25 May 2021
Demand is continuing to build for an Irish-led global ban on fracking in the wake of a report from the Irish Centre for Human Rights (ICHR).
The International Human Rights Impacts of Fracking published
yesterday analysed the threats hydraulic fracking poses to the environment, to
local populations and to human rights obligations.
According to the ICHR document, unconventional oil and gas exploration
impacts several rights, including the right to life, health, water, food,
housing, access to information and the right to a safe, clean and healthy environment.
These violations disproportionately impact individuals and communities
from marginalised backgrounds such as children living in poverty, the authors
Rowan Hickie and Bridget Geoghegan conclude.
The report
by the ICHR was prepared in collaboration with Safety Before LNG, Love Leitrim
and Letterbreen and Mullaghdun Partnership (LAMP).
Ireland is “uniquely positioned”
Given its own domestic and international developments, Ireland now finds
itself “uniquely positioned to lead the effort as the global-north sponsor of
the UN resolution calling for a global ban on fracking,” according to report co-author
Bridget Geoghegan.
Ireland banned the practice on its own soil in 2017 and has previously
recognised the need for a ban on public health, environmental and climate
grounds, report co-author Rowan Hickie added.
The resolution to a global ban on fracking originated in 2019, as local activists
who were directly impacted by the practice joined forces across the globe and
sent an open letter with the ask to the United Nations Secretary-General.
In total, over
600 grassroot groups, organisations and scientists have signed it to date.
The mounting public pressure comes just a week after the Government
published its much-anticipated Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) policy
statement, which included a moratorium on the development of fracked gas
importation, pending a completed energy security review.
The statement signals that Ireland is now one of a few countries the world
over to have a ban on imported fracked gas, according to Johnny McElligot from
Safety Before LNG.
“That’s an inspiration to other countries,” he told The Green News.
Ireland is also in a prime position to put forward the ban due to its newly assumed role on the United Nations Security Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney’s assertion that “protecting the most vulnerable and safeguarding their human rights” must be at the heart of the global response to the climate crisis.
According to Eddie Mitchell, a farmer from Leitrim who is also involved
in the anti-fracking campaign, the practice is morally unacceptable and allows
for the creation of sacrifice zones across the globe.
“We don’t think that
we’re safe [from fracking] until everyone is safe,” he said.
The problem with fracked gas
Fracked
gas poses a number of problems to both the continually worsening climate crisis
and the local environment that surround its production sites.
According
to a report from
Oil Change International, gas is not the bridge fuel it has frequently been portrayed
as but rather is a “a bridge to climate disaster”.
During
the process of gas extraction, methane leaks from out of the ground and into
the atmosphere.
The gas
is prone to leakage throughout the supply chain, and it is estimated that its
warming effect is 84 to 87 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
The
practice can also lead to water contamination, air pollution, earthquakes and radioactive
contamination.
Air
pollution surrounding fracking infrastructure in the US was found to have high
levels of toxic pollutants, including carcinogen benzene, which can cause
severe environmental damage and risks to human health.
According
to the report, certain communities are disproportionately impacted by the
practice, including pregnant women, children, communities of colour, Indigenous
populations, and communities living in poverty.
Story by Shauna Burdis
The post Calls grow for an Irish-led global ban on fracking appeared first on Green News Ireland.
