13 August 2009 - The second day, the Assembly gathered with much energy and enthusiasm to further discuss and debate. Dr. Iyayi opened the proceedings of Day Two of the Oilwatch General Assembly in Accra, Ghana. He addressed a very topical issue of the global economic crisis and its impact on the African environment.
In his presentation, Dr Iyayi observed that the environmental problems in Africa are not only increasing and multifaceted but are likely to become worse in the light of the current global crisis of capitalism.
He elaborated that the economic crisis has increased poverty for millions of people in Africa, and contributed to a myriad of ills such as deforestation through the felling of trees for fuel, increased exploitation of forests and marine resources, the importation and use of second hand goods from the North, and the inability of communities to resist further environmental abuse by global companies. All these and other associated problems are expected to increase as a result of the global financial crisis, reinforcing a vicious cycle where increased poverty causes greater pressure to be put on the environment, which in turn increases the vulnerability of poor peoples to environmental change.
In addition, the global economic crisis of capitalism has led to reduced revenues which in turn have implications for more extensive and intensive exploitation of natural and mineral resources by African states.
The environmental problems in Africa are deepening and will worsen further as a result of the current global crisis of capitalism. Environmental pollution, land degradation, desertification, loss of biodiversity, environmental waste, flooding, erosion and pollution are likely to increase. At the same time, the ability of African people and governments to act on the problems is weakened by the consequences of the crisis.

Proposed solutions
Dr Iyayi proposed that in order to weaken and ultimately break this vicious cycle, there is need to:
-Reject market fundamentalism as the basis for ordering economic, political and social relations in society,
- increase the level of collaboration and information sharing between the various interests that are working on environmental problems within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world.
-Underwrite all effort with campaigns and actions that seek to make the environment a rights issue with the people in local communities all over Africa. A rights-based approach to environmental issues will have the advantage of connecting with the larger task of empowering the poor to deal with poverty, and in dealing with poverty; the fundamental issues in environmental degradation will find an eloquent and effective solution.

The second speaker for the day was Bertha Chioma who answered the question Can multinational oil and mining companies act ethically?
In her presentation, Chioma elaborated on what would be deemed ethical behaviour for multinational oil companies. This included payment of taxes, royalties and dividends to the government, and being good stewards of the physical environment in which they operate. On the other hand, she described unethical behaviour as including environmental degradation, the use of divide and rule tactics within communities, lack of accountability and transparency in oil spill cleanup operations, breaches of MOUs between oil companies and communities in which they operate and inaccessibility of information to community and government officials.

Delegates were unable to locate a single instance of ethical behaviour by a multinational oil company and noted that although these multinationals are required to pay tax, they often evade and cut corners. Further input from the group suggested that corporate social responsibility (CSR)should be replaced with corporate accountability because CSR is voluntary and is often a public relations exercise whereas corporate accountability would ensure that oil companies are well taxed so that governments can go about their business of building roads and electrifying homes.

The members of the Host Communities Network (HoCoN) gave testimonies from the Niger Delta. They described the problems of oil spills and lack of adequate clean up, which had consequences for their livelihoods in relation to their lands and rivers, all without any compensation from the multinational oil companies.  HoCoN, Nigeria, is however growing in leaps and bounds and now have a presence in six states in Southern Nigeria, working to strengthen their struggle and build solidarity among similarly affected host communities. This they hoped to extend to other parts of Africa.

Nurudeen Ogbara elucidated on the issue of the criminalisation of dissent and militarization of resource rich areas such as Niger Delta, Sudan, etc.
Nurudeen gave examples of the criminalisation of dissent and demonstrated through case studies how easy it is for governments to close off opposition and dissent, criminalise it and arrest those engaged in it, even if that dissent is not a crime and is conducted in the form of peaceful protest and gatherings. Such repression is present the world over. Using the military and the police force, dissent is met with guns, violence, censorship and imprisonment. Criminalising protest has created a convenient method for incapacitating activists, and terrorising entire communities into silence and inaction.
Militarisation of resource richaAreas was described by Nurudeen as “the systemic and deliberate invasion by the Government or the State of communities blessed with natural resources with a view to forcefully deprive them of self determination and benefits in their resources for personal aggrandisement as opposed to nation-building or national interests.”
This militarisation, he links to capitalism, neo-imperialism and globalization where African leaders in particular protect the interests of their principals in Europe and America. At independence, they became surrogates to the colonialists and continue to protect their interest and assure them continued access to raw materials and other resources with which to fire their economic interest globally, and not for the benefit of their fellow citizens. Hence they will do anything, including criminalising dissent and militarizing communities to secure their personal economic interests and that of international capital.

Malcolm Damon from The Economic Justice Network of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in SADC described the financial crisis, ecological debt and proposals for a new financial structure.
He stated that the neoliberal economic paradigm over-emphasizes trade and single commodity dependence which has contributed to the drop in national economies, the rise in unemployment, 624 million workers living on less than $1.25 dollars a day, negative impacts on the environment, climate change and a move from debt to debt such as Angola who cut ties from IMF and subsequently returned for further loans.
Malcom proposed that the global North pay the ecological debt of the global South and call for debt cancellation and debt repudiation (not paying it).He also proposed that the new financial architecture should look at the role of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and create initiatives to stop their use in Africa and investigate alternatives.
Having listened, interrogated and debated, we look forward to tomorrow where we will have an opportunity to chart a way forward as Oilwatch Africa.
Aluta Continua!
Siziwe Khanyile