The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) at the weekend conducted one-day training on environmental field monitoring and reporting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa.

Participants at the seminar included media and oil-producing communities' representatives and environmental rights activists.

They were drawn from Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers.

Two resource persons, Mr Patterson Ogon, founding Director of Ijaw Council for Human Rights, and Mr Alagoa Morris of the ERA/FoEN, presented papers on “How to Conduct Environmental Field Monitoring” and “How to Report the Environment: Field Report Writing”, respectively.

Speaking at the event, Mr Ebipatei Apaingolo, the Bayelsa Commissioner for Environment, underscored the importance of the environment to humanity.

He advocated the need to preserve the environment and understand its behaviour, stressing that people’s production and consumption patterns must not affect the sustainability of natural resources adversely.

“Life is the environment and the environment is life. It is necessary and appropriate to understand the workings of the environment so that we can further prioritise our environment.

“If you don’t understand the environment, there is no way you can support the environment,” Apaingolo said.

The Commissioner commended the environmental rights group for the seminar and its consistent advocacy on the preservation and protection of the environment over the years.

Earlier in his remarks, Dr Godwin Ojo, the Executive Director, ERA/FoEN, had emphasised that the environmental rights organisation takes field monitoring and reporting seriously.

Ojo, who was represented by Mr Mike Karikpo, ERA/FoEN's Programmes Manager, said the organisation is a community-focused group that is committed to addressing community issues and challenges, and providing interventions for safer environment.

He pointed out that less attention was giving to the Niger Delta environment because of the issues of insecurity in the country's northeast and middle belt, adding that “people are dying”.

Two of the participants, Mr Jonah Gbemre from Iwherekan community in Delta, and Prisu Atama from Kilama, Tein-Biseni, in Bayelsa, thanked ERA/FoEN for the opportunity, saying the training had helped them to understand the basics of environmental field monitoring and reporting.