Dr. Nnimmo Bassey | File Image
.Launch The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism
‘While Western countries’ climate agenda is dominated by expressions such as renewable energy, clean technologies, and green transition, communities in the Global South who are currently facing the worst effects of the climate crisis are also exposed to the burdens of an unjust energy transition’
By Valentine Amanze
Worldwide environmentalists have cautioned the developing countries against the dangers of politics of green colonialism via the renewable energy transition.
Nigerian Dr. Nnimmo Bassey; Prof Miriam Lang (Ecuador); Ibrahima Thiam (Senegal); Breno Bringel (Brazil); Roland Ngam (South Africa) among others raised the alarm at the launch of the book, “The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism,” in Lagos on Saturday June, 22, 2024.
The Executive Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, warned against embracing the climate solutions coming from the global North.
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His wors: “Beneath the sustainability branding, these climate solutions are leading to new environmental injustices and green colonialism.”
Bassey explained that the green growth and clean energy plans of the global North require the large-scale extraction of strategic minerals from the global South.
Collaborating the views of Bassey, Prof Lang called for climate justice, while advocating for the exploration of alternative pathways toward a liveable and globally just future for all.
Besides, all the environmentalists acknowledged that there was on-going injustices and imbalance which include among others, the exploitation of “unlimited resources’’ in the run for transitioning to non-fossil fuel sources of energy.
They also agreed that: “Imposition of conservation lands to develop carbon market-related projects.
“Converting lands into toxic landfills of electronic waste.
“Projecting an asymmetric market of renewable technology in which countries in the Global South pay a higher price.”
They however said that all their submissions had something in common – A narrative that disregards people’s connection to their places, and to their land.
“A bond that defines people’s survival, spirituality, language, and legacy,” they said.
Meanwhil, the book launch revealed that: “While Western countries’ climate agenda is dominated by expressions such as renewable energy, clean technologies, and green transition, communities in the Global South who are currently facing the worst effects of the climate crisis are also exposed to the burdens of an unjust energy transition.”
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