“As we strive to green the economy, we must begin to reduce environmental degradation, pollution, and the effects of climate change.”
Amina J. Mohammed, the Minister of Environment with the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyema
Those were the promising words of Amina J. Mohammed, the Minister of Environment, as she rang the Trade Closing Bell at the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday in Lagos.
The minister, who was received by the Chief Executive Officer of the Exchange, Oscar Onyema, shared the “New Narrative” at Federal Ministry of Environment that focuses on Empowering People, taking Climate Action and Protecting the Environment.
According to her, environment and private sector partnership is key towards a sustainable transition to a green economy, adding that this would ensure that industries adhere to standard and regulations on environmental protection.
Meeting with some of the CEOs of listed companies, Mohammed stated that the issue of sustainable development in Nigeria goes beyond just Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR). She added that companies need to be more responsible by adopting sustainable business models.
“The era of sustainable development is the paradigm shift needed to ensure that we protect the planet for future generations by ensuring the interaction of the environment, social and economic needs. Putting people at the centre is good for business,” the minister noted.
According to her, the response at the Federal Ministry of Environment includes creating opportunities that grow a prosperous nation through an empowered people, capable of taking action and contributing to the protecting of the planet.
Her words: “This is reinforcing the administration’s approach in the change agenda for the environment sector through peace, jobs and a corruption-free society. The private sector must contribute to this new change by adopting a business model that is transparent, accountable and encourages women in decision-making roles.”
For the past year, the Forest Unit of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has been restoring the Arboretum in the IITA-Ibadan campus in Oyo State as a Tree Heritage Park for the conservation of rare and endangered Nigerian trees. Massive amounts of exotic trees, “bush”, and weeds have been cleared from the original plots.
David Ladipo planting a mahogany seedling in IITA arboretum with Deni Bown and Kenton Dashiell the Deputy Director General of IITA looking on
Several weeks ago, a tree planting event was held to mark the end of clearing operations and the start of planting indigenous trees, which are now threatened with extinction.
The timber species popularly known as Ijebu mahogany, Entandrophragma angolense, was planted by Dr David Ladipo, who set up IITA’s arboreta in Ibadan, Onne, and Mbalmayo (Cameroon) in the 1990s. Mahoganies are one of the most highly valued timber trees; they are slow growing, taking over 35 years to flower for the first time, and mature specimens are now extremely rare. After planting the tree, Ladipo spoke of the crisis facing Nigerian trees and forests which are overexploited and fast disappearing.
The event was attended by Deputy Director Kenton Dashiell, Partnerships and Capacity Development, who congratulated Forest Unit staff on this seemingly important work. Before closing the ceremony, Ladipo presented Deni Bown, Head of the Forest Unit, with three 2-m cuttings of African myrrh, Commiphora kerstingii, as an addition to the collection of rare trees.
From 1990 to 2005, Nigeria lost 35.7% of its forests, giving it the reputation of having the highest rate of deforestation in the world. Such rapid deforestation resulted in an average temperature rise of 1.1% and decrease in annual rainfall of 81 mm. Forest cover is now down to 4% yet there are few initiatives on reforestation or protection of forests at either state or federal level.
In addition to conservation of tree genetic resources, the Tree Heritage Park in IITA-Ibadan will raise awareness that native trees are better adapted to local soils and climate, support wider biodiversity, and provide a far greater range of raw materials than exotics. It also offers seeds and young trees, and training and advisory services for reforestation and restoration of degraded landscapes.
Poland is the latest country to reject genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their food production, thus exercising a right granted to all EU member states earlier this year.
Critics fear genetically modified foods can cause environmental harm and damage human health. Photo credit: dailymail.co.uk
Poland is the 11th country so far to officially abstain from using GM food approved by the European Commission. In a drive to address national concerns, in March Brussels authorised countries to opt out of genetically engineered crop cultivation if such a step is to be taken as a safety measure to protect not only human health and the environment, but also consumer interests and the internal market.
