Looking ahead: Foreign Aid, Corruption and the Environment in Senegal, Nigeria and Morocco
The debate on the effect of foreign aid and corruption on environmental justice is regarded as taboo in most international platforms since it creates discomfort for governments and powerful corporates. However environmental sustainability is more important than the instant profits of countries and corporates. Since the industrial revolution, economic growth has mostly depended on machinery and the exploitation of natural resources. This process has engendered irreversible environmental damages and is at the source of global warming. Since March, 1995 multiple international conventions like the Conference of Parties have taken place but a scientific evaluation of the environment does not show positive outcomes of such conventions. In this continuous environmental degradation, developing and underdeveloped countries suffer the most; the poor has become poorer and the richer has become richer. The conversations that took place at the Paris Summit in December 2015 show that most global leaders are having. However, an awareness of environmental degradation does not suffice especially in Senegal, Nigeria and Morocco and a change of the current situation would require radical reforms.
To establish transparent governments that prioritize sustainability in Senegal, Nigeria and Morocco, three main reforms need to take place: an increase in the literature available on corruption and the environment in those countries, an increase in the number of environmentally related positions in their legislature and a fortification of their relationship with the United States. The literature on the effect of corruption on the environment in the countries of study is inexistent. Most search entries on web browser return reports from the UNFCCC on China’s influence in Angola and Nigeria from 2012 and before. Those reports are mostly present scientific facts such as emissions but do not give any comparative data or an an analysis of the presence of China in those countries. The lack of literature is in part the reason why the communities that are directly affected in those countries do not have strong evidences to stand against the authorities. They are also not well represented in the legislature- which is the main path to making reforms in environmental justice.
Great environmental activists have distinguished themselves in fighting against corruption and for the protection of the environment. In Morocco, Mohammed Attaoui, was arrested in March 2010 after denouncing and documenting the illegal logging of protected cedar when the news headlines in the country were about a $9 million solar project. Similarly in Nigeria, young activists like Fyneface Dynamene are carrying the legacy of Ken Saro-Wiwa by fighting for “Shell to clean up the massive oil pollution across the Niger Delta”. In Senegal, environmental activists have stood in support to Gambian communities against sand mining in Kartong. The next step is for the environmental activists in those countries to make their way in the legislature where their influence will be more felt through policy making. With a group of well-educated and environmentally conscious politicians, these African countries can establish meaningful relationships with countries like the United States and attract foreign investment that will prioritize sustainability while aiming for poverty alleviation and economic growth.
The fight against corruption in foreign aid and for environmental justice in Nigeria, Senegal and Morocco is a long process. The economic status of the countries set them in unique position where the standard belief has it that environmental protection is not a priority when fighting diseases, hunger and poverty in general is a necessity. Looking ahead, decisions that governments and corporates make for economic development should go in parallel with resolutions to conserve the environment and it remains in the hands of general populations to keep their leaders accountable for the protection of the environment.
Works Cited
Aburawa, Arwa. "Moroccan Environmental Activist Faces Two Years In Prison Over Trees."
Green Prophet. N.p., 25 Aug. 2010. Web.
"Nigeria: A New Generation Fights for a Pollution-free Future." Amnesty International. N.p., 10
Nov. 2015. Web.
Petesch, Carley. "Activists Call on Gambia Gov't to Release Environmentalists." The Big Story.
N.p., 30 Nov. 2015. Web.
