This article "Nigeria Ogoniland oil clean-up 'could take 30 years" (2011) strikes my attention because it seems to have serious problem there; may be it is not intense like what going on at Chernobyl, but seems equally to Sendai's nuclear power plant. This is also man-made disaster which our intellect and ability now cannot properly take care of, and people who receive consequences the most are not the one who creates it.
According to UN report, Oil spills problem which effect serious pollution in Nigeria's Ogoniland region need estimated one billion dollar and 25-30 years to solve. The problem has begun decades ago, but no one took a liability until recently; Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) already admits for a responsibility. The report said that Shell failed to "apply its own procedures in the control and maintenance of oilfield infrastructure" (¶ 14), and also said that local people have part creating polluting because they sabotaged pipelines in order to steal oil. The oil pollution ruined environment and livelihoods of nearby residences; water is highly polluted by carcinogen which is very dangerous substance, and fishing community can no longer find fish.
It is very sad to think that villages might receive very few benefits from having oil resource underneath their homeland while someone else like the oil company and us can have many from that oil, and even worse, their lives are ruined by this resource. An issue like this happens many times and seems to be normal. A conflict between a huge company with lots of money, which can get close to authority for having right to exploit natural resources, and villages who flight for preserving their lands, it is a classic plot which at the end of story we know who usually lose.
I think multinational company can be considered a beginning of this kind of problem. When the company make an investment in a certain country, it uses its own way of thinking (usually how to create high profit), having less care about social or cultural contexts which would create more problems. For example, we all know how traffic problem in Bangkok is, but many investments still build very tall building - at Sathron - Narathiward intersection , the most jammed, there is new office building going to open soon - which definitely will make more traffic problem. Who cares about me going to my english class late or a number of passengers will exceed BTS load, if a property company can gain a promising profit. Also, multinational company's business usually make people have less self-sufficiency and more consuming; unfair economic distribution, social problem, and in this case pollution are what multinational company can create
If we are people of Ogoniland region, what should we do to prevent the pollution. Tell officers to do their job, no, this is not going to be a good solution; in this oil spill article, there is an evidence of how authority cannot do things right, Shell had not given responsible for the problem for decades (¶ 20). I thing public power can help protecting natural resource and a way of living of community. Today, advanced information technology allows community having more power to negotiate with unfair authority and capitalist. We can see that many communities can win against capitalist, because they are able to tell more people about their problems and a big company does not want to be accused by public arguing. Local people can easily call lawyers or scholars for help, or even go on TV broadcasting to get wide interest.
In Thailand, Maemoh Lignite Mine locate at the north is a good example relating this issue. Local people' health is negatively affected by leaked lignite, but a reliable scientific evidence need more than 50 years to confirm a result. At that time, victims will not get judged compensations; they will all die before that. People now have to think that which is actually good for our living, may be self-sufficiency and not use too much natural resources will provide an answer which not only help us, but people from other country also.
References
Nigeria Ogoniland oil clean-up 'could take 30 years (2011, August 4). BBC News. Retrieved August 6, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14398659
I think part of the solution is to greatly raise the price of oil. The price should be high enough to pay the full cost of all the environmental and other damage done. This also seems to me to be the just solution because it would mean that the people who benefit from using oil would pay to cover the damage done.
ReplyDeleteThe current Thai government policy of subsidising the cost of oil is a very bad idea, it is not only bad for the Thai economy and Thai citizens, but it encourages wasteful and irresponsible use of oil. The price of gas should be much higher, and people who pollute should pay the full cost of the damage they cause, which they can pass on their buyers, so that in the end, the people who want and value the products are paying the right price for them, not an artificially low price that harms our environment and retards the economic development of our society.
I also think that the recent move to control the price of pork is immoral and bad for the economy, and therefore bad for the majority of Thai people. If pork is currently in shorter supply, the fair price should be higher than usual - that will, rightly, encourage people to produce more, which will naturally and justly lower the price again.