Poland is among countries such as Hungary, France and Greece that prohibit already authorised crops and those still pending approval. Meanwhile, Belgium and Britain have chosen to restrict cultivation to particular territories.
Once the European Commission has processed the opt-out requests, it hands them over to companies trading GMOs. “We have already dealt with applications issued by Greece and Latvia, in other cases, our work is still in progress,” said Enrico Brivio spokesman for the EU’s environment commission.
EU member states have until 3 October to make the GMO-free list.
For the parts of the Paris Climate Change Agreement which relate to adaptation to climate change to be fully implemented, more clarity is needed on how to recognise and review measures to build resilience, including with the help of comparable methodologies.
Christiana Figueres of the UNFCCC during the opening session of the Adaptation Futures Conference in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
This was the key conclusion of scientists and practitioners meeting at the Adaptation Forum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands last week. The Adaptation Committee – the overall advisory body on adaptation to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – organised the forum on the margins of the Adaptation Futures Conference, the 4th International Climate Change Adaptation Conference.
Don Lemmen, Co-Chair of the Adaptation Committee, outlined the objectives of the forum, including informing participants of the adaptation-related aspects of the Paris Agreement and receiving inputs to be used by the Adaptation Committee and the Least Developed Countries Expert Group in making key elements of the Paris Agreement which relate to adaptation operational.
Roger Pulwarty of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the USA addressed the question of reviewing the adequacy and effectiveness of adaptation actions and support thereof.
According to him, most assessments of adaptation are restricted to impacts and planning; only few assess the processes and metrics of implementation and the evaluation of actions. During the discussion moderated by Vivienne Parry of the United Kingdom, participants referred to existing frameworks, such as national adaptation plans, to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of adaptation.
Many participants lamented the lack of common adaptation metrics in the adaptation components of national climate action plans (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or “INDCs”). For example, Burkina Faso seeks to distribute 1,000 drip irrigation kits per year as part of its adaptation efforts in the water sector, whereas Comoros aims to increase the percentage of farmers with adaptive water management systems and Bolivia wants to significantly increase its water storage capacity.
Katherine Vincent of Kulima of South Africa highlighted ways to recognise adaptation efforts of developing countries. One such method of recognition could include Climate Public Expenditures and Institutional Reviews. For example, expenditures for measures to adapt to climate change are marked and tagged in Nepal’s budget and thus easily recognisable. Other practitioners highlighted sharing of good practices and identifying champions. The Netherlands, for example, was recognised as a champion in flood control.
Minpeng Chen, Co-Chair of the Adaptation Committee, stressed that more methodological work is urgently needed and invited all participants to provide further input in order to operationalise adaptation provisions of the Paris Agreement.
The Bread of Life Development Foundation (BLF), a Lagos-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), has said that the recent increase in price of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS), or petrol, from N86.50 to N145.00 per litre will further increase scarcity of safe drinking water in the country.
The increase in cost of petrol will worsen the current water shortage in the country, according to the BLF
In a statement issued on Monday and endorsed by its programme officer, Taiwo Owolabi, BLF noted that majority of Nigerians depend on fuel powered generators to pump water from boreholes, household wells, and other sources into storage tanks. The group added that the about 80% hike in fuel price will make the product less affordable to Nigerians, thereby decreasing their capacity to access safe water from groundwater sources for drinking and sanitation purposes.
“About half of Nigerian populations presently do not have access to safe drinking water and sanitation services; and majority of those with safe access to water are serviced by private water vendors that source water from groundwater sources, through the use of fuel powered engines,” declared BLF.
Expressing concern over the increased fuel price, BLF stated that it will further compound urban and rural poverty, with critical implications for access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene services in Nigeria, “as the common man will find it more difficult to afford the high cost of PMS to pump safe drinking water from groundwater sources to storage tanks.”
