Gas Flaring
Fire exhibition highlights the illegal and harmful practice of ‘gas flaring’
Amnesty International UK and Friends of the Earth Scotland
TIME Magazine’s Hero of the Environment 2009, Nnimmo Bassey, will speak about environmental racism and climate justice at a public event in Edinburgh on Saturday 21 November.
Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of Friends of the Earth International and Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria, said:
“Gas flares are nothing short of crimes against humanity. They roast the skies, kill crops and poison the air. These evil gas stacks pump up greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, impacting the climate , placing everyone at risk. Gas flares go on because it is cheap to kill, as long as profits keep on the rise. That is the logic of Shell, Chevron and their cohorts.”
“Oil, the Environment and Human Rights” is a joint event between Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth Scotland highlighting the ongoing degradation of the Niger Delta and its people due to the illegal and exploitative practices of multinational oil companies.
The Niger Delta is one of the world’s 10 most important wetland and coastal marine ecosystems and is home to about 31 million people. Its huge oil deposits have been extracted for years by the Nigerian government and multinational oil companies – it is estimated that oil has generated an estimated $600 billion since the 1960s. However, the majority of the Niger Delta population lives in extreme poverty without clean water or adequate health care. Widespread pollution in the Niger Delta through oil spills, waste dumping, and gas flaring – an illegal and harmful practice of burning natural gas that is released when oil is extracted from the ground – is damaging people’s health, destroying livelihoods and contributing to violent conflict.
John Watson, Programme Director for Amnesty International in Scotland said:
“The level of exploitation and abuse suffered by the people of the Niger Delta at the hands of multi-million oil companies is staggering. They are forced to drink polluted water, eat contaminated food and live off poisoned land whilst these companies sit back and enjoy their profits. They are suffering human rights abuses on a massive scale with any hope of justice denied by a government that cannot – or will not – bring these companies to account.”
Event Details:
‘Oil, the Environment and Human Rights’
Saturday 21st November – 14:30 – 16:30
Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace Edinburgh, EH1 2JL
Chaired by environmental commentator Louise Batchelor, the event will also include an opportunity for discussion on the links between environmental and social justice in advance of the Scottish Government’s “Human Rights & Climate Change” conference on the 23rd of November.
The event is free but places are limited. For more information and to book places please go to http://www.humanrightsenvironment.org.uk
You should watch Lessons of Darkness: http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/entertainment/watch/v1410834Q8kYz4yD