WHY AFRICANS NEED TO SUPPORT THE MARINE ARCTIC PEACE SANCTUARY (MAPS) PROJECT

Continental Africa is located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Generally, Africa has two distinct seasons, the rainy season characterized by sprouting flowers with green grasses and the dry season characteristically felt as an intense heat. Africa's geographical location exposes her to intense solar radiation which leads to extreme temperatures that seem to be the norm these days, though commonly experienced in the northern part of Africa. however, the extreme temperature can be felt anywhere in Africa. Indeed the climate crisis is turning the Arctic zone into an unstable block of ice with numerous scientific evidence indicating that rising temperature is changing the topography of the area. Anthropogenic origin has been implicated in this unfortunate environmental challenge and most of the all-around destructive changes in the Northernmost part of the world are solely caused by mankind. Ms. Irene Quaile an international environment journalist who has been documenting these change over a decade in an OP-ED article wrote that she believes these negative changes, don’t stay in the Arctic alone but they expand Southward generating much more serious rippling effect often felt in the Sahel region of Africa and coastal nations of West Africa. Furthermore, scientists have been warning for years that the Arctic zone hasn't been itself primarily due to the unending rise in temperatures. Now, whose rate is calculated to be at twice the global average rate, with an array of changes, unlike anything mankind has ever seen in history. The scenery described by above is supported by renowned scientists at the Space for Development (ESPACE-DEV), Institute of Research for Development in France, their paper titled " Consequences of rapid ice sheet melting on the Sahelian population vulnerability", it revealed that the melting polar ice melting has far more destructive influence when it dissolves to form fresh water and enters the arctic ocean. It immediately creates an eruptive reaction which leads to sweeping changes in the Oceans across the world. These sweeping global effects are achieved through the rising sea levels, reversal of ocean circulation and flow and the dissolving permafrost. As an African running an none for profit organization called Team 54 Project, that raises awareness about the impact of climate change in vulnerable regions through a coordinated network of passionate members in 169 nations. I was amazed at the low level of knowledge I had about of events in the Arctic, my assumption that my continent was insulated from the effect of the Arctic was punctured after the full disclosure from some more scientific research and a conference hosted by United Nations on climate change in Marrakesh, Morroco in 2016. Upon, realizing that scientists already had started the dooms clock in the Arctic, this clock often is likened to a danger-alert sign made possible from the series of data recorded over a long period this information are then stored into a supercomputer system which plots an algorithm that is processed by more supercomputer network to recreate a virtual scenario of what the Arctic would look like if we continue to exploit the Arctic for pecuniary purpose. The forecasted scenario reveals an apocalyptic future for nations in West Africa where I come from, Small Island Developing States ( SIDS) like Fuji island currently looking to relocate all its citizens by 2050 because a considerable part of actual land mass has been covered by water and part of the Caribbean are going to be the worse hit. Consequently upon hearing what may truly before my nation Nigeria in 30 years from today, decided to act. Scared at first of this revelation, plus the countless information I saw with a video showing how mountains of Polar Ice are melting daily, I knew within me that I needed to act first before all will be lost. I recently came across an international online platform that focuses solely on the climatic changes in the Arctic, the blog site was called "Ice-Blog ", owned by Deutsche Welle a group based in Germany but devoted to providing quality news and information across the globe in an article written again by Ms. Quaile, she opined that the changes in the Arctic zone will indeed affect agricultural system and subsistent farming. A publication in the Washington Post of 6th of June 2017 titled: A climate chain reaction: Major Greenland melting could devastate crops in Africa written by Chelsea Harvey gave a clearer picture. It revealed that scientists are convinced that as the Polar Ice dissolves at this current pace, there will be an influx of freshwater from the Ice sheets that will flow into the Arctic Sea causing disruption in the flow of ocean current system, which in turn would lead to a dry condition out in the Africa’s Sahel, that stretch from Mauritania in the West to Sudan in the East. This article concluded by saying that there would be a significant negative agricultural impact in Africa, which would only worsen the fate of a continent in serious need of assistance due presence of extreme poverty. Clearly, there will be famine and inevitably a great humanitarian crisis in Africa where millions of people could be forced to migrate from the area if nothing is done to sensitize the various African Government and citizen. Hence, my decision to collaborate with any group that raises awareness about the issues in the Arctic. Luck for me, I connected to a wonderful international organization called PARVATI.org, a Not-for-profit group based in Canada. Following a formal interest to work with the organization, its founder reached out through wonderful staff of the organization and we have been engaging numerous government on the issues, I am focusing on getting African leaders to join their great idea to address the crisis in the Arctic. After months of advocating for the protection of the Arctic resources with the view to prevent an apocalyptic Africa, I was nominated and appointed as one of the organization GLOBAL AMBASSADOR, to help assist in spreading the vision of Parvati.org through the initiative called MAPS: the Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary, which is dedicated to stopping seismic testing, to raising awareness about the rapidly melting polar ice and its effect across the world. Hence the need to stop the commercial exploitation of the Arctic Resources as it affects even the indigenous people living in the region whose livelihood is threatened daily. Truly, I know much better now, and want to share this new found knowledge and hope all across the globe especially in African. The climate modeling approach, which is a template that tells the real state of things, says we don't have time, there is evidence some changes will never be reversed. Trying to imagine what Nigeria a nation on the West African coast would look like, if the polar melting continues unabated and causes a significant decrease in rainfall, plus the fact that we are the most populous black nation in the world, the chaos and panic will trigger, a humanitarian crisis. Currently, my country is experiencing one of worse internal crisis ever recorded in our history, rampaging herdsmen from the north looking for grazing areas for their animals which is the predominant occupation of Nigerians living in Northern region are migrating to the southern part of Nigeria much closer to the coast killing farmers and their animals destroying crops. Already the harsh temperature in the north has left the entire region half the size of California barren, living the nomadic herdsmen to mitigate in their millions into the southern part with a more tropic looking topography invaded. The constant conflict between the herdsmen and sedentary farmers in the southern part of the country has led to the daily killing and the failure of the government to address the cause or understand the issues have only worsened the situation. Officially the killing has now been tagged genocidal. Farming is predominately the major occupation in southern Nigeria, they now have been forced out of their ancestral homes and their livelihood completely destroyed. All directly linked to climate change and possibly exacerbated by the activities in the Arctic. The Arctic story is a tale that mankind must take seriously, fit wants a happy ever after. Finally, we have a moral obligation to leave behind a prosperous Earth for our children and their friends. All earthly resources such as land, ocean, forest reserves and the Arctic are all commonwealth owned by mankind. As caretakers, we must ensure that we are responsible and care for Mother Nature's natural resource. Again let it be said and known that we are all connected to one another no matter the race or tribe. Therefore, anything that affects our collective wealth will certainly affect our existence. Africans should stand with us and support the project MAPS. Now is the time for the citizens of the world to act as real humans. Support MAPS!

LINK TO STORY; https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/265902/why-africans-need-to-support-the-marine-arctic-peace-sanctua.html

Dr. Gbujie Daniel is a Climate Reality Project fellow, the founder of a global platform called Team 54 Project, a nongovernmental organization that raises awareness about the impact of climate change (SDG 13) in vulnerable nations. He's an advocate of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He's a multiple international award-winning environmentalist, writer, researcher. He was a world medical association delegate to COP 22. He was recently appointed global MAPS Ambassador by the international organization, Parvati.org.