The last post under the series
attempted to summarize what to expect, going forward after the Rio+ 20
conference. That was the official version because while, Brazil played host to
various heads of state, government officials
and high level representatives, who deliberated and reached various accords and
resolutions towards a greener earth, some other “stakeholders” were present and
had their own opinions, which had to be heard and were voiced, maybe not in the
best possible of ways. They occupied!
It is no longer news that a protest of sort was staged during the Rio+ 20 conference. This protest was led and held by a coalition of NGOs, civil societies, bloggers etc. Searching the internet, I came across a document called People’s Petition, (link is below) which encapsulates some of the ideas and notions behind the protest. Also, below are various links to interesting views and reports of and about the protests.
In Nigeria, the stirrings started when it became news that the president of the nation attended the conference with a delegation of one hundred and sixteen (116) people. Now, it is uncertain if this is true or not as no verifiable source has come forward to lay claim to this fact of the President travelling with sixty three (63) officials from the Ministries of Environment, Foreign Affairs, National Planning and Petroleum Resources, amongst governors, personal aides etc.
While the strong Nigerian delegation might have being impressive, and also considering “…President Jonathan rose to the occasion and spoke passionately, first, about Nigeria’s role in confronting the massive ecological challenges posed by the shrinking of Lake Chad and secondly, about rapid desertification...”, Nigerians were not happy at all! The delegation left the country hours after violence and counter violence had reportedly resulted in over seventy four (74) dead and hundreds injured in the northern part of the country.
“…On Lake Chad, Nigeria is leading the initiative to re-channel the Ubangi River in Central Africa into the Chad Basin under the Inter-Basin Water Transfer scheme. Nigeria has already provided USD5million out of the USD6million required for the feasibility study. In the same manner, to forestall desertification, Nigeria is at the forefront of the Great Green Wall for Sahara Initiative which is an integrated approach to check desertification and depletion of natural resource in the Sahel...”
Despite these strides by Nigeria in global environmental issues, Nigeria still has a lot to deal with. The grievances of the people are many as evidenced by “…I speak for the Nigerian people. The President of Nigeria speaks for the oil companies and private interests…the Nigerian President represents the cabal. You don’t have to be in Rio to make change happen…you can start in Nigeria if you really wanted change…”
While I am quite unsure as to whom represented Nigeria amongst the protesters, what I am sure of is, they were quite a number of protesters from other countries too, who all came together and occupied. An impromptu protest took place at the official venue of the conference. There were speeches, songs and a ritual tearing of the official UN negotiating text by the protesters. The UN paper “the future we want” was rejected and labeled the “the future we bought”.
“…the Rio+20 final document was marked by general frustration, with many voices denouncing its lack of ambition, urgency, and real commitment to the environment. While leaders of nation-states paid lip service to the document, members of civil society and NGOs threatened to remove their support to the final statement...” This, led to the draft of the People’s Petition, amongst others which include a monitoring body made up of youth groups and CSOs.
The people have
spoken, and have done so with a loud voice from all over the globe. It is now
left to the government, multinationals and all concerned to take heed, as we
jointly protect the environment, creating the future WE want and safeguarding
it for generations yet unborn.
Sources
4.
azeenarh.wordpress.com
5.
www.ynaija.com
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