The Rivers State authorities has signed a 30-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a agency, Serendib Capital, and Basis for Partnership Initiatives within the Niger Delta (PIND), to launch a large-scale mangrove restoration and conservation venture within the state.
The mangrove restoration venture, which covers 240,000 hectares of seagrass, aimed to change into the world’s largest blue carbon venture, integrating mangrove restoration, seagrass conservation subsequent to 170,000 hectares of mangrove, sustainable agriculture, tree planting, biochar manufacturing, and others.
The venture can be half of a bigger mangrove marine ecosystem restoration program referred to as ‘Delta AZURE’, which would be the world’s largest blue carbon venture.
Talking after the signing of the MoU in Port Harcourt, the state’s commissioner for Vitality and Pure Sources, Maximus Nwafor, stated the venture would profit the state and improve its income.
Nwafor, who acknowledged that the state will make sure the sustainability of the venture, stated: “We now have signed an MoU with Serendib Capital, which is able to profit our state and improve our income. I would love the Managing Director to additional acquaint us with the venture’s particulars.
“We now have requested that they supply us with all mandatory necessities, together with safety and different facets. As soon as we obtain this data, we are going to make sure the venture’s success.”
In his speech, the chief government officer of Serendib Capital, Rafat Rizvi, defined that the collaborative effort seeks to drive transformative environmental and socio-economic good points in Rivers State, serving as a mannequin for future mangrove restoration initiatives globally.
Rizvi stated the venture’s launch marked a big step in the direction of preserving Nigeria’s very important mangrove ecosystems and selling sustainable improvement within the oil area.
He acknowledged that the mangrove restoration venture goals to stop the deforestation of 170,000 hectares of forest via afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation
The CEO additional acknowledged that the trouble was a part of the bigger Delta AZURE program, poised to change into the world’s largest blue carbon venture.
He stated: “Nigeria’s mangrove forests, spanning 10,500 km, are the most important in Africa and third-largest globally. These very important ecosystems present biodiversity help, flood prevention, coastal erosion safety, and carbon sequestration.”
