The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has expressed its determination to adhere to sustainable environmental practices in all its operations to safeguard biodiversity in the country.
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Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, made this known on Friday in Abuja as part of activities to commemorate the 2020 World Environment Day celebration with the theme ‘Biodiversity’.
Kyari in a keynote address said the corporation would continue to be guided by sound environmental policies and standards, so that the corporation did not harm the environment and the communities of creatures within its sphere of operations.
“NNPC’s firm position on sustainable environmental practice is today reignited by the theme of the 2020 World Environment Day, which seeks to raise further awareness on conservation of Biodiversity.
“Biodiversity has remained the single most important factor that enables all living creatures to depend on the mutual services of one another, in order to ensure survival, a balanced ecosystem and the sustainability of our planet,” Kyari said.
He noted that the emergence of pandemics such as Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), a virus that was said to be common to Asian bats, had provided greater insights on how biodiversity equilibrium could shift, making it easier for diseases to pass from animals to people.
Kyari decried that over the years, the world had been impacted by deforestation, expansion of agriculture, mining activities and massive infrastructural development.
According to him, these activities have directly or indirectly impacted the balance of biodiversity, making wild species and alien organisms struggle to find new homes.