The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mangrove Marathon 10 Kilometres Awareness Run, Jerry Chidi has called on the government, multinationals and other stakeholders to get involved in the course of saving the Nigeria mangrove.
Chidi made the call on Saturday shortly after the climax of the “10 kilometres Awareness Run/Fun Walk, Warri 2022”.
Twenty-six-year old Hamadjan Sondi from Cross Rivers finished first in the male category with 32 minutes while Charity Agofure (28) from Delta clinched the female category with a record time of 37 minutes.
Addressing newsmen at the Warri Township Stadium, Chidi said that the mangrove was one of the nature-based solution to tackling climate change.
He described mangrove as an Ecosystem that was unique to the Niger Delta region adding that it ranked about fourth in the world.
The CEO also said that fishers depend on resources from the mangrove noting that without it, no fish in the river or sea would survive.
According to him, mangrove served as breeding grounds for fishery and other aquatic lives like the periwinkles, oysters, crayfish and others adding that it was a critical aspect of our ecosystem that support livelihood.
“The challenges we are facing in the environmental degradation is as a result of lack of awareness.
“So to raise awareness about the environment, we thought it fit to use Sport as a vehicle to educate, pull people together and get them aware about certain critical issues about the environment.
“This time, we are focusing on the Mangrove and that is why we called it Mangrove Marathon.
“Marathon in the sense that it depict the tenacity and doggedness that is needed if we are to face the challenges in mangrove environment especially in the Niger Delta.
“This Sport is what we are using to bring awareness so that people will be more cautious and also take proactive actions to tackling some of these challenges,” he said.
