Financial investment not enough to reverse climate crisis – Activist, Bassey
Environmental experts have re-echoed the call for investment in the protection of planet Earth for the benefit of every living being. In recent years, the call to reverse the climate crisis has intensified, with experts increasingly worried that the world's environment and its inhabitants face imminent danger from global warming. Although interventions to mitigate deforestation, greenhouse emissions, and pollution caused by gas flaring and oil spills, environmentalists say such efforts are not enough. Recently the world marked the International Mother Earth Day with a theme tasking everyone to invest in the planet but experts say the call goes beyond funding of activities. They say the investments are rather required to sincerely minimise the adverse effect of human activity and urgently save the environment to protect future generations. While the call for investment may be a warning for humans to responsibly use natures abundance, Dr Nnimmo Bassey of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation says it is also the recognition that human activities such as pollution, deforestation or overconsumption have dire consequences on the quality of life on planet earth. In his words, Calling for investment in our planet should not be the investment in more extraction of fossil fuels, mining of coal, or for continuous gas flaring. The investment should be one that conserves our environment. ''It is time to reflect on what can be done to make the planet more habitable not only for humans but for other beings. It is important to mention that the investment we are speaking about should not be a mere financial investment because the Earth is not a stock exchange. It is time to reflect on our relationship with Mother Earth and with each other. Our investment should be towards playing our role of trusteeship as children of the Earth. An expert on Fossil Fuel politics, Stephen Oduware, however, warns that investment would be useless if nature were commodified and exchanged for money. He said, ''We have watched communities suffer from pollution, and grossly damaged environments and today we call on world leaders to sit up and ensure that the earth does not burn in their quest for negative economic investments that ignore ecological realities. Activist and environmental feminist, Magdalene Idiang, in her reaction to the climate crisis, knocked world leaders who she alleged only promote false climate capitalist solutions that have zero impact on the planet. ''Financial institutions who are betting on promoting Net Zero, Carbon Offset, and promote solutions that do not support the planet should divest their investment and invest in real climate solutions that would stop ecocide and protect the rights of mother earth. While the call for climate action remains a major channel for mobilising support for the environment, there are urgent warnings by experts for inhabitants to halt dependence on non-renewable energy.