NGO standing in petroleum pollution litigation in Nigeria—Centre for Oil Pollution Watch v Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation

Author(s):  
Miriam Chinyere Anozie ◽  
Emmanuel Onyedi Wingate

Abstract Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been at the forefront of securing environmental justice for the people of Nigeria’s Niger Delta suffering the effects of pollution arising from petroleum exploitation. Standing constraints have, however, limited NGOs’ abilities to access the courts to prevent or remedy pollution. This article analyses the recent decision of Nigeria’s Supreme Court in Center for Oil Pollution Watch v Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). It finds that environmental NGOs, previously unable to institute action under existing public interest litigation procedures, can now institute action in their own rights to prevent or remedy environmental pollution in Nigeria.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Lei Xie ◽  
Lu Xu

Abstract Environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) emerged in China over the last decade amidst the growing focus on environmental issues and the increasing political need to bring greater public participation to the area. This article examines the current practice of EPIL by NGOs in order to understand the potential flaws and deficiencies of NGO participation in this relatively new field of environmental litigation. The article sets out by exploring EPIL as a legal pathway for the public to become involved in China's environmental governance. It then analyzes the legal provision of environmental litigation in China before critically examining several instances of EPIL initiated by NGOs between 2015 and 2019. The article finds that NGOs show weaknesses in their current EPIL practice, including in case selection and litigation risk assessment, but are willing to test and potentially expand the scope of EPIL into new areas of environmental protection such as noise pollution and renewable energy. It concludes that these weaknesses and strengths of NGO involvement in EPIL reflect the constantly evolving landscape of environmental governance and environmental litigation in China.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (02) ◽  
pp. 327-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Gao ◽  
Sean Whittaker

AbstractFormally adopted in 2012, environmental public interest litigation in China has expanded standing beyond individual rights by granting administrative authorities, procuratorates, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) the ability to initiate environmental public interest litigation (PIL). However, the aims of enhancing the enforcement of environmental regulation and the development of the ‘objective legality’ model through civil society have not been met. This is as a result of administrative authorities and procuratorates being granted standing, which inhibits NGOs from initiating their own PIL in line with the aims of the ‘objective legality’ model. In order to promote participation by civil society and its actors in environmental law enforcement, NGOs should be granted preferential standing in environmental PIL. To this end, the current requirements for NGOs to be granted standing should be relaxed, and the standing granted to administrative authorities and procuratorates should be limited or removed.


Author(s):  
Deonnie Moodie

At the turn of the twenty-first century, middle-class men and women formed non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and filed public interest litigation suits (PILs) in order to expand temple space, knock down buildings that block views of Kālīghāṭ’s façade, and remove undesirable materials and populations from its environs. Employing the language of cleanliness and order, they worked (and continue to work) to make Kālīghāṭ a “must-see” tourist attraction. Scholarship has shown that India’s new middle classes—those produced through India’s economic liberalization policies in the 1990s—desire highly visible forms demonstrating their modernity as well as their uniqueness on the international stage of urban space. The example of Kālīghāṭ indicates how India’s new middle classes build on the work of the old middle classes to deploy the temple as emblematic of both their modernity and their Indian-ness. In so doing, they read the idioms of public space onto sacred space.


Author(s):  
Christian Madubuko

Oil was discovered in large quantities in Nigeria in 1956 and exploration began in the same year. Before oil, agriculture and fishing had assured the Niger Delta people of a bright future. Since 1956, oil has been extracted from the Niger Delta with destructive consequences on the environment, bringing about environmental degradation and destruction of the people’s primary means of livelihood. Land and water were badly polluted, and the health of the people affected because of leaks from oil pipelines, gas flaring and acid rains. Several petitions and non-violent protests by Delta communities, women and youth against environmental destruction failed to receive attention. Rather, opposition to peaceful protests earned the people military invasions of their communities, clampdowns and jailings. The rise of militarism and terrorism in the Niger Delta was the result of the Federal Government and Oil Companies’ clampdown on non-violent protests for environmental justice in the Niger Delta. This paper discusses the history of oil exploration in the Niger Delta, oil laws, effects of oil exploration in the region, and the rise of militants and terrorists in the area. The paper uses the term, ‘environmental Justice’ to denote unfair treatment and destruction of the Delta environment resulting from oil exploration, non implementation and enforcement of environmental laws and regulations, and abuse of human rights.The paper suggests solutions for peace in the Niger Delta.


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 96-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
María T. Pulido ◽  
Consuelo Cuevas-Cardona

Documenting how socio-ecosystem conservation knowledge and practice arise and are modified are issues of ethnobiological interest. In the Barranca de Metztitlán Biosphere Reserve (RBBM), plant nurseries, some of which were created as Environmental Management Units (UMAs), have been established to grow and conserve cacti. This paper describes these nurseries, their role in cactus conservation, and the benefits and limitations for the people managing them. The nurseries have helped decrease illegal traffic in cacti and have enabled ex situ conservation of 22 cacti species. Cactus management has changed from extraction to cultivation, as a result of the knowledge and actions of multiple actors. The main limitation is marketing, a recurring problem for non-timber forest products (NTFP). Greater coordination among stakeholders is recommended, such as involvement by non-governmental organizations to improve their probability of success, as well as learning from the experience of other cactus UMAs. Improving the market for cacti is an issue that needs an immediate solution; otherwise conservation efforts could relapse.


