Environment

UK Accused Of Ignoring Plight Of Green Activists In Afghanistan

UK accused of ignoring plight of green activists in Afghanistan

Environmental campaigners who worked with UK officials fear for their lives after receiving death threats

The UK government has been accused of ignoring the plight of three environmental activists from Afghanistan who worked with British officials to mitigate the damaging impact of climate change on their country before the Taliban takeover.

The campaigners, who have received credible threats to their lives, do not know the fate of one of their colleagues who was detained by the Taliban.

The three were employed via Oxford Policy Management, an international development consulting firm, to carry out work for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on climate change. They are now in hiding.

Repeated letters and emails to the FCDO have gone unanswered along with applications to the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy scheme (Arap).

One of the climate activists, Mohammed, who spoke from his hiding place in Kabul, said he feared the Taliban were closing in.

“Sometimes I think I’ll just go and surrender to the Taliban so they can kill me and it will all be over,” he said. “It is hard to explain to my young son why I cannot take him to the park. We have begged the UK government to rescue us but so far our pleas have been ignored.”

Greta Thunberg tweeted an appeal to help environmental activists from Fridays for Future get out of Afghanistan.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, of the Taliban’s cultural commission, pledged to work with the global community to fight issues such as climate change in an interview with Newsweek. However, Mohammed said he did not believe the Taliban were committed to tackling the climate emergency.

“So far the Taliban has not appointed a minister for the environment. They believe the climate crisis is all arranged by Allah and humans should not intervene,” he said.

While the Taliban have previously made pro-environment statements such as one in 2017 urging people to go out and plant trees to beautify the planet, the group has also been implicated in illegal logging, planting landmines in pomegranate orchards and taxing opium poppy farmers.

While Afghanistan is responsible for only 0.03% of global emissions, the country is severely affected by climate change.

The economy is heavily dependent on farming with up to 85% of Afghans engaged in agriculture, growing crops such as wheat, potatoes and various fruits. The country has been badly affected by drought, flash floods and deforestation. Opium poppies are favoured by some farmers because they are drought-resistant and generate reliable income.

Afghanistan has many minerals that could assist with tackling climate change. Along with copper, iron, gold and cobalt, it has lithium that is needed to manufacture batteries for use in electric cars and other technology that uses renewable energy. However, extracting these minerals is challenging and unlikely to happen imminently.

The environmental activists say that as each hour passes the risk of the Taliban finding where they are hiding increases.

“The Taliban are too brutal,” said Mohammed. “They are lying to the media when they say they have changed for the better. They are even more brutal than before. One of our colleagues was contacted by the Taliban before they took over Kabul. He was told: ‘We have a list of all your colleagues who worked with the infidels. We will look for you and we will find you.’ Then he started naming our colleagues.”

In a letter dated 1 September to Dominic Raab, who was then foreign secretary, Oxford Policy Management wrote that the three climate change campaigners who had worked with the FCDO “are at imminent threat having already received several threats on their lives”. To date, no reply has been received.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK’s evacuation operation helped over 15,000 people to safety including British nationals, Afghan interpreters and other vulnerable people. The Afghan citizens’ resettlement scheme will provide protection for people at risk and identified as in need. It is one of the UK’s most ambitious resettlement schemes ever and will welcome 5,000 Afghans in the first year and 20,000 over the coming years.”

Environment

Maiduguri flood is an unprecedented incident- NEMA

Aerial view shows houses submerged under water in Maiduguri on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Audu MARTE / AFP)

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has described Tuesday’s flash flood in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital as an unprecedented incident.

Flood water from an overflowing dam destroyed thousands of homes in the Northeastern Nigeria city, with emergency officials fearing the situation could get worse.

“It is an unprecedented incident,” NEMA spokesman Ezekiel Manzo told AFP on Tuesday. “Some of the central parts of the city that have not witnessed flood in so many years are witnessing it today.”

