Welcome to another information-packed edition of eco-Instigator.
Critically relevant events have been unfolding in rapid succession. Just as wild fires and unusual storms and floods were ravaging the world, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its sixth review, by which it unequivocally affirmed that climate change is the result of human activities.
While the world strives to digest the import of the damning climate change report, Nigeria got a brand new Petroleum Industry Act that took over a decade to enact. We see the law as a gift to the polluting oil and gas companies. Related to that is the gale of divestment plans by international oil companies operating in Nigeria’s Niger Delta area. No, they aren’t leaving Nigeria, neither are they divesting for the dirty energy sector. The oil majors are attempting to sell their “assets” to Nigerian companies and swim into deeper offshore waters, hoping to shirk responsibility for their dastardly ecological misbehaviours in the poor communities onshore. We insist that they must clean up their mess, restore our ecosystems and compensate impacted persons before slithering into the deep.
Another momentous event is the acceptance of culpability by Shell for an oil spill that occurred in 1970, known as the Ejama Ebubu case, which the oil mogul fought against in court for 30 years. This case should help stop the oil companies’ refrain from always claiming that virtually every oil spill is caused by third-party interferences. This case has helped burst a big fat lie.
In this publication, we bring you interesting articles and reports from around the world that will spur you to take deliberate actions to protect Mother Earth. We also serve you with evidence-based information on the contentions and gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act just signed into law by the president of Nigeria, as well as the Nigerian civil society’s position on the law in terms of its wider implications.
As ever, we bring you poems that thematise Mother Earth and the environment, as well as suggested books addressing topical issues, which we think you should read.
We hope to challenge you to question the current economic and development models and instigate you into acting to save the planet and our collective existence.
Drop us a line or share your stories, articles, photos or poems at [email protected]
We always look forward to hearing from you.
Until Victory!
Download and read Eco-Instigator #33 here.
