Focusing on the impact of human activities on climate change, this essay highlights the consensus on industrial production, agriculture, and energy generation as primary contributors to global warming. It references the United Nations' acknowledgment of human influence as the leading cause of climate change since the mid-20th century, emphasizing the long-term persistence of greenhouse gas concentrations. Additionally, it discusses findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which link human actions to alterations in the Earth's energy budget and atmospheric conditions.
Decades of oil exploitation in the Niger Delta have resulted in severe water and air pollution, exacerbating the region's existing vulnerabilities. In Nigeria, marked by weak democratic institutions and economic challenges, this environmental degradation has fueled discontent and violence against both the government and oil companies. The collaboration between these entities prioritizes profit over the rights and livelihoods of local communities, effectively marginalizing them from oil development initiatives and hindering their sustainable development.
Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Energy Sciences, grade: 1C, University
of Stirling (School of Arts and Humanities - Division of Law and Philosophy),
course: LLM International Energy Law and Policy, language: English, abstract:
In recent times, the European institutions have been increasingly recognizing,
on the one hand, the gravity of the environmental concerns related to energy
(in the steps of production, consumption, and waste management and disposal),
and, on the other hand, the importance of reducing the energy imports
dependence of the majority of the Member countries. These recognition has led
to remarkable legislation efforts, culminated in the enactment of the so-
called Third Energy Package, adopted in July 2009, which, while maintaining
the classic European Union approach based on liberalization and improvement of
competition, also embraced the new points of view of environment, consumer
protection and security of supply. As acknowledged by the EU itself, the most
ambitious points of its legislation instruments are those related to the so-
called 20-20-20 objectives to meet by 2020: reducing EU greenhouse gases (GHG)
emissions by 20% from 1990 levels, raising the shares of EU energy consumption
produced from renewable sources to 20%, improving the EU's energy efficiency
by 20%. The above-listed points are means to achieving a low-carbon energy
structured economy for the Internal European Market. From this starting point,
through a brief compared analysis between the Italian and German energy
factual and legal frameworks, it is possible to outline the main critical
points regarding not only the European energy policy goals, but, more broadly,
the ties between energy, economics, society, and the environment. The focus,
here, is on the most recent changes affecting the Italian and German nuclear
power sectors. For such purpose, after an overview of the countries' energy
backgrounds (indispensable to understand the nuclear developments in the light
also of the other energy resources), the likely future scenarios and the
possible alternatives to meet the EU goals will be discussed, on the basis of
a variety of sources.
Decades of irresponsible oil exploitation in the Niger Delta have caused a water and air pollution which does not have many comparisons anywhere else. In an already fragile country as Nigeria, characterised by weak democratic institutions and poor economic governance, this situation has led to increasing discontent and violence towards both the government and the oil multinationals. These two actors co-operate for the maximisation of oil profits and revenues while, at the same time, excluding local host communities from the participation in the oil development projects, preventing them from achieving a sustainable development, violating their human rights, and compromising their livelihoods. This book analyses the legal framework of Nigeria in the oil sector and the peculiarities of the country in order to provide a critical overview of the issues, demonstrating that the amendment of the domestic Acts dealing with the topic, as well as the remediation to the damages caused by oil multinationals, are no longer deferrable. The final aim is to suggest a pattern to sustainable oil development which, by means of applying the concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility, would help to quell the conflict, to improve the local people’s standards of life, and to make Nigeria emerge as a socio-environmentally responsible African resource-rich country.
