Frontline Indian environmentalist and physicist, Dr. Vandana Shiva, has been slated to give a lecture at the Right Livelihood College in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to commemorate the UN International Year of the Soil.

According to a statement from, Rev Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Shiva, 1993 Right Livelihood Award Laureate, will speak in Port Harcourt, Bori, Erema in Rivers and Abuja.

According to the statement the Port Harcourt event will hold on July 23, to mark 2015 as UN Year of the Soil as well as the decades-long struggle against oil extraction in the Niger Delta.

It will be followed on July 24 and 25 July seed democracy workshops in collaboration with women in Ogoni and in Erema in Rivers State.

The visit will be rounded off with a press conference in Abuja on July 27.

The statement reads in part: “The UN has chosen 2015 as the International Year of the Soil with the aim of raising awareness about the importance of soil for human life, food security, climate change adaptation and sustainable development.

“In the Niger Delta, oil extraction has severely contaminated the soil. A 2011 the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Report assessing the environment of Ogoni found that, in over 40 locations tested, the soil is polluted with hydrocarbons up to a depth of 5 metres

“The report had it that all the water bodies in Ogoni land are polluted. With oil spills occurring with a disturbing frequency of almost one a day, the soil and waters of the Niger Delta are being severely degraded, thus raising challenges for production of wholesome food.”

Bassey, further said, “Vandana Shiva’s visit is timely and we expect that she will raise critical issues on the need to preserve our soils, seeds and food systems, rather than allowing them to be destroyed by the irresponsible activities of oil companies in their bid to extract resources of diminishing value.”

According to Bassey, Shiva, a physicist, philosopher, feminist, activist and author, has dedicated her life to defending small farmers’ rights and the rights of people to forests, biodiversity, water, seeds and land.

“I am honoured to have the opportunity to visit Ogoniland and pay tribute to the many defenders of the earth, including Ken Saro-Wiwa,” she said.

“We need to move urgently from an age of oil, with its wars and violence against the earth and its people, to an age of soil – of peace with the earth and between people. Soil, not oil, holds the future for humanity,” the statement quoted her as saying.

•Photo shows Dr. Vandana Shiva delivering a speech.

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