The group called for a downward review of the fuel price, adding that the financial gains of oil price deregulation will likely be eroded by social and economic costs of poor access to WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), which it listed to include increase incidence of water related diseases, drop in school enrolment, as well as infant and maternal mortality.
Climate Vulnerable Forum calls for immediate steps to higher ambition emission contributions (INDC/NDCs) at Bonn UN Climate Talks
The Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, Philippines, called on all 195 parties to the UN Climate Convention to already begin work on updated, more stringent emission control plans at the UN Climate Change Conference which opened on Monday in Bonn, Germany.
Secretary Emmanuel M. De Guzman of the Climate Change Commission of the Philippines
Secretary Emmanuel M. De Guzman of the Climate Change Commission of the Philippines, the Climate Vulnerable Forum Chair, highlighted the shortfall of existing government contributions (or INDCs/NDCs) to reduce emissions under the new Paris Agreement reached in December 2015, which he said “translates to 3 degrees of global warming, double our long-term goal.”
“The Paris Agreement’s long-term goal of ‘well below’ 2 degrees Celsius cannot and should not mean 1.9 degrees or 1.8 or 1.7 degrees Celsius,” De Guzman said. “Our goal is 1.5 degrees Celsius, and we are all bound to pursue actions to achieve this.”
De Guzman called for urgent follow-up to “live up to the ambitions we have set for ourselves in international law” while highlighting the leadership of vulnerable countries with the Philippines’ first commitment under the Paris Agreement representing a 70% reduction in expected emissions by 2030.
Secretary de Guzman added: “There are limits to what vulnerable countries can achieve”, while calling on all parties to take action in the areas of finance, capacity building and technology “to stimulate global action and greater ambition.”
De Guzman reiterated the Forum’s call for realising the balance between adaptation and mitigation in international climate change finance in order to “save lives.” He called for a review of financial flows in order to achieve the 1.5-degrees goal, in addition to efficient finance delivery through UN Climate Convention finance mechanisms, including the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environment Facility.
The UN Climate Change Conference at Bonn which opened on 16 May is the principal round of climate talks between the landmark December 2015 UN Conference at Paris (COP21) and the next Conference of the Parties to the UN Climate Convention taking place at Marrakech, Morocco (COP22) in November 2016.
Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, has said that, following the successful conclusion of the Paris Climate Change Agreement in Paris last year, governments are leaving behind the phase of negotiations and entering a new era of collaboration.
Salaheddine Mezouar, incoming President of the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech (COP22) and Morocco’s Foreign Affiars Minister (left); Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; and Ségolène Royale, French Environment Minister and President of COP 21 (the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris last year), Ségolène Royale, at at the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany on Monday
Speaking at the opening of the two-week UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany that began on Monday, the UN climate chief said: “The whole world is united in its commitment to the global goals embodied in the Paris Agreement, as well as to the means by which to achieve them.”
The Bonn meeting comes weeks after 176 countries and the EU signed the Paris Climate Change Agreement, and has been described as a key planning event for the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Marrakech in November.
She told delegates in the opening plenary of the meeting that, with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), “you have opened the opportunity to meet the climate change challenge to a great extent by fulfilling the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
In her opening remarks, French Environment Minister and President of COP 21 (the official name of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris last year), Ségolène Royale, said the 12 of December 2015 (the final day of the Paris conference, when the agreement was concluded) had shown the world that the international community is capable of unifying to respond to the global challenge of climate and to embark on the path of sustainable development.
“Since the conclusion of the Paris Agreement, our priority is to build on the ambitious, balanced and fair compromises which were reached last December, in order to reinforce action on the ground. The foundations have been laid, it is now up to us build our common house. I call on you to be builders and facilitators,” she said.
In his remarks, Salaheddine Mezouar, incoming President of the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech (COP22) and Morocco’s Foreign Minister, outlined the key objectives of the meeting this November.
“Our ambition for COP 22 is to contribute to the adoption of the procedures and mechanisms to allow the Paris Agreement to be operationalised, and the adoption of an action plan for the pre-2020 period, covering mitigation, adaptation and finance, and to step up capacity building, technology transfer and transparency,” he said.
