The West Africa Climate Justice has called on international corporations to pay African countries for environmental injustice and degradation.
The Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) Nnimmo Bassey made this call at the West Africa Climate Justice Roundtable in Abuja, stating that international cooperation owes Africa, Nigeria especially climate debt for the damages they have created in Nigeria oil states.
Bassey said, “These international corporations deal with fossil fuels, which are the extraction and burning of fossil fuels and the major driver of climate change, these changes are caused by humans which include corporations, and we are looking at climate justice, which means those who have created the problem should solve the problem of these environmental damages.
“Affected communities suffer terrible disease, the lands are useless and cannot be used for anything meaningful, not even farming, the waters are completely polluted and people cannot drink it. Yet these people just want to quietly go away without paying for the damages or cleaning and repairing the land. Again our reason for calling for financial justice.
Read Also: South-East Investment Company: A Renaissance for Igbo enterprise and Nigeria’s economic future
“They have to repair the lands, the water, put things in place before leaving Africa. They have to pay their debts. People have been exploited for centuries. Our environment is damaged at the pleasure of certain forces that are benefiting from it. They’re the ones promoting global warming, that is the climate debt we believe is being owed.”
The HOMEF boss also spoke on climate finance for the polluted countries, stating that polluting entities are unwilling to put funds on the table for climate finance.
“These finances are for those suffering from global warming. And so, we believe climate finance should not be a problem if the climate debt is recognised and paid for,” noting that it is going to be 30 years this year since the commencement of the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.