As the Health of Mother Earth Foundation marks its 10th year of activism on agroecology adoption and against environmental pollutions in Nigerian and Africa at large, the Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey, has called on the governments across the three levels to commit to issuing an annual State of Environment report that would lay out the situation of things in their territories.
This is even as he urged the government to support and promote food sovereignty including by adopting agroecology.
Welcoming delegates in Abuja at the conference to mark the ten year of the Foundation’s operations, Bassey recommended, ten different points to every African government to stop environmental degradation and achieve climate justice.
As part of his ten point, Bassey said the government must work toward ending destructive extraction no matter the appeal of capital and demand climate debt for centuries of ecological exploitation and harms, while requiring remediation, restoration of all degraded territories and paying reparations to direct victims or their heirs.
He called for the adoption and promotion of African cultural tools and philosophies for holistic tackling of ecological challenges and for the healing and wellbeing of our peoples and communities.
He said there should be promotion and provision of renewable energy in a democratized manner while citizen’s right to water as a public good, halt and reverse its privatization.
According to him: “Ten years ago, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) was birthed from a dream. It was a dream to have a think tank focused on approaching knowledge from the basis of diversity and built on a multiversity of co-learning and co-knowing tools.
“For ten years, with a team of vibrant and committed young activists, we have pursued knowledge and unearthed the roots of exploitation and despoliation of communities and nations on our continent. We have collaborated and stood with fishing, forest, farming, mining and oil field communities. We have worked as part of networks and movements for environmental and climate justice across the continent and the world at large. Ten years. And we are just starting!
Giving his keynote address, with the title, “Environmental Governance: Between Policy and Practice,” the Emir of Nasarawa, His Highness, Ibrahim Usman JIBRIL, said the issues of land degradation occasion by desertification and erosion are constantly been addressed through the activities of NEWMAP and GGW).
He said the most contentious Ogoni Cleanup is under way. “Recent development of year in year out flooding is becoming a national menace. There is therefore the need for more involvement of government at sub national level in Nigeria to give more priorities to environmental challenges in their areas of governance
