Nnimmo Bassey (m):
People in Africa are able to live with their environment. The natural
environment sustains their livelihoods. But when climate change impacts
on the natural environment and people cannot live and carry out their
activities to keep their level of survival, then of course they have to
move somewhere else.
HOST: Honored viewers, welcome to
Planet Earth: Our Loving Home. Africa is a continent of diverse beauty
and natural resources, but sadly this region is increasingly being
affected by global warming.
The once majestic Lake Chad, located
south of the Sahara Desert, which spanned 25,600 square kilometers in
the mid-20th century is now one-fifteenth its original size.
Severe
droughts and serious food shortages are currently being experienced by
millions of Africans, creating conflict among peoples. Africa’s average
temperature is rising quicker than the global average, with experts
projecting that this trend will cause even more devastating droughts,
further food insecurity as well as intense floods and storm surges.
In
today’s show, we will speak with a true environmental champion, Mr.
Nnimmo Bassey from Nigeria. For his role in helping Nigerians understand
and protect their environmental rights,he was named by the US news
publication TIME magazine as one of the 『Heroes of the Environment
2009.』
Nnimmo Bassey is chair of the highly respected non-profit
group Friends of the Earth International, which calls itself the world’s
largest grassroots environmental network.
Friends has two
million members in 77 nations. Mr. Bassey is also executive director of
Environmental Rights Action, also known as Friends of the Earth Nigeria,
an organization that addresses environmental human rights issues in
Nigeria.
He will share with us his perspectives on the
environmental conditions in Africa and discuss the relationship between
migration and unrest and climate change. In our conversation with Mr.
Bassey, he emphasized that many of the harsh consequences of global
warming that scientists repeatedly warn of are currently being seen on
the continent.
For more details on Friends of the Earth International, please visit
www.FOEI.org To learn more about Environmental Rights Action, please visit
www.ERAction.org