Gas Flaring in Nigeria; McDonalds’ and Amazonian Soya

Two environmental stories worth noting:

The High Court of Nigeria has ordered Shell to stop gas flaring in Delta State by 2007. The order follows an earlier decision by the High Court — ignored by Shell, which has said that it intends to continue the practice until 2009 — that gas flaring violates Nigerians’ constitutional rights to life and dignity. Nigeria engages in more gas flaring than any country in the world, a practice that has contributed to the emission of more greenhouse gases than the rest of sub-Saharan Africa combined.

Greenpeace has launched a PR campaign against McDonalds to protest its use of meat from cows that were raised on soybeans grown in the Amazon. A recent study published in Nature found that, if current trends hold, cattle ranching and soybean farming will destroy 40 percent of the Amazonian forest by 2050. According to Greenpeace, three US multinationals — Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland and Bunge — control 60 percent of soya production in Brazil. That soya is then fed to farm animals in Europe whose meat is purchased by McDonalds. Greenpeace has singled out Cargill for particular criticism, alleging that it “has done deals with unscrupulous farms that have illegally grabbed and deforest areas of public and indigenous land. Some have even used slave labour.”