Stressing the importance of climate finance, Mezouar said COP22 would also be an occasion to draw up a road map for concrete and predictable provision of the USD 100 billion governments have agreed will be mobilized for developing countries to green their economies and adapt to climate change.
To this end, he suggested that governments, along with public and private financial institutions, consider the creation of a “Fast Track Facility” for climate finance.
Following the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Ms. Figueres and the present and incoming COP Presidents planted a tree on the premises of the UN, to commemorate the signing of the Paris Agreement and to mark Earth Day 2016.
As political momentum on climate change continues on a high after the emergence of the Paris Agreement last December and its signing in April, countries gave their opening statements in a plenary session on the first day of the UN climate talks going on in Bonn, Germany.
Teresa Anderson, ActionAid International
Focused on rule-making for the new global climate regime amid efforts to ramp up short-term ambition to tackle climate change, negotiators set out their stalls ahead of two weeks of negotiations.
Civil society players, who believe there is no time to lose, appear to be hopeful.
“It was announced today that last month was the hottest April ever, which means we have now experienced seven months in a row of months breaking temperature records,” says Teresa Anderson from ActionAid.
She adds: “As the hottest El Nino ever bites across the world, 60 million people are expected to face its impacts this year in the form of heatwaves, droughts and famine. In Paris, governments agreed to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This number may prove to be the planet’s lifeline, but only if we choose to pick up that lifeline, grab it with both hands, and follow it to its necessary conclusion. We need much greater ambition to radically and fairly cut emissions, delivered much faster than the national pledges currently on the table.”
“We are seeing some positive signs,” says Alden Meyer from the Union of Concerned Scientists. “177 parties have signed the Paris Agreement and 16 have already deposited instruments of ratification. Outside the UN process the renewable energy revolution is unfolding, and financial flows are shifting towards low carbon development – but the question is whether this is happening fast enough to keep pace with changes in the physical environment. Negotiators have an opportunity in Bonn to speed things up by developing the rulebook for the Paris Agreement, working to build capacity for a major increase in both pre- and post-2020 ambition, and putting the spotlight on efforts to ramp up support for adaptation and loss and damage ahead of the COP in Marrakesh.”
“Today the new Moroccan Presidency labelled COP 22 in Marrakesh the ‘COP for action’ which is good a start,” says Anoop Poonia from Climate Action Network South Asia. “This year we need action to develop a roadmap that delivers the long-promised $100 billion in climate finance. In the process negotiators must ensure this finance supports both adaptation and mitigation in order to boost the resilience of the most vulnerable countries already experiencing climate impacts. Right now less than $6 billion per year is available for adaptation – this is not enough. Another important task for governments here in Bonn is to get working on the rules for accounting and transparency so that we develop more accurate ways to measure the cost of complex climate impacts and exactly what support falls under the banner of ‘climate finance’ as we move forwards.”
A global wave of peaceful direct actions lasting for 12 days took place across six continents targeting the world’s most dangerous fossil fuel projects
Break Free from Anti-fossil fuels action in Batangas, Philippines, 4 May, 2016
Twelve days of unprecedented world-wide action against fossil fuels have just concluded, showing that the climate movement will not rest until all coal, oil and gas is kept in the ground. The combined global efforts of activists on six continents now pose a serious threat to the future of the fossil fuel industry, already weakened by financial and political uncertainty.
Tens of thousands of activists took to the streets, occupied mines, blocked rail lines, linked arms, paddled in kayaks and held community meetings in 13 countries, pushing the boundaries of conventional protest to find new ways to demand coal, oil and gas stay in the ground. Participants risked arrest – many for the first time – to say that it’s time to Break Free from the current energy paradigm that is locking the planet into a future of catastrophic climate change.
