Environmental Philosophy and Suffering in the Niger Delta

Abstract

The environmental suffering, violence, and degradation that the Niger Delta is undergoing have remained unabated. There is no gainsaying the truth that the Niger Delta is suffering. There is also the reality that much of the sufferings and abuses to which the Niger Delta peoples and its environment are subjected are manmade, avoidable and unjustified. The environmental problems that have pervaded the Niger Delta include oil spillage, gas flaring, corporate deforestation, poverty, loss of biodiversity, etc. Oil companies in their prospect for oil and gas resources have also caused a lot of human rights violations and deprived people of their right to water, a healthy environment, livelihood, indigenous ancestral sites, etc. Environmental philosophy, this paper argues using the critical analytic method, can play a vital role in ameliorating environmental suffering and degradation in the Niger Delta. The concerns of environmental philosophy, especially indigenous environmental philosophies can help re-vision the human-earth relationship. The paper concludes that philosophy as a discipline that began from wonder about nature must restore that idea by wondering afresh about the natural environment of the Niger Delta with the aim of restoring a friendly relationship with the earth.

Keywords: Environmental philosophy, environmental suffering, Niger Delta, oil, gas, and human rights