An NGO, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) together with leading environmental experts have called for a paradigm shift in policies to ensure caring for land and nature, protection for the earth and society in times of erosion of democracy.

This effort is to ensure a renewed commitment to tackle climate change risks and advance alternative livelihood schemes.

This call was made at the Right Livelihood College (RLC) lecture on Soil Not Oil (Earth Democracy) held at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Rivers State, delivered by the 1993 Right Livelihood Award Laureate, Vandana Shiva and organized by UNIPORT in collaboration with HOMEF. UNIPORT now stands as the second institution in Africa and fifth in the world to establish RLC.

According to the organisers, the initiative will benefit the students and young researchers in the institution and as well increase the quality of education, while opening them to more international learning opportunities.

The lecture was to mark the UN International Year of the Soil and the decades long struggle against oil extraction in the Niger Delta.

Source: Guardian