Gov. Umo Eno.
By Anietie Akpan
The Federal, Akwa Ibom State governments and investors have been admonished to adhere to strict international and environmental standards while taking development to the controversial Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve.
The Chairman, Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), Akwa Ibom State Chapter, Dr. Uwemedimo Eyo Okon, in a release on Monday, said the recent developments, including the presence of BUA Group for proposed petrochemical activities and the planned opening of the reserve corridor for the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, raise serious environmental concerns.
These interventions, he said, “threaten mangrove ecosystems, wildlife habitats, carbon sinks, and the long-term sustainability of community livelihoods dependent on the forest”.
Okon who is an Environmental Conservation Advocate and Stakeholder, stated that “ while infrastructure and industrial development are important for economic growth, they must not undermine irreplaceable natural heritage”.
He said, “sound environmental governance requires, strict adherence to Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), transparent stakeholder engagement, and exploration of alternative routes and sites, that minimize ecological damage”.
He therefore called on governments, investors, and development partners, to “adopt a balanced, climate-smart, and conservation-friendly approach, ensuring that national development goals, do not compromise environmental integrity, international conservation commitments, and the rights of future generations”.
The Stubb’s Creek Forest Reserve, gazetted in 1930, as a Reserve, Okon said, “should be protected, strengthened, and promoted, as a model for sustainable development, where economic progress co-exists, with environmental stewardship.
“Stubb’s Creek Forest Reserve.and Ecotourism Conservation Project, remains a critical ecological asset of Akwa Ibom State, providing biodiversity conservation, climate regulation, livelihoods, and eco-tourism opportunities”.
The initiative, according to him, was midwifed in 1993 through the Akwa Ibom State Government, via the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, led to the involvement of a Non- Governmental Organization, on environmental advocacy, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF).
The commendable approach, was predicated on injecting structured conservation and management efforts, to reverse the continuous decimation of the luxuriant flora and fauna compositions, within the Reserve and administer, sound environmental conservation drips.
Despite the technical planning, ably assisted by foremost American naturalists; Elizabeth Gadsby and Peter Jenkins, of the Pandrilus Drill Rehabilitation Centre (The Drill Ranch), that effort, on the Stubb’s Creek initiative, became moribund.
This, he said, “was due to political undertones and institutional disruptions, not because of ecological or professional failure”.