Driving this wave of demonstrations is the sudden and dramatic acceleration in the warming of the planet, with every single month of 2016 shattering heat records – combined with the growing gap between world governments’ stated climate ambitions, and their demonstrated actions in approving new fossil fuel projects. On the last day of mobilisation, a key monitoring site on Tasmania recorded atmospheric carbon-dioxide exceeding 400 parts per million for the first time ever.
These actions took place under the banner of Break Free, which refers to the need to shift away from our current dependency on fossil fuels to a global energy system powered by 100% renewable energy. In 2015, 90% of new energy capacity came from renewables, signaling that a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy is more feasible than ever.
As the impacts of a warming planet become more visible in the form of rising sea levels, drought and stronger storms, the citizens who joined Break Free will continue to be a part of the next phase of the movement as it becomes more vocal, disruptive and powerful.
Highlights of the actions:
Thousands worldwide risked arrest during the actions, many for the first time
$20 million worth of coal shipments were halted by activists shutting down the largest coal port in the world in Newcastle, Australia.
The UK’s largest opencast coal mine was shut down for a day.
Hundreds occupied the first Nigerian oil well at Oloibiri, marched at Bori Ogoni and Ibeno demanding for an end to oil spills and gas flares, a clean up of the Niger Delta. They also demanded that the polluting oil should be kept in the ground to tackle global warming.
Hundreds stood up to South Africa’s most powerful family with a march that delivered coal to their front door, despite their attempts to silence civil society by pressuring police to revoke permits for a march
Dozens of people occupied train tracks overnight on both coasts of the United States to stop oil-filled ‘bomb trains’ from rolling through communities — including less than 100 feet from low-income public housing in Albany, New York.
3,500 people shut down one of Europe’s biggest carbon polluters in Germany, occupying a lignite mine and nearby power station for over 48 hours, reducing the plant’s capacity by 80 percent.
10,000 marched against a proposed coal plant in Batangas, the Philippines
3,000 sent an ear-splitting message to Indonesia’s president with a whistle demonstration against coal in Jakarta, and a few days later 12 activists climbed the cranes supplying coal for the Cirebon Coal Power Plant, and dropping banners to Quit Coal and for Clean Energy, Clean Air.
Community members blocked traffic outside the gates of Brazil’s largest thermal coal plant, in Ceará
On land and water, indigenous communities and local activists blockaded the Kinder Morgan tar sands facility in Metro-Vancouver, unceded Coast Salish Territories.
150+ local activists marched and occupied the entrance of two fossil fuel refineries, which are the largest unaddressed source of carbon pollution in the Northwest of the United States
In Aliaga, Turkey 2000 people marched to the gates of the Izmir region’s largest coal dump, and surrounded it with a giant red line, as a call to end plans for the massive expansion of coal in the country.
Overview of the actions:
May 3: Wales – UK
Three hundred people halted operations at the UK’s largest opencast coal mine at Ffos-y-fran in South Wales, making it the biggest ever mass action in a UK coal mine with the majority of participants joining a climate action for the first time. The occupation and blockade ended after 12 hours with no arrests.
May 4, 14: Philippines
Some 10,000 people marched in the streets of Batangas City opposing a proposed 600MW coal-fired power plant and to demand the cancellation of another 27 proposed plants in the country. The march, led by Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lipa, also included activists from many organisations as well as thousands of people from coal-impacted communities. Days later, hundreds of community members in Calaca demonstrated against a proposed coal plant expansion project there.
May 5-15: United States
In Sacramento, Central Valley community members sat-in outside of Governor Brown’s office. In Philadelphia, hundreds of people marched to the largest refinery on the east coast. In Colorado, hundreds of people disrupted an auction selling public lands for fossil fuel extraction, as seven people held a sit-in blockading the room where the auction was being held. Over 2,000 people protested refinery pollution in the Pacific Northwest and blockaded oil trains for three full days culminating in at least 52 arrests. In Albany, 2,000 people marched and blockaded bomb trains, resulting in five arrests. Hundreds occupied a proposed fracking site outside Denver, and in California dozens blocked the road to the Porter Ranch gas facility, which was the site of the largest methane leak in the history of the US. Led by frontline community members, 1,300 people marched in Washington, DC to call on President Obama to end to offshore drilling; and outside of Chicago, 1,500 people protested proposed the expansion of BP’s Whiting refinery.
