SETTING PRECEDENCE IN MANAGING FUTURE OIL SPILLAGE DISASTERS

In December 2009, Kosmos Energy was reported to have spilled about 600 barrels of low toxicity oil-based mud in its exploratory operations in the Jubilee Fields in Ghana. That was not all, between that time and May 2010, two other discharges of Low Toxicity Oil Based Mud (LTOBM) was said to have been discharged by Kosmos Energy into the marine waters of Ghana. With this kind of spillage at this early stage of commercial oil drilling in Ghana, I was dismayed as an environmentalist but was also that this was a good time for Ghana to get things right once and for all. I was convinced that the sad state in which gold mining has left most of our communities will propel the government of the day, into whose hands the managing of this country has been entrusted, to wake up and put things right in the oil sector.

A committee was set up by the Environment Minister to investigate the causes of the spillage and recommend punitive measure where necessary. I was very glad that such a bold step was being taken. This was no small committee as it had membership from the Ghana Maritime Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, and the Ghana Environmental Conventions Coordinating Authority. It was chaired by the deputy minister of Environment. After several meetings and consultations, the committee established that the unfortunate spillages were as a result of negligence on the part of Kosmos Energy and made recommendations on how to prevent and handle issues related to oil spillage in future. Accordingly, Kosmos Energy was fined an amount of 35 million dollars. I was glad when that news came up!

Then the actual story began: Kosmos Energy writes a strong-worded letter to the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, copied to the president of Ghana in which they are said to have described the fine as “totally unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires and without basis” and ask the Attorney-General to use her “best offices and endeavours to halt a process that legally and procedurally is fatally flawed”. Well, I am not a lawyer and will not attempt to interpret the big words used here. However, one thing was clear, Kosmos Energy refuses to pay! And what did the government do? The government seemed clueless and helpless! Poor Ghana! A company operating in our Country has been found to have negligently caused harm to our marine resources and has been fine; and the country rubbishes the government’s decision to fine them. They do not defend themselves as saying they did no such thing but rather question the power of the Minister under our constitution or any other law of Ghana to impose a fine on any person in the event of an oil spillage. Isn’t this too interesting? How prepared are we as country in handling this oil thing? It is not enough to mine the oil, the effects of such an activity on our life should be paramount but we are bent on failing and nothing seems to stop us.

I had not giving up yet. I was still convinced that Ghana will set a good precedence. Then on December 20, 2010, I heard the news “KOSMOS ENERGY REACHES SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITH GHANAIAN GOVERNMENT AND GHANA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION”. A part of the press release by Kosmos energy read “Separately, Kosmos and the Ministry of Science, Environment and Technology have agreed to a solution with respect to the “accidental mud discharges” offshore Ghana earlier this year whereby Kosmos would support the Ministry’s efforts to build capacity in the environmental sector. Folks, that was all. That was all! We have set precedence. Whether it is a good precedence or not is for all of us to think about.

Ghana, as a country is so blessed in several dimensions. Wherever one turns to, the signs of the blessings of God upon this country are evident. However, Ghanaians have over the years worked so hard to ridicule the God who has blessed us so abundantly by turning all that is provided for our good into despicable disasters. But through this all, we are always giving an undeserving second, or I think by now we have even reached the hundredth, chance to get it right. But we seem so bent on getting it wrong that nothing seems capable of stopping us.

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Climate Change and a limitless earth; we are just ignorant!

The earth has always provided for its people and there is no reason to believe that one day the earth can no longer fulfil its duty. This earth will only cease to function, in my opinion, at the command of God who created everything including the earth, just by commanding them to come to being! Different challenges arise at various times and the earth has always risen to the occasion. The real issue then becomes not the inability of the earth to provide for its inhabitants, but the ignorance of its inhabitants to know where to find what.

Increasing food production to feed a projected over 9 billion people in the face of changing climate is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Success in meeting this challenge will undoubtedly require a steady stream of technical and institutional innovations in adapting to changing climatic conditions. Climate change is being made to look like a monster that has come to kill all of us. But the truth is climate change will not kill all of us; in fact, it cannot! It is just a challenge we must overcome to prove our usefulness to this earth as a people and re-emphasise our desire to live and enjoy the earth.

