood opportunities through fisheries, eco-tourism, medicines, and food. However, environmental degradation and climate activities have caused young people to migrate to other parts of Nigeria in search of better opportunities. With the recently approved Institute of Mangrove Ecology and Environmental Technology in Ijala Ikenren in Warri South Local Government, we believe it will be an opportunity for youths in coastal communities to benefit from eco-literacy on mangroves and its gainful opportunities of decent employment and entrepreneurship. 

Help Save the Mangrove for it is our heritage and source of livelihood. Please support my petition and join the call on the Warri Federal Constituency House of Representatives Member and the three Warri local government chairmen to set up a compulsory programme that will raise awareness and advocate for people to take action to save our mangroves in the three Warri Local Government Areas, Delta State, Nigeria. Your signature will help protect our heritage.