In a renewed effort to tackle climate change risks and advance alternative livelihood schemes, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and leading environmental experts have called for a paradigm shift in policies to ensure caring for land and nature, protection for the earth and society in times of erosion of democracy.
The call was made at this year’s Right Livelihood College (RLC) lecture on Soil Not Oil (Earth Democracy) held at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Rivers State, delivered by the 1993 Right Livelihood Award Laureate, Vandana Shiva. The event was organized by UNIPORT in collaboration with HOMEF and 2010 Right Livelihood Award Laureate, Nnimmo Bassey.
RLC is a global capacity building initiative of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation. Founded in 2009, the RLC century aims to make knowledge of the laureates accessible to all and, by linking young scholars, academics and civil society organisations with the laureates, hopes to make their winning ideas succeed and multiply.
The university is the second institution in Africa and fifth in the world, to establish RLC and the laudable initiative will immensely benefit the students and young researchers in UNIPORT and increase the quality of education, while opening them to more international learning opportunities.
Notably, the lecture was to mark the UN International Year of the Soil and the decades long struggle against oil extraction in the Niger Delta. The UN has chosen 2015 as the International Year of the Soil with the aim of raising awareness about the importance of soil for human life, food security, climate change adaptation and sustainable development.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report assessing the environment of Ogoni found that, in over 40 locations tested, the soil is polluted with hydrocarbons up to a depth of five metres and that all the water bodies in Ogoni land are polluted, while some water contains benzene, a known carcinogen, at levels above World Health Organisation standards.
With oil spills occurring with a disturbing frequency of almost one a day, the soil and waters of the Niger Delta are being severely degraded, thus raising challenges for production of wholesome food,” said Bassey, Director of HOMEF. Continue reading…
