Before now, the Niger Delta rainforest was among the world’s largest rainforests, with the trees and vegetation providing oxygen for human consumption and other environmental protection, but the rainforest which was highly preserved by the forebears is sharply declining to extinction due to some unhealthy practices such as wood logging and trees falling.
Also, the rainforest was a home of some special bred of animals such as iguana, tortoise, monkey and fishes that add to the conducive climate of the environment.
Unfortunately, the once reach forests have been threatened with the upsurge in the activities of wood logging, killing of wildlives, the once rich rainforest is fast going into extinction.
According to residents of Otakeme, one of the communities in Ogbia local government area of Bayelsa State to host rainforest, the trees in forest in the olden days help the area from rampaging flooding during rainy season, but with falling of trees, the area and other parts of Niger Delta are now proned to flooding.
According to them, trees and animals that once dominated the forests and supported economic, social and cultural activities, are going into extinction, while lamentation, isolation and poverty now grip the natives who once enjoyed the natural endowment from the rainforest.
Daily Trust also gathered that the oil exploration activities have also affected the natural spaces in the Niger Delta rainforest, as most of the pipelines by oil multinational companies area laid across the forests.
Disbursed by the trend, an innovator and indigene of Otakeme Community, Mr Azibaola Robert, recently launched a campaign to save the Niger Delta rainforest from extinction, because according to him, if the forest is allowed to die due to some anti-enviromental practices, the impact will be much on the health of the society.
During a bonfire night to enlighten the people of Otakeme and the surrounding communities about the rainforest preservation, Robert, called on the communities in Niger Delta region to take decisive actions that will preserve the rainforests from diminish due to activities of wood logging and other activities that turned to threatened the existence of deep forests.
Accirding to him, if the activities of wood logging is not checked, the rich rainforest in the community and other places in Niger Delta region will vanished soon.
Robert, who had embarked on a 14 day expedition into the deep forest in Bayelsa State last year, said that such rain forest found in the community and other places in Nigeria Delta are very scarce across the globe, but expressed displeasure that illegal tree falling may make such forests go into extinction soon.
He urged the community leadership to take action against such act, since government has failed to bring out guidelines that will checked incessant wood logging.
He said: “The bonfire night is meant for us to look at the issues affecting us as a people, as a child, I grew up knowing how to do farm work in the forest, and knowing how to fish, i did a lot of fishing and I know how the farm was, but now, existence of forests in our community is being threatened by falling of trees for timber.
“The reason I came here to organize this bonfire is that I want the community to be part of what I did during my expedition into deep forest last year, that 14 days expedition opened my eyes into something that is catastrophic that is happening to us as a people.
“We are the custodian of one of the riches forest in the world, it is called the Niger Delta rain forest, as we are sitting here, rain is falling and as it is falling here, it is also falling in the forest, that is why it is called Niger Delta rainforest, such rainforest is very scarce across the globe, only few palm trees have a rain forest, we are blessed to have a rain forest with us, and rain forest is very important to the world, the biggest rain forest is in Brazil, it is called the Amazon rain forest, it is a forest that America will go to war if caterpillar enters there and cut down all the trees.
“We have a rain forest here that is being pilfered, our rain forest is being pilfered by the mindless wood loggers, people are cutting down trees, people are logging trees, a tree that will take 100 years to grow, somebody come here to cut it down for sales, and the whole community is suffering from it, the trees that are cutting down are trees that give life that our ancestors left for us.
“Our forest is being deforested for timber purposes, if our forest is allowed to die in our time, our forefathers will ask us questions, our children will ask us questions, if we don’t do something about it, these trees that are cutting down is what give us oxygen, because a tree takes in carbon dioxide and give us oxygen to breath and we are alive because these trees are there, once these trees finished, humanity is death, we cannot continue to behave as if we are not aware of what is happening.
“I came here to inform you that there need to be community action, because government has failed us, they cannot protect us from people cutting down trees in our forest, these trees are more precious to our lives than our government.” He said.
Also joining the campaign to save Niger Delta rainforest and other natural spaces, a traditional ruler and Chairman of Otakeme council of chiefs, Chief Sunday Omekwe, promised to regulate incessant wood logging in order to preserve the natural forest and space in the community.
Accirding to him, the illegitimate wood logging cartel who operate with the side of some indigenes have dealt very big danger to the surrounding communities as the natural vegetation has been killed because of private gains.
He said in the olden days, it was even a taboo to make noise while inside the forest, not talking about wood logging and killing of wildlives, calling on the authorities to regulate those unfriendly practices in the forest.
A civil rights activist, DAVID-WEST BEKINWARIY DAVID, seek government intervention to curtail the activities of illegal wood loggers in the Niger Delta rainforest, because the situation has affect the ecosystem and exposed environment to excessive heats.
According to him, the flooding experience in some communities in Bayelsa State is as a result of falling of trees in the forest, because the natural environment don’t have anymore, stating that those trees in the forests also served as erosion control in the olden days.
He said: “As a matter of fact, we have had series of indiscriminate wood logging in our forests and it’s threatening the existence of rainforest, which may go into extinction if the situation is not curb. The situation has really affect our ecosystem because those trees are part of the ecosystem, it gives ecosystem protection.
“The heat we now have in Niger Delta is because of the falling of trees and killing our forests, the natural environment don’t have protection from the sun anymore.
“Thr trees in our forests are also good for erosion control, but because of this indiscriminate logging and selling of timbers, we begin to have some of these environmental hazards.
“In Yenagoa here, on daily basis, you will see lorries of woods well loaded leaving Bayelsa State and these trees are illegally being cut down, and government is not taking action to curtail it or encourage tree planting.” He said.
Bayelsa State Commissioner for Environment, Mr.Iselema Gbaranbiri, while speaking with newsmen during the National Council on Environment Meeting, said that the major contributors to global warming and climate change in the environment is blpoorly regulated ways of extracting woods from the forest.
He also ascribed the environmental hazards to artisinal refining activities and gas flaring by oil majors in the Niger Delta which reduces the once rich forests and ecosystems to a secondary status.
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