Ecology school stakeholders seek end to gas flaring

Stakeholders at the just concluded School of Ecology on Climate Justice held by Health of Mother Earth Foundation have demanded that gas flaring be stopped in Nigeria, saying there should be no more shifting of the flare-out deadline.

They insisted that polluters must be made to pay commercial value of gas as an encouragement to halt bad behaviour.

This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the HOMEF 3-day School of Ecology on Climate Justice held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

The scholars, who interrogated issues of climate change, the impacts, major contributors, politics, false solutions and way forward for climate justice, noted that climate change impacts are now more evident than ever.

“A major contributing factor is the green-house gases emission from the oil sector. Nigeria should quickly begin a just transition from the dependence on fossil fuel energy,” they noted.

While noting that a major reason Nigeria doesn’t have appropriate climate action is the influence of corporate interests, the stakeholders said to achieve climate justice “we must change our system – our social and political relations.”

“The world is moving away from fossil fuel energy to clean energy technologies and the demand for fossil fuels is reducing. Nigeria must quickly take steps towards a renewable energy future,” they also said.

The communiqué further said “We must demand climate change solutions that address the root of climate change and reject all false solutions, including market based ones such as REDD+, Carbon Trading, Carbon Capture, Geoengineering and Genetic Engineering masked as climate smart agriculture.

“We should promote and fundamentally shift towards agroecology to ensure resilience to the impacts of climate change and the stabilization of the climate by reducing CO2 emissions in the atmosphere.”