From Dare Akogun, Egypt
Governor of Bayelsa State Sen. Douye Diri has called on the attention of the world to the peculiar challenge of the Deltas in the world brought about by the rise in the sea level.
Diri represented by Ambassador Godknows Igali made the call on Wednesday in Sharm El Sheikh during a programme organised by the Bayelsa Government on the sideline of the ongoing COP27 in Egypt at the Nigeria Pavilion.
The event with the theme “Disappearing Deltas; a Call for Action, the governor said was organised to seek the attention of the world to the peculiar challenge facing the people of his state said the people of the deltas are suffering from a twin problem.
According to him “The problem of rise in global sea level because of melting ice and glaciers; and at the same time, we are affected by the water coming from the upstream, downstream.
“So we have been bombarded from two sides,” he said.
The governor, who was joined on the call by the chairman, State House of Assembly Committee on Environment, Mr Ebi Ben Ololo, said the problem was not about Bayelsa alone, but all the state of the Niger Delta, as well as, all the deltas of the world.
He explained that he brought the case to COP 27 for the world to know that the issue of deltas has to become a thematic issue in the negotiation of climate change.
“The deltas not only Bayelsa, but the states of deltas as well as other deltas around the world.
“We are calling for an attention on the deltas. The deltas are sinking; the people of the deltas are dying; and the people of the world need to know that the issue of deltas has to become a thematic issue in the negotiation of climate change, he lamented.
Consequently, the governor announced the plan of the state government to host a summit of all deltas in the world next year to share thought on to manage the present challenge.
The State Commissioner for Environment Mr Iselema Gbaranbiri, said over 400 communities were sacked and over a million of people displaced as a result of a climate change induced flooding in the state recently.
He said the governor had to release the sim of N900 million to provide palliative for the people of the state.
Our Correspondent reports that panelists on the discussion programme described the situation as an outcome of accumulative minor climate issues.
A Director of the Consortium for Capacity Building (CCB) Prof. Michael H. Glantz, advocates a push for convention for deltas like it is for the desertification as well as early warning system as solutions to the problem.
Others called for the involvement of the youths in decision and policies formulation about climate action in the area.
