Saraki, Wike Meet In Port Harcourt

bibing

Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki will tomorrow, Monday, November 9, 2015, declare open the 2015 Annual National Environmental Consultation of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), which will hold in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on November 9, 2015.

Also expected at one-day conference, which has the theme: “Extractives and Energy Transition: Roadmap for Zero-Carbon Development in Nigeria”, is Rivers State Governor, Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike.

A release signed by Philip Jakpor, head of Media, ERA/FoEN, and made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt, said the conference will also attract critical stakeholders, experts and community people in the Niger Delta region, who will have robust discussions on energy sustainability, energy efficiency and how to utilize advanced technologies to attain zero-carbon development.

Jakpor said, “Hydrocarbon perhaps has become the quintessential product driving our existence. Almost all human activity is either directly or indirectly powered by fossil energy. The over- dependence on fossil fuel easily explains why earlier discussions about alternatives or energy transition were greeted with cynicism and rejection.

“Unfortunately, from extraction to usage, fossil fuel bequeaths conflicts, human rights abuses, environmental despoliation, and destruction of local livelihoods. It is not renewable and as such, a reckless and unsustainable use of earth’s gift.

“On the global perspective, the fossil fuel driven world has led to environmental disasters. Sea levels are on the rise, extreme weather conditions, floods, heat wave etc. are on the increase. More and more people are being displaced as a result of climate induced disasters.

“In Nigeria’s Niger Delta, oil multinationals have left the environment wrecked and defiled. Local livelihoods are destroyed, rights abuse cases are on the increase. The region is bedeviled with perennial resource related conflicts.

“The question is whether a low carbon or zero carbon development is possible? Or, put in another way, whether development can even be driven by renewable energy. The 2015 NEC will provide the platform to interrogate the discussion around impact of extractives, energy transition both at the global and national context.”

Source: Leadership