Globally, the effects of oil, tobacco and other extractive companies’ activities on the environment and national economies have continued to elicit serious stakeholders’ concern in the face of the mounting threats to lives and the fauna. Despite the companies’ remedial initiatives to mitigate the risks of their operations to the environment, lives and national economies, analysts are wont to believe they are not doing enough in their Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, programmes. In this report, SYLVA EMEKA-OKEREKE analyses latest reports on the corporate entities’ moves to do more, focusing on the Nigerian economy, amongst other issues.
Prior to now, most oil prospecting and tobacco manufacturing companies had been accused of contributing to the negative impacts of climate change as well as global warming due to their commercial activities. Though, the companies have denied involvement, claiming that those environmental challenges were not man-made but natural problems. However, a global assessment report had indicted them, disclosing that those challenges were not natural, but man-made. In a global study, which examined more than 11,000 climate change papers, it was revealed that 97 percent of scientists agreed that climate change is caused by man-made pollution. Not quite long ago, Greenpeace, a global environment assessment firm in its report, accused oil and tobacco manufacturing firms of funding campaigns to discredit scientific reports, which confirmed that climate change as well as global warming, were being caused by the growing activities of such companies. While noting that the devastating floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, excessive heat as well as shrinking food supply had been due to the impacts of climate change, the report also revealed that those companies were funding campaigns to discredit reports indicting them.
It further stated that they were sponsoring such campaigns to downplay their involvements, due to the fact that, if the state or federal governments should increase regulations on environmental issues, both the oil and tobacco firms would be negatively affected, considering such impacts on global environment. In Nigeria, the British American Tobacco has taken it upon itself to address some of the challenges surrounding the conservation and management of biodiversity within agricultural landscapes and the ecosystems on which they depend. Its mission, according to the Head of Leaf, British American Tobacco, Iseyin Agronomy, BATIA, Mr. Thomas Omofoye was to act as a catalyst, bringing together the knowledge, skills and resources of the partners to leverage positive change to advance understanding and behaviours among stakeholders. The company is working with three non-governmental organizations like the Earth watch Institute, Fauna and Flora International and the Tropical Biology Association in the BATN biodiversity partnership.
Already, the BATN has promised to donate one million pounds annually to its first five years. In 2010, it agreed to support the scope of work for the next five years of the partnership with another financial commitments. Omofoye said the partnership has helped the company to generate greater awareness of biodiversity management within the group while developing its biodiversity tools. Experts have warned of the negative impacts of the global challenge through clearance of natural habitats, soil degradation, water use as well as environmental pollution, saying if urgent attentions were not taken, the impacts would be very disastrous. A Professor of Forest Economics, Prof. Labode Popoola of University of Ibadan in his paper titled Valuing Nigeria’s Forests: Issues and Context, delivered recently at the 14th Chief S.L Edu Memorial lecture in Lagos, posited that transformational of world’s fossil fuel-driven economy is necessary to arrest the global warming.
He said contemporary global development have altered the environment, noting that the last twenty five years has witnessed phenomenal growth in wealth of nations and technological advancement, yet such externalities have left the environment in danger. Experts say some oil and tobacco firms are working round the clock to avoid government’s sledge hammer, hence possible smoking bans could negatively affect sales of tobacco products. While some tobacco industries are not commonly associated with dispelling the existence of climate change, others have been funding organizations that attempt to cast doubts on the validity of climate change studies. Environmental and political activist, George Monbiot in his book, “Death Denial’’, said corporate funding of lobby groups, denying man-made climate change was not only initiated by ExxonMobil or any other firm involved in fossil fuel industry, but was started by tobacco companies.
Read Also:
According to his statement, ‘’sensing that the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA report might lead to increased regulation on tobacco industries, the Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs of Philip Morris, world’s biggest tobacco firm, Ellen Merlo made a daft move to prevent governments from passing smoking bans. The report also noted that a big oil company like ExxonMobil has been working with well-known websites, lobby groups as well as think tanks to allay fears that climate change is spreading. Organizations such as Media Matters, a left-leaning non-profit, which monitors, analyzes and corrects “conservative misinformation in the U.S. media,” released a report last November that called attention to how industries that have a financial interest in blocking legislation to address climate change are using conservative mainstream media outlets to distort scientific research and fuel confusion.
