The Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) at its Annual General Meeting and Retreat held in Oghara, Delta State from February 8 to 12 , evaluated current events in the country and globally as they relate to environmental justice and climate change.

The meeting attended by ERA/FoEN Board, Management, Staff, community campaigners on the platform of Host Communities Network (HoCoN), students and volunteers, expressed dissatisfaction over the state of the Nigerian environment.

Participants at the meeting:

1. Accused the Federal Government of double standards because it is yet to demonstrate commitment to ending gas flaring in the Niger Delta going by the endless shift in flare-out dates while it is professing a commitment to climate change mitigation and adaptation;
2. Observed that reckless and illegal logging in what remains of our remaining natural forests poses a grave threat to livelihoods and harmony in the impacted communities, and a major contributor to climate change;
3. Unequivocally reject the Copenhagen Accord that is seeking the treatment of climate change with kid gloves. The outcome of the Copenhagen Talks last December falls totally short of the expectations of impacted nations of the global South and is a toxic brew for the vulnerable peoples who are the most impacted.

Participants found as shocking the decision of the African Union (AU) and the Nigerian government to back the Copenhagen Accord and contrary to the position of their citizens who were neither consulted nor considered before the ratification of the accord.
In view of the above, the meeting strongly recommends:

• Immediate end to gas flaring in the Niger Delta and appropriate penalties for defaulting companies that will include withdrawal of their operational license;
• An embracing of a post petroleum economy that will ensure that all new oil finds are left in the soil, and a halt to new oil exploration and bidding for allocation of new oil and gas or bitumen blocs;
• As electoral campaigns build up towards 2011, environmental concerns will become a deciding factor seeing that in the past little or nothing has been said in this regard.