NDBP Programme

by M.P.O DORE

National Coordinator, Niger Delta Biodiversity Project

Constituent States

PREAMBLE • The project is an integral part of the GEF’s Strategic

Programme for West Africa, “SPWA”, Sub-Component Biodiversity, and it concerns the Programe’s overarching Objective #2 ‘Mainstreaming biodiversity in production landscapes and sectors’. Emphasis is placed on i)producing tangible results on the ground and ii)focussing on stakeholder capacity for governing the O&G sector in the Niger Delta towards improved management of biodiversity and on the establishment of a funding mechanism for disseminating improved practices of biodiversity management at the local level.

The project’s contribution to focal area objectives and indicators

• GEF-4 BD Strategic Programmes: SP4 - Strengthening the Policy & Regulatory Framework for Mainstreaming Biodiversity

• Expected Impact: Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity incorporated in the productive landscape and seascape

• Indicators: Number of Hectares/production systems under certified production practices that meet sustainability and biodiversity standards

Project Rationale

• There is a promising, although low baseline of governance, O&G company engagement, and to a lesser extent funding upon which to build. However, in the baseline scenario in the absence of GEF funding, the Niger Delta’s globally significant biodiversity will continue to degrade in many places and lost in others due in part to 50+ years of oil and gas development with little to no attention paid to the conservation of biological diversity.

Heslop’s Pygmy Hippo, Hexaproton (syn-Choeropsis), liberiensis heslopi.

Anambra waxbill

Niger Delta Colobus Monkey: Procolobus epienni

No image available for this species; drawing shows typical fish in this Family.

Pincushion Ray, Thorny Freshwater Stingray: Urogymnus ukpam

• Population: trend unknown• Habitat and ecosystem: no information on life history parameters. Age at

maturity, longevity, average reproductive age and generation time are all unknown. One adult female has been recorded with two foetuses, but number of litters and average annual fecundity is also unknown

• Threats: All known specimens were collected by local artisanal fisheries. There are heavy local marine and riverine fisheries in West Africa with a burgeoning human population. Over-exploitation for food is, therefore, a possibility; the ray was described as being abundant in the rivers of ?Old Calabar? in the nineteenth century, but it has seldom been reported since Binda (Smith 1863; Compagno and Roberts 1984a,b; Capape and Desoutter 1990).

Human modification and degradation of the (ray?s) habitat is also possibly occurring in the area as a result of population increas

• Conservation Actions: No conservation or management initiatives are known.

Rationale II

• In the baseline scenario, the existing regulatory framework will continue to neglect the Delta’s biological diversity and key institutions will continue to have virtually no capacity in biodiversity-related issues.

Rationale III

• In the baseline scenario, O&G companies will continue to be amenable to the concept of biodiversity mainstreaming, but will approach the issue in disparate, ad hoc, inefficient ways that yield minimal results for biodiversity and local communities.

Rationale IV

• While there are signs of tide shifting with new laws and increasing awareness of the Delta’s unique biodiversity. These changes are however small and mere “ripples” on the surface of the Niger Delta, one of the world’s largest wetland areas. In the baseline situation, funding for biodiversity conservation in the Delta will continue to be inadequate

Project Contribution to Indicators

• Direct: Improved management of 600 km2 (“inside the fence” or direct mainstreaming target) of O&G operations as measured by adoption of Biodiversity Action Plans for a target number of O&G operations in the Delta.

Indirect• Threats to biodiversity linked to O&G are reduced in a spatial area

of 46,420 km2 (“outside the fence or indirect mainstreaming target) as measured by condition, number or extent of key species and ecosystems in the Niger Delta:

• - Area in ND where Niger Delta red colobus monkey is confirmed • - # of hectares of mangrove ecosystem in under improved special

management regime • - # of hectares cover of barrier island lowland forest under

protection.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• The project objective is “to mainstream biodiversity management priorities into the Niger Delta oil and gas (O&G) sector development policies and operations.”

THE ENDOWMENT

• The biological diversity of the Niger Delta reveals striking global significance across the full range of biological diversity at the genetic, species and ecosystems levels. Biological diversity is the variety of the world's plant and animal life (in this case, the Delta’s), including their genetic diversity and the assemblages they form.

ENDOWMENT 2

• Home to Global 200 Ecoregion # 155 (Niger Delta) and part of the Guinean Forests Hotspot, the Niger Delta harbors many locally and globally endangered species, and approximately 60-80% of all plant and animal species found in Nigeria. The Delta’s unique biogeographical attributes are responsible for the complex and rich milieu of habitats that enabled the evolution of this biological diversity.

•

ENDOWMENT 3• The Niger Delta is one of the largest wetlands in the world and is

Africa’s largest Delta. Stretching approximately 240 km from Onitsha in the north to the outer barrier islands in the south and 480 km, from the Benin River on the east to the Imo River on the West, the Niger Delta encompasses a triangular area of approximately 46,420 km2.