For instance, in US, a former tobacco industry consultant, Barrister Steve Milloy was hired by American Petroleum Institute to develop a public relations strategy to minimize the threat of climate change, where he consistently noted that government does not need to address climate and air pollutions, calling those concerned about climate change as “whacked out, intellectually and morally bankrupt”. He also runs a website, JunkScience. com, where he misrepresented the risks of pesticides, ozone depletion, breast implants, asbestos, and second-hand smoke in addition to global warming. According to Media Matters, the website was initially sponsored by The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, TASSC, which was a PR group funded by Philip Morris to downplay the danger of cigarette smoke. Other clients for TASSC included Chevron, ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical and Occidental Petroleum.
The site is currently run by the Citizens for the Integrity of Science, which does not share any information about its donors. Obviously, tobacco growing is shifting from developed countries to developing countries. Global tobacco production was forecast to continue to increase and expected to grow demands for tobacco products in the developing world as population and income increase. For farmer, tobacco growing presents an alternative crop to food while bringing higher income. At the government level, tobacco growing may also be regarded being favourable due to the financial benefits it brings through trade and taxation. Since late 1970s, concerns have been registered by a number of environmental agencies regarding the impact of tobacco growing. The tobacco crop itself requires a high degree of maintenance, including pest and disease control, a regular water supply and fertilizers to optimize output.
Although some tobacco leaf is air or sun-dried, the majority of varieties grown, particularly in the developing world, require curing with generated heat, usually fuelled by wood, coal or gas. Beyond the primary industry, cigarette companies run manufacturing operations to turn leaf into various tobacco products ready for distribution, marketing and sale to end users. Tobacco manufacturing industry generates a number of chemical by-products, considered hazardous, including ammonia, nicotine and nicotine by-products, hydrochloric acid and toluene. In developed countries, appropriate disposal of these chemicals is strictly regulated, the same may not be true in developing countries, where tobacco manufacturing is becoming more concentrated. The environmental impact of tobacco production has been taken up by the major tobacco companies as part of their portfolio for corporate social responsibility. The major tobacco companies display their environmental credentials by describing on their websites their adoption of sustainable and low-impact practices from farm to factory.
But no matter how clean or green tobacco production can be, ameliorating environmental concerns ignores the most obvious environmental impact of tobacco production. In some countries like Nigeria, tobacco growing has lead to extensive land clearance and deforestation to make room for new crops and to provide timber to fuel the heaters used to dry the tobacco leaf, following harvest. Experts say half of the wood consumed for tobacco farming was gathered from common land and native forests, rather than from sustainable sources, and in some countries usage of wood from unmanaged sources was much higher. International Tobacco Growers’ Association, an affiliate of tobacco growers, claims that preservation of natural resources as sustainability is encouraged in most countries, where tobacco farmers use wood for fuel. The International Tobacco Growers’ Association states that tobacco growers have contributed to the doubling of natural woodland in regions of southern Brazil. Commercial tobacco growing involves the use of a range of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides to maximize crop production.
In recognition of consumer concern about chemicals present in tobacco as well as the environmental squeeze of inappropriate use of agrichemicals, some tobacco companies have reassured of leaf quality on their websites. For instance, Imperial Tobacco states that it provides ‘training on the safe and correct use of pesticides and fertilisers, and techniques to help farmers reduce such needs’. Climate change or global warming is caused by the increased concentration of certain gases trapped within the earth’s atmosphere. These gases, which include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and manufactured substances such as chlorofluorocarbons, are heated by and retain warmth from the sun, leading to rises in average temperatures. These ‘greenhouse gases’ are present in greater quantities due to a range of human activities, including burning fossil fuels, clearing land, some aspects of farming including using fertilizers and some industrial processes.
