As the world marks World Oceans Day 2026 today, the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) and YEAC Community Energy and Development (YEAC-CEAD) joins global calls under the theme “Reimagine: Beyond the world we know, a new relationship with our ocean” for an improved relationship with the oceans for climate justice.

The 2026 theme challenges us to move from seeing the ocean as a distant resource to recognizing it as the life source we depend on daily. For Niger Delta coastal communities, this reimagining is urgent because our Atlantic coastlines, creeks, and estuaries face daily threats from oil spills, gas flaring, plastic waste, and illegal fishing that destroy marine biodiversity and coastal livelihoods.

Besides, a major, growing threat YEAC-Nigeria must also highlight on this important day is the impact of pollution from illegal and artisanal crude oil refineries - locally called “kpo-fire”. These crude operations dump unburnt crude, toxic sludge, soot, and heavy metals directly into creeks, rivers, and coastal waters. The impact of this is severe as it contributes to;

1. Marine death zones: Oil sludge smothers fish breeding grounds, mangrove roots, and benthic life, collapsing fish stocks that coastal communities depend on.
2. Water contamination: Communities drinking or bathing in creek water face exposure to carcinogens like PAHs and heavy metals, leading to skin diseases, respiratory illness, and long-term health risks.
3. Climate and soot crisis: Incomplete combustion releases black carbon/soot that settles on water surfaces, blocks sunlight, and worsens respiratory health in Rivers State and beyond. It also contributes to and accelerates climate warming.

This pollution compounds the damage from corporate spills and plastic waste, making “Reimagine” a matter of survival for the Niger Delta people, where millions of fisherfolk, women, and youth hitherto depend on healthy marine ecosystems.

In line with the 2026 action theme “Strong Marine Protected Areas for Our Blue Planet”, YEAC-Nigeria is intensifying advocacy for expanded Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and stricter enforcement against organized criminal activities that contributes to marine pollution in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea through its various proposed initiatives including the Network on Organised Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea (NOCINAG), National Conference on Organised Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea (NACOCINAG), Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI), The Doctrine Of PACORDI and Other Oil Theft Mitigation Mechanisms for Nigeria, Crude Oil Spill Alert System (COSAS), One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta, Oil Theft Mitigation Mechanism through Solar Mini-Grids’ energisation and solarisation of alternative livelihoods opportunities in communities without electricity (CWE) in the Niger Delta, Nigeria Boarder and Coast Guard (NBCG), among other cross-border collaborations and data-driven advocacy of YEAC-Nigeria for a cleaner Gulf of Guinea.  

“This World Oceans Day, ‘Reimagine’ must mean more than slogans for the Niger Delta. It must mean accountability for oil companies that pollute our waters, protection for fisherfolk whose nets come up empty, and investment in coastal communities to restore mangroves and marine life. It must also mean ending the cycle of illegal artisanal refineries that are poisoning our creeks with toxic sludge and soot. Through our PACORDI initiative and the 2023 National Conference on Organised Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea, YEAC-Nigeria is building a network to tackle the criminal economy behind ocean destruction. You cannot protect the ocean while young people have no jobs and no legal way to refine oil. The ocean is not outside us - it is us. The air we breathe in Port Harcourt, the fish on our tables, the climate that shapes our farms - all come from the ocean. It is time we reimagine our role from exploiters to guardians. Without a healthy ocean, there can be no climate justice for the Niger Delta.” Dr. Fyneface said.   

YEAC-Nigeria calls on stakeholders, including the Federal Government, NDDC, NOSDRA, HYPREP, and international and indigenous oil companies, to:

1. Accelerate cleanup and remediation of polluted coastal waters in line with UNEP’s Report on Ogoniland (2011) and the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission Report (2023) recommendations.
2. Support and fund the community-led Marine Protected Areas initiative, including mangrove planting to protect biodiversity and restore fish stocks.
3. Strengthen monitoring and penalties for oil spills and marine litter to protect ocean health for future generations.
4. Implement a Niger Delta Modular Refinery and Livelihood Transition Plan to replace illegal refining with legal, safe, and environmentally compliant alternative livelihoods.
5. Support and institutionalize PACORDI as a multi-stakeholder platform legalizing artisanal refineries and tackling organised crime and pollution in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea.

We urge all citizens, civil society organizations, and the media to use today to #Reimagine our relationship with the ocean. Protecting the ocean is protecting our future.

#WorldOceansDay #Reimagine #BluePlanet #ClimateJustice #NigerDelta #StopKpoFire #PACORDI, #Energisation and #Solarisation

Signed,

Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface,

Executive Director, YEAC-Nigeria  

June 8, 2026