Kebetkache partners HYPREP in ecosystem restoration in Ogoniland

• Plants hundreds of mangroves in Ogoni community

EMMANUEL NLEWEDUM, Port Harcourt

In line with its effort to ensure the restoration of devastated Niger Delta environments caused by oil exploration activities, a women’s rights advocacy group, Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, has planted over one hundred mangrove seedlings on Ogoni shorelines to restore the ecosystem at Bomu Community in Gokana Local Government Area, Rivers State.

Executive Director of Kebetkache, Dr. Emem Okon told newsmen that the exercise which was part of activities marking the 2024 Niger Delta Women’s Day of Action for Environmental Justice, was carried out in solidarity with the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) t

Okon said the Women’s Day of Action for environmental justice contributes to the building of a grassroots eco-feminist movement in the Niger Delta, noting that “It strengthens women’s resilience and builds the leadership capacity of women to lead local advocacy actions for eco-friendly extractive practices.”

Okon said, “This tree planting exercise today is symbolic. In November 2016, Kebetkache gathered women in Port Harcourt from different states in the Niger Delta, the meeting was actually focused on the UNEP report on Ogoni land, and the outcome of that meeting was that every year, women in the Niger Delta will hold a convergence or take action to bring the issue of environmental degradation to the limelight, to remind government and corporations that the women are still suffering from the consequences of oil extraction.

“2016 was the first year we marked the ‘Day of Action for Environmental Justice’, since then we have been very consistent to mark that day of action. We have held it annually in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and this year, we are holding it in Rivers State.

“Our visit to the HYPREP conservation site is to contribute to the conservation and restoration of the mangroves.

“We have with us here women from different Communities in the Niger Delta region, particularly Rivers State, Bayelsa Edo and Delta States.

“We are here in solidarity with HYPREP and the Ogoni women. We are here to identify with HYPREP and we pray that the remediation exercise succeeds, that the women in Ogoni will feel the impact of the remediation and that their livelihood will also be restored.”

Okon however, expressed satisfaction with the level of work done so far in restoring the ecosystem on the Ogoni shorelines.

Meanwhile, HYPREP’s site coordinator at the Bomu conservation site disclosed that they have successfully planted over one million mangrove seedlings on Ogoni shorelines in an effort to restore the devastated ecosystems of Ogoniland.