A general view of flood water surrounding a building in Maiduguri on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Audu MARTE / AFP)
Thousands of homes have been submerged by the rapid rise of waters after the rupture of the Alau dam on the Ngadda River, 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Maiduguri.

“The last three days have over 150,000 individuals with over 23,000 households affected,” said NEMA zonal coordinator Surajo Garba.

But with more locations being hit, “we are sure the figure will be much over 200,000 individuals,” Garba forecast.

“The flood, which began over the weekend and worsened in the following days, was the direct result of excess water from the Alau Dam,” said Nigeria’s Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who hails from Maiduguri as he visited the area.

“The collapse of the spillways unleashed a significant surge of water downstream, causing widespread flooding in the surrounding communities,” added Shettima.

The flood also inundated the city’s post office and main zoo, with authorities warning that “deadly animals has been washed away into our communities (sic).”

Social media showed pictures of an ostrich which had supposedly escaped from the facility wandering the streets of the city.

Manzo said forecasts did not prepare the emergency workers for the extent of the flooding, while also blaming the impact of climate change for the “disaster”.

He told AFP that there were deaths as a result of the incident but declined to give a specific number as rescue workers continue rescue operations in the affected areas.

Environment

Roads, houses submerged, many displaced as flood ravages Maiduguri

Major roads, houses, and shops in Maiduguri metropolis, the Borno State capital, and parts of the Jere Local Government Area have been submerged by floodwaters.

The Shehu’s Palace, the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, and Sanda Kyarimi Park Zoo were some of the public infrastructure submerged by flood.

A prison wall located along the Custom area was broken by flood as some inmates allegedly drowned while several others escaped for their lives.

Major roads within the state capital including the Post-Office Roundabout which links major locations in the capital are flooded thereby cutting off vehicular movement within the metropolis.

The Abbaganaram, Custom Road along which the flooded prison is located, Tashan Bama, Custom Road, Monday Market, Gamboru Market Custom Area, Cattle Market in old Maiduguri, Gwange area, Lagos Street are all communities affected by the flood.

The Maiduguri Zoo’s popularity known as Sanda Kyarimi Zoo Park was flooded too. The General Manager of the zoo, Ali Abatcha, said 80% of the animals in the zoo have been killed by the flood while the others have escaped into the city capital.

Thousands of residents living along waterways and flood-prone areas have been displaced, the majority of whom are women and children.

Several shop owners and small-scale businesses are also affected by the flood.

Touring across safer areas within Maiduguri, thousands of women and children are relocating along with their belongings.

Many of them are seen taking refuge under trees at the major roads.

Apart from large volume rainfall being experienced this year, the flood, according to multiple sources, is a result of leakage of the bank of Alo Dam, a major source of water supply to Maiduguri which draws its source from River Ngadda in Cameroon and the Lake Chad.

Environment

FG issues licence to construct floating LNG plant

The Federal Government has issued a licence to construct (LCT) Nigeria’s pioneering floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility to UTM FLNG Limited.

This marks a giant leap in the country’s energy sector.

The issuance of the LTC by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) last Friday was part of a major fulfillment of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s assurance in July, last year, to give necessary support to the Nigerian firm to actualise the landmark gas project.

The President, while hosting the management of the company and its foreign partners at the State House in Abuja, pledged to remove all impediments to the timely completion of the project.

The UTM FLNG plant, which is located offshore Akwa Ibom State, is expected to be completed and inaugurated in 2028 with gas production projected to begin the following year.

The plant, with a capacity of 2.8 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), will produce LNG, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and condensate from re-injected gas at the OML 104 Yoho Field.

The project represents a significant step forward in Nigeria’s energy sector, enhancing the country’s ability to harness its untapped 209 trillion cubic feet of natural gas for both export and domestic consumption.

It is expected to leapfrog the national economy by ensuring availability of gas at lower cost, generate massive employment and multi-million naira business opportunities for Nigerians and other nationals.

The presentation of the licence to the company at the NMDPRA headquarters at the weekend in Abuja was witnessed by key industry players, including the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo.