The traditional ruler of Ayetoro, a coastal community in Ondo State on Saturday advocated unity amongst coastline settlements across Niger Delta to confront ocean encroachments.
Oba Oluwambe Ojagbohunmi, the Ogeloyinbo of Ayetoro made the call at Coastal Communities Exchanges organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in Yenagoa.
HOMEF is an ecological think-tank and environmental rights advocacy group.
The event brought coastal communities residents across the Niger Delta region from Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Ondo states.
Ojagbohunmi noted that rising sea levels and associated coastal erosion posed existential threat to the culture and identity of Ayetoro people adding that the community remains the ancestral land of his subjects.
“Prior to this time the tidal currents used to add sand to our land than it takes. But from the past 25 years the ocean has been seriously encroaching to our land at alarming rates.
“We are left with no option than to stay because we do not want to lose our identity and culture which is weaved into the ancestral land occupied by Ayetoro people,” he said.
He shared insights and tips on coping with the menace of loss of land to Ocean encroachment.
The royal father spoke on the theme Sea encroachment, Coastal Erosion and Livelihood Losses: Building Community Resilience against Climate Change.
He noted that the ocean is a living entity with self-cleansing mechanisms that often results to returning foreign bodies and debris thrown into the rivers from mainland to coastal communities.
The traditional ruler called for unity and collaboration amongst coastal dwellers.
According to him the Ayetoro community’s historical template of communal practices has promoted solidarity as they battled incursions of the sea.
He called for adaptation in livelihood practices and cited his examples of having to resort to rearing fish species that survive in a mixture of fresh and salt waters following inflow of salt water into areas hitherto known to be of fresh water habitats.
He regretted that In spite of raising concerns over 25 years ago to Ondo and Federal governments, the Ayetoro community has been left to grapple with the threats to their existence from the Atlantic Ocean.
Earlier, Mr Stanley Egholo, Fossil Politics Lead at HOMEF noted that the organisation remained committed to supporting communities threatened by climate change induced environmental disasters in building resilience.
Also Mr Umo Isua-Ikoh, Coordinator, Peace Point Development Foundation spoke on the sub-theme: From Community Voices to Global Campaigns: Restoring the Aquatic Ecosystems in Africa.
Isua-Ikoh urged coastal dwellers to leverage on the support platforms of credible civil society organisations that simplify and make their voices heard at the global level.
He urged residents in coastline communities to leverage social media to make their plights known and attract global attention.
On her part, Obonganwan Elizabeth Eyo, Village Head of Esierebom community in Calabar South Local Government in Cross River noted that part of her challenges was indiscriminate cutting of trees by her subjects who depended on the forests for livelihood.
She said that it took the support of her paramount ruler and civil society groups to persuade the people to turn a new leaf and imbibe the planting of mangroves that has rejuvenated the Nsidung Beach and made it a model where other communities
now emulate.
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