ENVIRONMENTALRIGHTSINDEVELOPMENT-BHU.docVIP

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: AN IMPERATIVE TO THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NIGERIAN OIL INDUSTRY AKO Rhuks Temitope A.A. Adedeji( 1.0 Introduction Environmental rights are one of the emerging rights in the arena of international human rights law and international environmental law. Though the jurisprudence of the rights is still in its formative stages, there is no doubt that the right is well recognized in the sphere of international law and has (and still is) influencing local legislation towards environmental sustenance. No doubt, this development is greatly influenced by the new development paradigm – sustainable development – that recognizes the need to engage in environmental-friendly development programmes and activities. Environmental rights include the ‘substantive’ right to a clean environment, and ‘procedural’ rights to act to protect the environment, the right to information and finally access to justice. This paper focuses mainly on the legal imperatives of these procedural rights referred to as public participation as a means towards achieving sustainable development of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region and its oil resources. 2.0 The Environment, Human Rights and Sustainable Development The relationship between the environment and development is viewed differently by developing countries on the one hand and developed nations on the other. Generally, the developed nations have inculcated the need for environmental sustenance into economic development plans while developing countries are yet to imbibe it in practice even where expressly stated in their national legislations and policies. The reason for this is not far-fetched. Most of the developing nations are economically and technologically far behind developed nations and still believe that the hullabaloo on the need to protect the environment is a ploy by the advanced countries