Author(s):  
Scott Nicholson ◽  
Jeffrey Stanton

Most people think of a library as the little brick building in the heart of their community or the big brick building in the center of a campus. These notions greatly oversimplify the world of libraries, however. Most large commercial organizations have dedicated in-house library operations, as do schools, non-governmental organizations, as well as local, state, and federal governments. With the increasing use of the Internet and the World Wide Web, digital libraries have burgeoned, and these serve a huge variety of different user audiences. With this expanded view of libraries, two key insights arise. First, libraries are typically embedded within larger institutions. Corporate libraries serve their corporations, academic libraries serve their universities, and public libraries serve taxpaying communities who elect overseeing representatives. Second, libraries play a pivotal role within their institutions as repositories and providers of information resources. In the provider role, libraries represent in microcosm the intellectual and learning activities of the people who comprise the institution. This fact provides the basis for the strategic importance of library data mining: By ascertaining what users are seeking, bibliomining can reveal insights that have meaning in the context of the library’s host institution. Use of data mining to examine library data might be aptly termed bibliomining. With widespread adoption of computerized catalogs and search facilities over the past quarter century, library and information scientists have often used bibliometric methods (e.g., the discovery of patterns in authorship and citation within a field) to explore patterns in bibliographic information. During the same period, various researchers have developed and tested data mining techniques—advanced statistical and visualization methods to locate non-trivial patterns in large data sets. Bibliomining refers to the use of these bibliometric and data mining techniques to explore the enormous quantities of data generated by the typical automated library.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Xie ◽  
Yan Meng ◽  
Jie Xiong ◽  
Lu Xu ◽  
Jie Yan

Purpose Environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs), one of the major forces in environmental protection, have developed rapidly in the past few years, especially in developing countries such as China. This paper aims to reveal how the ENGOs select their focuses, specifically if they only concentrate on one focus or on contexts in which they obtain various focuses and the motivations behind their choosing strategies. Design/methodology/approach The current research interviewed 103 leaders of ENGOs covering every province in mainland China and adopts existing theories of NGOs alongside diversification strategy from a management perspective. Findings The results showed that most Chinese ENGOs now tend to be diversified but face different challenges. This research highlights the importance of ENGOs’ resources and capacities in facing current challenges and suggests directions to improve their diversification strategy. Originality/value This research adds value to the research of environmental NGOs and gives suggestions to environmental NGO practitioners, in particular to those in emerging markets.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 683-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulaş Sunata ◽  
Salіh Tosun

Abstract After the Syrian refugee influx in Turkey, the aspect of civil society in integration needs further clarification and categorization. Therefore, in this study, we aim to develop a general typology of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that are active in immigration and immigration-related areas (NGO-R; non-governmental organizations—refugees). Our findings show that NGO-Rs play crucial roles in helping the refugees to access the rights provided by state, in integrating them into society at the local level by creating new social spaces and in sending humanitarian aid to the people of concern in Syria. Additionally, we claim that the refugee crisis facilitated the opportunities both for active citizenship as demanded and for new mobilization to manage the humanitarian and integration assistance towards the Syrians. Lastly, our fieldwork shows that religious and belief motives are the main factors playing a large part in the creation and maintenance of the NGO-R activities and refugee community organizations (RCOs) can have a distinctive integrative function by preferring to stay outside the mainstream channels.


MEST Journal ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-81
Author(s):  
Marek Stych ◽  
Beata Pawlica ◽  
Malgorzata Kmak

This article tackles the issue of aid for African states. Africa is one of the poorest continents, with many people living on the verge of poverty and suffering from malnutrition or famine. Hence, the humanitarian aid provided to the people of this continent is of particular importance. In Poland, such aid activities undertake entities defined in the Polish legal system as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs also conduct many other kinds of activities. The Act on public benefit and volunteer work is an example of creating legal mechanisms for the functioning of civil society in the legal system to provide international aid to those it needs. Assisting other societies is important for modern civil society the same as political or economic cooperations are. The role of NGOs operating in health protection, education, or entrepreneurship areas is crucially important. The authors of this paper discuss the issue of the said aid provided by selected Polish NGOs. The article aims to determine the extent and scope of the assistance to African countries provided by the NGOs, based on the respondents' experiences, whether such assistance is necessary, and what form it should take.


Author(s):  
Hamed Seddighi ◽  
Sadegh Seddighi ◽  
Ibrahim Salmani ◽  
Mehrab Sharifi Sedeh

ABSTRACT The Public–Private–People partnership (4P) is a significant element in disaster response. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as a pandemic has been the worst disaster in the last decades in Iran in terms of exposure and magnitude. In order to respond effectively, the Iranian Government needs an extra capacity, which may be provided by the private sector and people. This study aims to collect evidences of 4P pertaining to the COVID-19 response in Iran from February to April 2020. Partnership case studies are classified into 3 categories: (1) Public–private partnerships; (2) public–people partnerships; and (3) private–people partnerships. It was found that the Iranian Government has removed or diminished some of the barriers to cooperation. There was also more cooperation between the people, the private sector, and the public sector than during normal times (vs disasters). People participated in the response procedure through some associations or groups, such as religious and ethnic communities, as well as through non-governmental organizations. It has been shown that 4P is vital in disaster response and, in particular, to epidemics. The government can be more active in partnerships with the private sector and people in emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Enhancing social capital, institutionalization, and developing required infrastructures by the government will improve public–private partnerships.


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