May 6-13: New Zealand
Day after day dozens of people shut down ANZ bank branches in ChristChurch, Wellington, Auckland, and Dunedin calling for ANZ to divest from fossil fuels.
May 8: Australia
An armada of kayakers blocked the Newcastle harbour entrance while 70 people blocked a critical rail crossing preventing any coal from getting to the port for over six hours. In total 2,000 people took part in the action shutting down the world’s largest coal port for a day, preventing the shipment of almost 2 megatonnes of coal during the protest. In Western Australia, over 150 occupied the headquarters of BP & Chevron, blockading a busy intersection in front, with two arrests.
May 9-14: Brazil
A series of anti-fracking events led up to over 300 people marching through the streets of Uruamama, in the state of Paraná, towards the City Hall where a Bill to ban fracking in this city was being voted. In the presence of the marchers, the city councilors unanimously agreed to declare Umarama fracking free. Then on the 14th, over 500 people marched on the highway used to deliver coal to a power plant in Ceará. The march included people from 20 municipalities, four Indigenous ethnic groups (Anacé, Pitaguary, Tapeba and Tremembé), fishermen and residents of the coastal zone, farmers and residents of the inner cities severely affected by drought.
May 10-14: Nigeria
A coalition of climate justice organisations gathered with representatives of oil communities at Oloibiri, the site of the first oil well in Nigeria, as well as at Ogoni and Ibeno to emphasize fossil fuel’s role in climate change, call an end to the Nigerian economic dependence on oil and to reduce adverse effects of climate change. The activists also demanded an end to the extreme pollution caused by endless oil spills and toxic dumps in the Niger Delta. At the concluding action at Ibeno, fisherfolks called for a halt to oil extraction, insisting that fish is far more valuable than crude oil.
May 11-15: Indonesia
More than 3,500 participants marched in Jakarta carrying banners with slogans such as ‘Stop Dirty Energy Investments’ and ‘Stop Pollution, Stop Using Coal’, as they called for President Joko Widodo to move Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest coal producers, away from coal and embrace renewable energy. On 15 May, 12 Greenpeace activists stopped operations at the Cirebon Coal Power Plant for 12 hours, the activists unfurled banners saying ‘Quit Coal’ and ‘Clean Energy, Clean Air’ from both cranes supplying the coal terminal.
May 12-14: South Africa
Affected communities represented by 200 people including farmers and private citizens gathered to speak about the daily realities of living in a town with the most polluted air in the world at Emalahleni, which directly translated means “place of coal.” A picket of 45 people was organized outside Medupi and Exxaro coal mine in Lephalale, which will be one of the world’s biggest coal-power stations. Also 400 participants joined the National Bread March to protest the increasing cost of food as a consequence of the severe drought the country is suffering. Finally, despite efforts by the Guptas to shut down a mass action at their residence – hundreds of people rallied at the nearby Zoo Lake to speak out about corrupt mining deals, and 15 people delivered a coffin of coal to the doorsteps of the Gupta residence.
May 13-15: Germany
More than 3500 activists from all over Europe shut down the opencast coal mine Welzow-Süd in the Lusatia coal fields. While hundreds entered the mine, others blocked coal trains and conveyor belts transporting coal to the power plants. Around 300 people continued the blockade overnight. On 14 May another 2000 activists cut off coal power plant Schwarze Pumpe from all coal supplies. Around 120 were arrested and released the next day. Five occupations continued over another night. After the power plant had been blocked for more than 48 hours, the activists stopped the blockade on Sunday, May 15th.
