Policy Imperatives and Adaptation

There are five policy imperatives worth discussion and adoption, namely:

1)      Issues of Environment: An understanding of the environment is paramount and key to an understanding of the deltaic systems. The study finds that the most pressing problems of the different deltaic regions of the world are environmental degradation, water and air pollution, gas flaring, industrial(toxics) and domestic wastes. They call for proactive policies for remediation and reconstruction of the environment. This is important and necessary because it is appropriate that the environment remains useful to the local communities and the next millennium. Here, the study finds the structural, institutional and legal frameworks established in Mississippi, Mekong, and Mackenzie Deltas in USA, China and Canada respectively as fairly adequate. It is clear that while the rest of the seven deltas have some variations, the structural and institutional decay and failures in the Niger Delta is unprecedented and unrivalled.

2)      Agriculture, Fishery and Tourism: The deltas have high economic and social values. They are the most productive agricultural areas capable of producing varieties of cash and domestic crops in addition to tourism. They include rice (Mekong), cotton(Nile and Mississippi), and tourism (Okavango and Mackenzie). In an effort to boost agriculture and fishery, several dams are constructed along the rivers of Mekong, Mississippi, Nile, Yangtze, Mahakam, and Niger. These dams have created their own negative consequences and hazards that now threaten the viability of the deltas. Thus, there should be proactive policies that balance all the contending forces in developing the deltas. The policies have to address the unplanned rapid growth in human population and intensive development of agriculture that have become a major threat to the natural wetland ecosystem and wildlife.

3)      A New Policy of Economic Development: There is an urgent need for departure from the World Bank’s paradigms of economic development to one that would not endanger the local communities and their environment. The emphasis has to shift to participatory learning appraisal (PLA) where the inputs of all stakeholders, especially the local communities have to be given equal weight as those of the government and MNOCs. Here, the study finds the efforts of the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission(LMDDC), followed by those of the CNED/MDJV as trailblazers. There is an urgent need for intensifying research and development(R&D) programmes that would promote cross-fertilization of research findings for adaptation, especially to the Pearl, Okavango, and Niger Deltas.

4)     Multi -Track Diplomacy in Peace Building:  While most of the deltas have managed to insulate their regions from violent crises, the case of the Niger Delta is very worrisome. The Federal Government, MNOCs, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs have to collaborate and harmonise their efforts, as well as study the other deltas for the purpose of good policy formulation. This calls for a policy of multi-track diplomacy in peace building, where all the stakeholders have to be involved in charting a new course (Opukri & Etekpe, 2008:51-60). For us in the Niger Delta region, the answer lies in the hand of the federal government re-inventing the political will to develop the region as outlined in the Report of the “Technical Committee on the Niger Delta” (November 2008). The study is of the opinion that until the Niger Delta is properly developed, the issue of armed conflict may not end.

5)      Oil and Gas: Apart from Pearl and Nile Deltas, the other eight deltas in the world have large proven reserves of crude oil and natural gas. Of the countries, USA, China and Canada are not members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC). We also noticed that while crude oil and gas are blessings to each of the regions (apart from the Niger Delta) and countries, they have equally threatened the survival of the host communities. This issue should be discussed at the various economic integration platforms and United Nations fora so that there would be a uniform global policy framework.

Concluding Remarks

This study has investigated ten major deltas (wetlands) of the world found in Africa, Asia, South and North Americas. We applied four parameters, namely: background, development paradigms, impact, and lessons for the future and brought out five policy imperatives for adoption.

The study finds that the greatest dangers in the different deltas are environmental, water and air pollution; waste management, and ecosystem. They are worse in the Pearl and Niger Deltas. It is, therefore, not surprising that the unprecedented conflicts in the Niger Delta are not found in any of the other deltas of the world. We foresee the conflicts in the Niger Delta  to continue until the federal government in Nigeria musters the political will to aggressively pursue programmes of rehabilitation and infrastructural development as the right of the people in the region, reinstate the principle of derivation (fiscal federalism), and implement the Report of the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta(2008).

While the federal government, MNOCs, development partners, along with the host communities are to work out a large degree of consensus on the future of the Niger Delta, “the people themselves”, as Tamuno, T.N (2007) put it, “have to be thoroughly cleansed in thought, word, and deed to make sufficient impacts in telling or re-telling the familiar story. And it should spur the people into the right action”.

Important results of this study are the appreciation of the enormous socio-economic contributions of the deltaic regions of the world, the heavy human (social) rights abuses in them, and the need for pan delta strategies for implementation. And for this purpose, we wish to call for a sweeping global mobilisation to save the deltas of the world from wanton destruction by those who profit at the expense of other people.

