Adopt Ecocide as International Crime, Environmentalist Urges

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

A renowned environmentalist and Executive Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) Rev. Nnimmo Bassey, has harped on the need to adopt ecocide as an international crime to ensure accountability for heinous ecological crimes.

Ecocide is a destruction of the natural environment by deliberate or negligent human action.

In his speech to mark the 2022 World Environment Day, Bassey stated that humans must wake up from the futile dream that the earth can be recklessly exploited without dire consequences.

He stressed that this year’s World Environment Day theme would remind everyone of the need to understand that the generous gifts of nature must be handled with gratitude and care.

“We are living witnesses of the crimes committed in mining and oil fields as well as those committed in conflict zones. We must protect our biodiversity, reject species eroding genetic modifications of all sorts and support harmonious relationships with nature.

“As we celebrate the World Environment Day, we urge everyone to be eco-defenders, secure the environment and by this secure our well-being and that of future generations. Let us care for the earth as it is our mother, not our enemy.”

Speaking further, the environmentalist noted “the need to create transformative changes in our policies and choices to live sustainably in harmony with nature, with the full understanding that the planet is our only home and that her resources are finite.”

He regretted that “at a time when we should check the exploitation of natural ecosystems, and wasteful consumption, the world is rather investing in militarisation, warfare and destruction.”