By MICHAEL EBOH

The six South-South States of Bayelsa,Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta, under the auspices of the BRACED Commission, have commissioned a team of environmental experts to visit the six states to conduct impact assessment of pollution on the communities, in a move designed to tackle the issue of environmental degradation and improve their agricultural sector.

According to Director-General of the Commission, Ambassador Joe Keshi, the team would for 10 days collate information and under ation of sites as well as proffer solution on how to mitigate these impacts. take, where possible, an on-the-spot assessment of the level of environmental degradation.

He explained the research would form a reference document on the environment and a guide to potential investors.

According to Keshi, the 10- day environmental impact assessment study would take the experts to the BRACED states to assess and compile data on the state of the flora and fauna in the region.

He said, “They will also assess and compile data on the human environment and the bio-diversity of the region taking into cognisance the lakes, fresh and brackish water bodies, forest reserve (mangrove and rain forest), wildlife (endangered, extinct and non-extinct species), wetlands (endangered and non-endangered), potable water sources/saline water intrusion problems), ocean and coastal (fresh and brackish), industry and the environment (crude-oil, pollution impacted sites, industrial effluents sources, landfill, flood and erosion problems, environmental impact of quarrying activities, infrastructural development; roads, telecommunication, power amongst others.

It is expected that this study would help the region to tackle its huge environmental problems and the attendant food security, persistent poverty, climate change adaptation and mitigation challenge, ecosystem and biodiversity degradation, all of which would help the BRACED states fast-track their quest for sustainable development.

Continuing, Keshi disclosed that in a bid to address the issue of food security, the BRACED Commission would from October 31 to November 2, 2012 hold a three-day meeting of agriculture experts and commissioners for agriculture to consider potential areas of cooperation in agriculture particularly, in the cultivation and production of oil palm, rice, cassava, rubber, banana/plantain and aquaculture. The meeting would hold at Songhai Farms in Rivers State.

The expansion of these crops through the entire value chain, Keshi said, is part of the renewed efforts of the BRACED states governments to revive agriculture in the region and make it the mainstay of the robust economy which the region hopes to create through regional economic cooperation and integration.

He added that the meeting will produce a draft framework for cooperation in agriculture which will define the parameters for cooperation for the development of these crops across the region.

He noted that the commissioners’ meeting will be preceded by a meeting of top agriculture experts drawn from within and outside the region, particularly from the states Ministries of Agriculture and related parastatals, adding that a number of international organisations like the FAO, IFAD, UNIDO, EU, World Bank, USAID and IITA are expected at the meeting to provide insights on their agricultural programmes with specific implication for the South-South.

“In addition to the expansion of the cultivation of the above crops through the entire value chain, the meeting will also focus on the critical issues of funding, growing agriculture as a business and more importantly on how to attract youths into agriculture to address unemployment,” he maintained.

It would be re-called that prior to the discovery of oil and gas resources at Oloibiri in the present day Bayelsa State in 1956, the region depended solely on Agriculture as the mainstay of her economy. However, years of unsustainable hydro-carbon exploration/exploitation had resulted in an intense despoliation of the region’s environment.

This colossal environmental abuse was captured in the UNEP 2011 report on the Ogoni-land pollution as well as other industrial and man-made pollution problems. The BRACED states have suffered incessant flooding due to climate change resulting in the displacement of close to 50 per cent of the region’s inhabitants, amongst others.