Policy Imperatives and Adaptation

There are five policy imperatives worth discussion and adoption, namely:

1)      Issues of Environment: An understanding of the environment is paramount and key to an understanding of the deltaic systems. The study finds that the most pressing problems of the different deltaic regions of the world are environmental degradation, water and air pollution, gas flaring, industrial(toxics) and domestic wastes. They call for proactive policies for remediation and reconstruction of the environment. This is important and necessary because it is appropriate that the environment remains useful to the local communities and the next millennium. Here, the study finds the structural, institutional and legal frameworks established in Mississippi, Mekong, and Mackenzie Deltas in USA, China and Canada respectively as fairly adequate. It is clear that while the rest of the seven deltas have some variations, the structural and institutional decay and failures in the Niger Delta is unprecedented and unrivalled.

2)      Agriculture, Fishery and Tourism: The deltas have high economic and social values. They are the most productive agricultural areas capable of producing varieties of cash and domestic crops in addition to tourism. They include rice (Mekong), cotton(Nile and Mississippi), and tourism (Okavango and Mackenzie). In an effort to boost agriculture and fishery, several dams are constructed along the rivers of Mekong, Mississippi, Nile, Yangtze, Mahakam, and Niger. These dams have created their own negative consequences and hazards that now threaten the viability of the deltas. Thus, there should be proactive policies that balance all the contending forces in developing the deltas. The policies have to address the unplanned rapid growth in human population and intensive development of agriculture that have become a major threat to the natural wetland ecosystem and wildlife.

3)      A New Policy of Economic Development: There is an urgent need for departure from the World Bank’s paradigms of economic development to one that would not endanger the local communities and their environment. The emphasis has to shift to participatory learning appraisal (PLA) where the inputs of all stakeholders, especially the local communities have to be given equal weight as those of the government and MNOCs. Here, the study finds the efforts of the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission(LMDDC), followed by those of the CNED/MDJV as trailblazers. There is an urgent need for intensifying research and development(R&D) programmes that would promote cross-fertilization of research findings for adaptation, especially to the Pearl, Okavango, and Niger Deltas.

4)     Multi -Track Diplomacy in Peace Building:  While most of the deltas have managed to insulate their regions from violent crises, the case of the Niger Delta is very worrisome. The Federal Government, MNOCs, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs have to collaborate and harmonise their efforts, as well as study the other deltas for the purpose of good policy formulation. This calls for a policy of multi-track diplomacy in peace building, where all the stakeholders have to be involved in charting a new course (Opukri & Etekpe, 2008:51-60). For us in the Niger Delta region, the answer lies in the hand of the federal government re-inventing the political will to develop the region as outlined in the Report of the “Technical Committee on the Niger Delta” (November 2008). The study is of the opinion that until the Niger Delta is properly developed, the issue of armed conflict may not end.

5)      Oil and Gas: Apart from Pearl and Nile Deltas, the other eight deltas in the world have large proven reserves of crude oil and natural gas. Of the countries, USA, China and Canada are not members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC). We also noticed that while crude oil and gas are blessings to each of the regions (apart from the Niger Delta) and countries, they have equally threatened the survival of the host communities. This issue should be discussed at the various economic integration platforms and United Nations fora so that there would be a uniform global policy framework.

Concluding Remarks

This study has investigated ten major deltas (wetlands) of the world found in Africa, Asia, South and North Americas. We applied four parameters, namely: background, development paradigms, impact, and lessons for the future and brought out five policy imperatives for adoption.

The study finds that the greatest dangers in the different deltas are environmental, water and air pollution; waste management, and ecosystem. They are worse in the Pearl and Niger Deltas. It is, therefore, not surprising that the unprecedented conflicts in the Niger Delta are not found in any of the other deltas of the world. We foresee the conflicts in the Niger Delta  to continue until the federal government in Nigeria musters the political will to aggressively pursue programmes of rehabilitation and infrastructural development as the right of the people in the region, reinstate the principle of derivation (fiscal federalism), and implement the Report of the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta(2008).

While the federal government, MNOCs, development partners, along with the host communities are to work out a large degree of consensus on the future of the Niger Delta, “the people themselves”, as Tamuno, T.N (2007) put it, “have to be thoroughly cleansed in thought, word, and deed to make sufficient impacts in telling or re-telling the familiar story. And it should spur the people into the right action”.

Important results of this study are the appreciation of the enormous socio-economic contributions of the deltaic regions of the world, the heavy human (social) rights abuses in them, and the need for pan delta strategies for implementation. And for this purpose, we wish to call for a sweeping global mobilisation to save the deltas of the world from wanton destruction by those who profit at the expense of other people.