May 14: Canada
Over 800 people took action to surround the Kinder Morgan facility on the Salish Coast. On the land, activists locked messages onto the gates of the facility, staged a sit-in and painted a giant mural. On the water a massive kayak flotilla swarmed the pipeline’s tanker terminal.
May 14: Ecuador
The group Yasunidos took over close to 500 hectares destined to built an oil refinery called Refinería del Pacífico, where Ecuador plans to process the oil extracted at the Yasuní National Park. Yasunidos planted 1 tree in the area, and managed to stay in the premise for about three hours after peacefully passing through the security control. Since the action, members of the Yasunidos have been facing harassment and public discredit on behalf of Correa’s government and those backing the fossil project.
May 15: Turkey
Community leaders, led two thousand people in Aliağa in a march through to a coal waste site and called for the stopping of four fossil fuel projects in the surrounding area. The activists made a human chain and spelled out the word “Stop” (“Dur” in Turkish).
Reaction to the actions:
Payal Parekh, 350.org Programme Director: “As global temperatures continue to rise, so are the people. Across continents people are challenging the status quo by pushing the boundaries of conventional protest to demand fossil fuels are kept in the ground. Ordinary people are joining the fight for our collective survival as communities worldwide are experiencing first hand the consequences of climate change and the damage inflicted by the fossil fuel industry. It’s up to us to break free from fossil fuels and accelerate the shift towards a just transition to 100% renewable energy.”
Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org: “This is the hottest year we’ve ever measured, and so it is remarkably comforting to see people rising up at every point of the compass to insist on change.”
Yeb Saño Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia: “In our fight against fossil fuels, Southeast Asia is a major battleground and we cannot afford to cede to those who think of nothing but profit instead of people, and plunder instead of protecting the environment. As our communities rise against this addiction to coal, we hope to inspire massive civil participation all over the planet. Break Free is a breath of hope for all communities who are standing up to the fossil fuel industry’s relentless expansion despite climate change.”
Hannah Eichberger, Ende Gelände (Here And No Further), grassroots anti-coal alliance: “Every new tonne of coal that is dug up is one too many. We are hitting the emergency brakes now. We won’t leave climate action to governments and corporations any longer. We are taking matters into our own hands now.”
Nnimmo Bassey, Nigerian activist from the Health of Mother Earth Foundation: “Breaking free from fossil fuels is a vote for life and for the planet. The Paris Agreement signed by world leaders ignored the fact that burning fossil fuels is the major culprit in global warming. In these actions the peoples of the world will insist that we must come clean of the fossil fuels addiction.”
Naomi Klein, award winning journalist/author: “The global climate justice movement is rising fast. But so are the oceans. So are global temperatures. This is a race against time. Our movement is stronger than ever, but to beat the odds, we have to grow stronger.”
Wael Hmaidan, Director of Climate Action Network: “People power in our cities, in our villages and on the frontlines of climate change have brought us to a point where we have a global climate deal – but we do not stop now, we need more action and faster. Civil society is set to rise up again, to fight for our societies to break free from fossil fuels, to propel them even faster towards a just future powered by 100% renewable energy.”
In December 2015, several years of vigorous and intense campaigns by thousands of climate activists across all the continents of the world, resulted in the Paris Climate Agreement, a deal agreed to by 193 countries, admitting the imminent danger of climate change and the need for urgent actions to be taken to stem the tide of global warming. Although some saw the deal as a major milestone – given previous history of foot dragging and outright denial of climate change- there were no explicit commitments by the parties detailing what actions needed to be taken to check climate change.
Campaigners in Ibeno, Akwa Ibom State
In response to this reality of inaction, climate activists and campaigners all over the world came to the conclusion that despite this agreement, world leaders will not act to check climate change unless they are pushed to do so. This began the Break Free from Fossil Fuel movement. Between the 4th and 15th of May 2016, thousands of climate activists around the world embarked on a wide series of actions ranging from street walks to shutting down coal mines and disrupting fossil fuel extraction activities.
