To Cook a Continent

Destructive Extraction and the Climate Crisis in Africa

Nnimmo Bassey

People in Africa argue that natural resources are a blessing; it is the way these are plundered and used that can turn them into a curse. The continent has plenty of experience of such plunder. Rich in resources, Africa is a net supplier of energy and raw materials to the North.

The climate crisis confronting the world today is rooted mainly in the wealthy economies’ abuse of fossil fuels, indigenous forests and global commercial agriculture. But, without agreement about how to tackle this reality, the question often becomes what can be done about Africa. Or, sometimes, for Africa. This book looks at what has been done to Africa and how Africans should respond for the good of all.

Bassey examines the oil industry in Africa, probes the roots of global warming, warns of its insidious impacts and explores false ‘solutions’. Crucially, his intelligent and wide-ranging approach demonstrates that the issues around natural resource exploitation, corporate profiteering and climate change must be considered together if we are to save ourselves. What can Africa do? And can the rest of the world act in solidarity? If not, will we continue on the path laid out by elites that brings us ever closer to the brink? Many live in denial even as ecological and social disasters increase, but this is not inevitable and Bassey suggests how Africa can overcome the crises of environment and global warming.

Contents

Part 1 A Rear View

1. Introduction: the pull of Africa

2. Africa is rich

Part 2 The Scramble and the Grabbing

3. The wheels of progress

4. The steps of the advisers

5. Destructive extraction

6. Climate chaos and false solutions

7. Leaving the Niger Delta’s oil in the soil

8. Swimming against the tide, connected by blood

Notes

About the Author

Nnimmo Bassey is and activist and poet, the executive director of Environmental Rights Action (ERA), Nigeria and elected chair of Friends of the Earth International. He is one of Time magazine’s Heroes of the Environment 2009 and co-winner of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award (the Alternative Nobel Prize). His books include Oilwatching in South America and Genetically Modified Organisms: the African Challenge.