Deforestation, Mining and Criminal Fiefdoms
Ecological destruction is rarely accidental. It is often enabled by policies that privilege short-term economic gains over long-term public welfare; by weak environmental governance, inadequate regulation, and the persis…
Halting the Disastrous Exploitation of the Niger Delta
Intergenerational justice demands that we wake up and perform our duties for generations yet unborn. It is our duty to see the future, eliminate the perils erected by altars of capital and halt the perpetuation of coloni…
Straight from the Strait of Hormuz
No matter the reason for warfare the environment and the innocent end up bearing the brunt of the inevitable destruction. This fact is clearly illustrated by the several ongoing smoldering and open conflicts that have le…
The Force and the Fire at COP30
The opening and closing of COP30 were marked by significant events. Not about climate ambition or high sounding speeches but by unplanned events. First was the determined entry into the COP venue by indigenous protesters…
Ogonize and Yasunize!
As a working definition we see Ogonize and Yasunize to mean “a call for the protection of territories with natural or cultural diversity threatened by serious environmental impacts such as from oil and gas extraction, op…
Needed Socioecological Cohesion
The fabric of the social and environmental conditions of Nigeria are literally stretched to the limit. The threats emanate from local and global strands of the polycrisis wracking the globe. Exploitation, displacements, …
Yasunize and Ogonize the World
On this Earth Day, we call on all people, all movements, and all communities of conscience to rise up and reclaim power from the toxic and exploitative grip of extractive forces that continue to assault peoples, communit…
Our Ocean and Human Rights
Today we are considering the state of our ocean—not as a commodity to be exploited, but as a common good that sustains life, livelihoods, our culture and spirituality. Our ocean is under siege, and the communities that d…
COP29 and Climate Geopolitics
As COP29 dragged into overtime the expected climate finance target of at least $1.3 trillions of dollars shrunk to an offer of $250 billion per year from 2035. After much bickering the rich countries decided to rai…
Privatized and Sacrificed
The Niger Delta is a privatized zone by the simple reason that the international oil companies have since appropriated it as a wasteland suited only for dumping of toxic wastes, oil spills, gas flares and produced water.…
Extractivism and Cultural Resistance
The challenges confronting our communities and peoples generally are interconnected. They are often analyzed and presented as though they operate in silos. The reality is that they operate in intricately connected webs a…
COP28 and the Evasion of Climate Justice
The foundation for voluntary emissions cut by nations was laid in the Copenhagen Accord (2009) and consolidated in the Paris Agreement (2015) under what is known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). Th…
Extractivism’s Ecological Time Bombs
Extractivism is deeply linked to ecological damage and negation of human rights Ecological damage because it disrupts ecosystems, from the simple case of conversion of land use to the fragmentation of biodiver…
Will COP28 Play With Fire?
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has again issued an Emissions Gap Report that underscores the fact that the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the linchpin of the Paris agreement is not…
Environmental History of Nigeria 101
Introduction The environmental history of Nigeria unfortunately is not a story filled with the rich biodiverse tropical rainforests of the Niger Delta or the cascading rich vegetation of the Sahel savanna but rather one …