• The Delta consists of three main ecological zones (consolidated for simplicity’s sake from the seven shown in Figure 1): the upper freshwater riverine floodplain, the lower tidal floodplain comprised of estuaries, mangroves, and creeks; and the outer chain of barrier islands (a special dynamic and ephemeral land formation/coastal vegetation type similar to the lowland rain forest). This outermost coastal forest zone represents some of the last remaining pristine forest resources and centers of endemism in Africa.

BARRIERS

Barrier #1

• The governance framework of information, law, policy and institutional capacity for mainstreaming biodiversity is hobbled by the “how to” gap.

• Information on the nature, condition and extent of biodiversity across the vast Niger Delta Region is fragmented and incomplete, a fact that significantly hampers decision-making.

Barrier #2

• From the O&G industry’s point of view, biodiveristy mainstreaming measures need to be guided by an adequate ‘framework’ for action through which key stakeholder can build trust in each other, agree on common objectives and progress towards them in a cost-effective way. Currently, this framework is either non-existant or very incipient.

Barrier #3

• Financing for improved management of biodiversity in the Niger Delta is inadequate, inefficiently disbursed, and not linked sufficiently to priority biodiversity areas, O&G operations or communities around the Delta.

PROJECT OUTCOMES

OUTCOME 1: Governance frameworks for mainstreaming

• Stakeholders strengthen the governance framework of law, policy, and institutional capacity to enable the mainstreaming of biodiversity management into the O&G sector in the Niger Delta

OUTCOME 2: Industry engagement

• Government, the O&G industry and local communities adopt and pilot new biodiversity action planning tools for proactive biodiversity mainstreaming in the Niger Delta

OUTCOME 3: Funding for Biodiversity Conservation in Niger Delta

• Stakeholders support long-term biodiversity management and the use of these new tools in the Niger Delta by capitalizing the Niger Delta Biodiversity Trust with a collaborative engagement mechanism for local communities, O&G companies and Government at its core.

FOCUS

• strengthening the governance of biodiversity in the Niger Delta.

COVERAGE

• Geographic coverage is the four Niger delta component states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta & Rivers. With a combined area of 46,420 km2. This area is considered the ‘indirect landscape mainstreaming target’. The project’s initial ‘direct landscape mainstreaming target’ of 600km2is the physical footprint of the O&G company assets within this area.

PROGRAM AREAS

• The project will bring improved biodiversity management to these areas indirectly and directly, respectively, as measured by:

• improved state of globally significant species and ecosystems,

• legal and policy frameworks that incorporate biodiversity objectives, and

• O&G companies adopting best practice for biodiversity actions.

KEY RESULTS

• The establishment of a long-term funding mechanism for mainstreaming biodiversity into the O&G sector, called the Niger Delta Biodiversity Trust.

• Industry engagement.• Funding for Biodiversity Conservation in Niger

Delta

PROGRESS REPORT

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT & CONSULTATIVE PROCESS

• Meeting with Constituent states• Meeting with Non Governmental

Organizations and Civil Society Organizations• Meeting with leading O&G companies• Inception workshop• Project steering Committee Meeting

Consultation with states

• Workshop with states to brief them of objectives, goals and modus operandi

• NGOs participated in this meeting together with federal government institutions

Consultation with industry

• Meeting in Lagos with oil and gas industry representatives

• SPDC and Chevron attended• two others, ExxonMobil and Total not present

Inception workshop

• Workshop took place in mid-December. Stakeholders included states, industry representatives, NGOs and civil society: crucial to building ownership for the project results and to plan the first year annual work plan.

• Assist all partners to fully understand and take ownership of the project.

• Roles, functions, and responsibilities within the project's decision-making structures, including reporting and communication lines, and conflict resolution mechanisms

Project Steering Committee

• Met during the inception workshop: provide oversight to project activities and it will promote operational coordination among different government agencies, oil and gas industry players, NGOs, communities and donors working in the sector.• Requirement : 2ce a year

Annual work plan

• Concluded • Resulting in 2014 approved AWP

Studies and expert Working Group

• Development of Terms of reference for programme of work

• 8 WGs• 4 STUDIES- globally endangered Red colobus, • mangroves, 25,000 ha of mangrove ecosystem in

under improved special• barrier islands 10,000 ha cover of barrier island

lowland forest under protection• Community Protected Areas: At least 5,000 hectares

by end of project.

OTHERS

• Capacity needs assessment• Development of community BAPs• Establishment of traditional /leaders opinion

leaders advocacy forum • Roundtable on establishment of two national

parks in Bayelsa • NDBT—Framework for establishment

THANK YOU