Healthy oceans help regulate the global climate, produce around half of the oxygen we breathe, and provide food and livelihoods for billions. In Nigeria, where over 850km of coastline supports fisheries, trade, energy, and transport, marine environmental security is not an abstract concept. It is the foundation for jobs, food security, and climate resilience.
The Nigerian Marine Environment Protection Association (NIMEPA), part of the global INTERMEPA network, frames this work locally — from Lagos beach cleanups that removed about 100 kilogrammes of waste at Atican Beach, including hazardous lead batteries, to advocacy for stronger pollution control.
What is Marine Environmental Security?
Traditional maritime security focused on piracy and smuggling. Today, leading frameworks redefine it from the bottom up to centre humans and ecosystems, using four principles: participation, autonomy, equity, and coherence.
For NIMEPA, this means:
- Participation: coastal communities, youth volunteers, and industry join cleanups
- Autonomy: local capacity to monitor pollution
- Equity: protecting small-scale fishers who depend on healthy seas
- Coherence: aligning Nigerian law with global standards like MARPOL and UNCLOS
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) emphasizes this shift, noting maritime security’s role in economic stability and sustainable development.
Why It Matters for Sustainable Development
1. It powers SDG 14 — Life Below Water
The United Nations’ SDG 14 aims to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”. Key targets include preventing marine pollution by 2025 and protecting coastal ecosystems. Oceans are critical for poverty eradication, food security, and climate regulation.
2. It protects Nigeria’s blue economy
Oceans cover 97% of Earth’s surface and provide essential ecosystem services. In Nigeria, marine protection is critical for ocean health, biodiversity, and global sustainability. Without secure seas:
- Fish stocks collapse from overfishing and plastic ingestion
- Ports face disruption from pollution and debris
- Coastal flooding worsens as mangroves and reefs degrade
3. It links environment to human security
A Security Council debate highlighted that threats like piracy, illegal fishing, and marine pollution undermine livelihoods and trade. When lead batteries and plastics stay on shorelines for centuries, they harm fish and aquatic life, as corporate partners at NIMEPA’s Lagos cleanup observed.
The Nigerian Context: Challenges and Opportunities
NIMEPA’s first cleanup revealed three realities:
- Infrastructure gaps: “There wasn’t any trash cans from the beginning up to where we stopped,” noted a volunteer, pointing to why plastics persist.
- Hazardous waste: lead batteries on beaches threaten fauna and flora.
- Shared responsibility: as NIMEPA trustee Festus Omotoyinbo said, “It’s a collective responsibility. Both the government, the community and everyone”.
Opportunity lies in scaling this model. NIMEPA plans more cleanups across coastal and inland communities in 2026, with participants signing a sustainability pledge to “walk the talk”.
How NIMEPA Advances Marine Environmental Security
- Awareness to action: linking the water cycle and rainfall to ocean health for volunteers
- Data collection: accounting for waste types to inform policy
- Partnership: working with industry (Flour Mills, Apapa Bulk Terminal), youth groups, and INTERMEPA affiliates
- Advocacy: pushing for MARPOL enforcement and better waste management infrastructure
What Stakeholders Can Do
For government: enforce Annex VI and marine pollution laws, fund monitoring, create coastal waste facilities.
For businesses: adopt extended producer responsibility for plastics, support cleanups.
For communities and youth: volunteer, reduce single-use plastics, report illegal dumping — “every little thing is what aggregated into the bigger picture,” as youth volunteer Adeiza Onimisi Adeolu said at Atican Beach.
Conclusion
Marine environmental security is not just about protecting turtles and coral reefs. It is about securing oxygen, food, trade routes, and climate stability for Nigeria’s next generation. As oceans face pollution, overfishing, and climate change, protecting marine biodiversity protects our own future.
NIMEPA’s work shows that sustainable development starts at the shoreline — with a cleanup, a pledge, and a policy shift. When we secure the sea, we secure development.