Man’s love for hearing of disaster and threats of disaster makes it is so easy for us to get carried away by the alarm of negative climatic effects being sounded all over the world; thus preventing the world from seeing the benefits such changes may be presenting to us. Regardless of the extent of negative effects, there may be some positive effects and taking advantage of the least of the positive effects is a sure means of reducing vulnerability and enhancing adaptation to climate change. The ability to carefully identify the risks as well as opportunities that climate change presents and maximise the benefits of the opportunities is major step in reducing our vulnerability to climate change.

There are reports of likely positive climatic changes in the highland tropics and in temperate regions; that changes in temperatures and precipitation forecast by the standard models of climate change will actually benefit agriculture in some parts of the world; climate changes may also provide opportunities for agricultural investment, rewarding early action taken to capitalize on these options; rising atmospheric concentrations of CO2, increasing atmospheric CO2 levels, driven by emissions from human activities, can act as a fertilizer and enhance the growth of some crops such as wheat, rice and soybeans; and some estimates suggest that higher CO2 levels could increase crop productivity substantially, by 50% or more. These are all pointers to show that the earth is limitless and when we look deep enough, we will find where the resources are to cater for its people. Inadequate consideration of adaptation options, including not taking advantage of potential benefits, could result in the vulnerability to climate change being significantly over-stated. The earth is limitless and constantly provides opportunities for its people to survive but mostly such opportunities are either overlooked or only seen in the last minute when many people would have already lost heavily. It is time to make conscious effort to always look out, first, for the opportunities in every seemingly unfortunate development.

It’s time to kill our ignorance of climate change issues and be optimistic. We have heard enough of the negative impacts. It’s time to identify and fully utilise the opportunities climate change presents to us. We can’t lose the opportunities and sit crying over negative impacts. A lost opportunity can be as bad as a negative impact and such lost opportunities add up to swell the negative impacts.

“O come let us reason together …”

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Climate Change and Adaptation in Urban Areas

Everywhere I go my mind is filled with climate change: vulnerability and adaptation. I live in the capital of Ghana, Accra, at a suburb called South La Estates. La is also known by many as Labadi. When I first got to my new place about a year ago, I thought that was all Labadi was until Monday when I had to pick a mini-bus (known in Ghana as trotro) to work and I got to know Labadi proper. Whilst the driver meandered through the streets of the “other Labadi” I was seeing, I couldn’t help but think of how differently Climate Change would affect the two Labadis I am seeing: the well-planned South Labadi with clean drains and the slum Labadi I was seeing now.

In places like Labadi and other slums in Accra and other places most of the buildings are sub-standard and obviously not suitable for habitation. Most of these residents are tenants and have no power to develop quality buildings and their landlords are exploiting them. Such residents are usually economic refugees who have moved to the city to seek greener pastures; most of whom inhabit very marginal areas. The influx of people into such marginal and usually flood-prone areas coupled with lack of planning in infrastructure makes them highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change including extreme flooding and storms.

We are all vulnerable to climate change but the effects will be disproportionate depending on how one will be able to adapt. The recent floods that have happened in Accra and other places bring to the fore the unfortunate reality that urban communities are increasingly becoming very vulnerable to the effects of climate change. One may argue that such flooding as witnessed may be due to other factors other than climate change but I believe that climate change is one of the factors. Even if it is not, we are being awakened to the vulnerability of urban populations to floods and storms; which are projected to increase in the face of climate change.

It is time to act locally to save our people and urban communities to adapt to the effects of climate change. The local governments should be resourced well to plan adaptation strategies for urban dwellers, especially those in slums. This is not the time to decide which communities or settlements are legal or illegal. It is time to plan and save. This will need everybody to get on deck: local governments, donor agencies, central government and vulnerable communities. People should be made aware of climate change and its effects and also whip-up their willingness to act.

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