Protect environment, ensure justice for oil host communities, coalition urges government, stakeholders
Environment
A Coalition for Socio-Ecological Transformation of Nigeria (COSET) has urged governments, lawmakers, civil society organisations and host communities to protect the environment and ensure justice for victims of pollution and climate change.
The group made the call at a three-day Niger Delta Climate Change Conference organised by COSET in collaboration with the Oilwatch International, the Lekeh Development Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, said that climate change and persistent environmental pollution had become major threats to the survival, security and livelihoods of Niger Delta communities.
Bassey, while presenting a paper titled “The Niger Delta at a Crossroads: Climate, Conflict and Survival,” said that climate change should be viewed as a human security challenge affecting health, food security, livelihoods and dignity, rather than merely an environmental issue.
He urged governments to prioritise environmental restoration, climate resilience and sustainable development, while calling on host communities to remain united in demanding environmental justice.
Also speaking, Mr Ken Henshaw, Executive Director of We the People (WTP), described climate change as a human rights issue, saying pollution, gas flaring and oil spills continued to deepen inequality, insecurity and poverty in the region.
Henshaw said that Africa contributed the least to global greenhouse gas emissions but bore the greatest impacts, while fossil fuel activities had exposed communities to worsening health challenges and destroyed traditional means of livelihood.
He criticised multinational oil companies for abandoning polluted sites without proper remediation or decommissioning and called for transparency in divestment agreements to ensure environmental liabilities were addressed.
Henshaw also advocated investment in renewable energy, agroecology and indigenous knowledge systems instead of continued dependence on extractive industries.
He called for reparations and environmental restoration for decades of ecological damage in the Niger Delta.
Henshaw urged the people to leverage on the Niger Delta Manifesto for Ecological Justice to advance environmental justice, climate resilience and the protection of human rights.
Also, Mr Mark Dummett, a human rights researcher with Amnesty International in London, called for government urgent intervention over the suspected gas leakage in Bille Community, Rivers.
Dummett described the incident as one of the worst pollution cases he had witnessed, saying methane gas bubbling through water wells had exposed residents to severe health risks, including skin rashes and deteriorating eyesight.
He urged the Federal Government, oil companies, including Shell Plc, and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to identify the source of the leakage and stop further pollution.
According to him, the leak could be linked to poorly decommissioned oil infrastructure, stressing that operators and regulators had a responsibility to safeguard the lives, health and environment of affected communities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference featured discussions on climate justice, environmental restoration, human rights and sustainable solutions to the ecological challenges facing the Niger Delta(NAN)
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Tags: Coalition COSET Justice for host communities Protect environment