Israel Umoh
Scientists have predicted that in the next six years, fish farmers in Akwa Ibom State may risk their means of livelihood due to Ocean Conveyor belt coming to a halt.
In a telephone interview with Straightnews on Tuesday, Nsikak Benson, Dean, Faculty of Computing and Applied Sciences at Topfaith University, Mkpatak in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, said the halt would result in the massive death of fishes and other organisms in the Atlantic Ocean.
‘‘Ocean conveyor belt is moving in Atlantic Ocean from Northern part to the Southern part of the country.’’
Also read: The World sits on fire – scientists raise alarm In likening the ocean conveyor belt to that of an airport that turns luggage of passengers, Benson said due to this, the ocean is getting warmer due to the availability of algae.
According to him, the disruptive consequence of the belt caused by excessive heat is that it will affect production of food and microbal productivity too.
‘‘Our means of livelihood will be affected. Fish farmers would lose their jobs a result of the burnt belt,’’ the Professor remarked.
On Monday, Benson who had presented a lecture on the topic: Development Journalism: Setting the Agenda on Climate Change at NUJ Press Centre, Uyo said ‘‘Scientists have been screaming for years that humanity faces nothing less than a climate emergency, emergency not just a problem, not just a crisis but an emergency.
‘‘Many of your colleagues and more traditional news outlets shy away from using the word ‘emergency’ because they think that is activism. They need to understand that long before Greta Thunberg was calling it an emergency, scientists were calling it an emergency.
‘‘Many scientists including yours truly have written peer-reviewed articles outlining the impacts of climate change and literally saying this is an emergency.
‘‘Well the good news for you as journalists is that, you know how to cover emergencies. We saw that during the Ebola and COVID-19 pandemic. You played Ebola and COVID big because you
recognized it was an emergency, because the scientists told you Ebola and COVID-19 were health emergencies.
‘‘In the newsrooms, you ran two or three COVID stories every day, and as a result, even very casual news consumers recognize something big was going on, and they paid attention. COVID, for instance, was killing people all over the world and in Nigeria, and by the way climate change is killing people all over the world today. It is just not written on their death certificates and we need to get that point across to people.’’
The Professor of Analytical & Environmental Chemistry ‘‘Recall that we talked about solutions during COVID and Ebola crisis. We need to be doing this on climate as well. Just like we talked about the mandatory wearing of masks, social distancing, getting vaccinated during the COVID emergency, and the people in our audiences desperately need the equivalent information on climate change today.
‘‘They need to know that humanity can still avoid the worst if we take strong position against climate change. We can still keep the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. We have all the technologies to do this but what is lacking is the political will to push aside vested interests and radically pursue climate action policies that will address climate change and associated impacts.
‘‘But that political will that is lacking, that is something our audiences can do something about, and we need to let them know that they can do it by voting; they can do it by speaking out; they can do it by not supporting unsustainable government projects.
‘‘Above all, they can do it by talking to other people, their family, and friends. My position is that, you, the media can influence this public discourse. After all, who communicates most effectively to more people than anyone else on this planet? Assuredly, it is the media,’’ he added.