In Nigeria, the events kicked off on the 10th of May 2016 in Oloibiri, Bayelsa state, famous for being the first place Nigeria extracted crude oil from. Of course the oil wells in Oloibiri have long since gone dry, but the residue of many years of pollution, the conflict and social dislocation remains with the people. For a place where millions of petro dollars has been extracted, Oloibiri is a sad reminder of what happens when the oil wells run dry. In a town hall meeting and rally symbolically held at the first well-head, various speakers from the Oloibiri community reflected on the neglect which their community has suffered despite contributing so significantly to the Nigerian economy in the past.
Chief Nengi James a community leader in Bayelsa said: “Since 1956, this land has been bleeding. They have drained it and sapped every nutrient from it. Look around you; does this look like a place where so much money has been taken from? Aside from these decadent well -heads that reminds us of what we once had, and the low farm yields on account of their constant pollution, we have nothing to show for oil. Oil didn’t bring better schools, it didn’t bring better healthcare, and it didn’t bring greater peace. It brought us conflict, poverty and pollution. If we could go back to 1956, nobody will take any crude oil from here; we will ask them to leave us in peace.”
On the 12th of May 2016, the Break Free from Fossil campaign in Nigeria arrived Bori, the traditional headquarters of the Ogoni nation, another community that wishes the oil business had never started in its domain. Addressing hundreds of community people, the representative of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) reiterated the need to clean up the Ogoni environment and the Niger Delta.
“We have been told that the cleanup will begin in a matter of weeks, we are waiting and hoping that this time it actually happens. The effect of oil extraction has been devastating for our people. Our water, land and air have all been terribly polluted, we can’t plant or fish anymore, we drink oil poisoned water. Our environment is gone,” said Bariala Kpalap, PRO of MOSOP.
“For us in Ogoni land, we made up our minds 23 years ago to leave the oil in the ground. We sacked Shell from our land because we could no longer stand the pollution, poverty and conflict their extraction was causing. We since came to the conclusion that oil was useless to us. You can be assured that this land will never again allow itself to be bled in the name of crude oil extraction,” said Celestine AkpoBari of the Ogoni Solidarity Forum.
Speaking further, Nnimmo Bassey of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) said: “The Ogoni experience tells the very sad tale of fossil exploitation in all its ugliness. The pollution, the poverty, the deaths, the carnage and displacement are simply unprecedented. When the business started, the Ogonis thought it was oil, but it turned out to be blood.”
The campaign finale on the 14th of May 2016 took place at Ibeno in Akwa Ibom state where Mobil operates an offshore oil field from where it regularly pollutes the water and air of the community people. In a town hall meeting as part of the Break Free from Fossil Fuel campaign, a fisherman lamented that fishing which was once the pride of the community had become non lucrative. Reaching for his bag, he produced a handful of sea weed, saying: “This is all our nets catch now. The fishes are all gone; they don’t like water with crude oil in it.”
Different speakers at the event lamented the declined livelihood of the community on account of oil pollution. According to a women leader, “we have no benefit from crude oil. It is a curse to us, we want it to be left in the ground so the fishes can return and we can resume our lives”.
Placard-carrying campaigners matched past the fenced and heavily guarded compound of multi-national Mobil, where staff and foreign expatriates live in affluence away from their poverty stricken neighbors all around, and ended at the ocean banks. Campaigners said prayers and dipped their fingers in the water in the hope that the curse of oil will be lifted.
“This is the start of a major campaign which will take local and international dimensions. We will continue the campaign everywhere. We will do it both physically and virtually. This call to keep the oil in the ground will keep sounding from every corner,” said Ken Henshaw of Social Action.
According to Nnimmo Bassey of HOMEF, “Oil has put Nigeria in a very bad state today. We are demanding an urgent transition and exit from the dirty oil age. In our energy generation, we should no longer be talking of gas plants, the focus should be on renewable energy, water, wind and solar. The Earth needs to heal. This is the minimum that we must realize as the world moves to catastrophic climate chaos.”
