Climate Change Impacts on Human Right in Niger Delta, Nigeria: A Jurisprudential Discourse

Abstract

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently observed that, the trend in global warming will increase the number of people suffering from various disease, hunger, malnutrition and several other ills. And true to that, the violent changes in climate have started interfering with the enjoyment of certain human rights in Nigeria. In Niger Delta area of Nigeria, gas flaring and oil spillage have indeed affected the weather thereby shortened the growing season and reduced if not totally exterminated crop production in the area. This paper therefore examines the nexus between human existences, changes in the climate and the associated problems in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and the legal remedies available in such circumstances. Content analysis research method through literal rule of statutory interpretation was used; issues were raised on the rights of every being to live under a conducive atmosphere and the remedy thereto if same is breached. In conclusion, the paper recommends among others for the passage of a model law to punish any human act which may aggravate the negative changes the world is experiencing or which may catalyzed the natural climate wrongly.