Constitutional Violation: Guyana's Climate Lawsuit
Drilled
Pushkin Industries
4.6 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 April 2023
⏱️ 41 minutes
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Summary
Melina Janki has filed seven separate legal cases aimed at blocking oil drilling in Guyana, but only one explicitly names climate change as a problem the project is guaranteed to exacerbate. It's a constitutional challenge invoking Guyana's constitutional right to a healthy environment, an amendment Janki herself helped write. Plaintiffs Dr. Troy Thomas and Quedad DeFreitas argue that the government’s choice to fast-track permits and oil production threatens their right to a healthy environment, as well as the rights of future generations. The Guyanese government argues that, ironically, it needs oil money to adapt to climate change.
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| 0:00.0 | I grew up on an island called Wickenham. |
| 0:09.5 | It's an island in the Esuguaro River. |
| 0:12.8 | It's low right at the at about or even below sea level. |
| 0:19.3 | An important feature you will notice on the island is there is what we call this sea wall |
| 0:24.8 | or a sea dam. |
| 0:27.2 | It's necessary for keeping the ocean out. |
| 0:31.0 | This is Dr. Troy Thomas. |
| 0:36.6 | He's a math professor at the University of Guyana. |
| 0:39.4 | It's easy to tell when you're talking to him that he's a professor. |
| 0:42.8 | That quick description of his home island you just heard, it actually spanned about five |
| 0:47.6 | minutes because he wanted to explain a few things along the way. |
| 0:51.8 | Like what sort of island Wickenham is. |
| 0:54.8 | It's not a rock sticking up in the ocean. |
| 0:59.8 | Quite like we might have for a lot of Caribbean islands. |
| 1:04.7 | It's an island formed from the opposition where the large river brings down all this material |
| 1:13.1 | from higher areas and deposited at the mouth of the river. |
| 1:18.0 | There are more than 300 islands like these in the Esuguaro River, which is Guyana's largest |
| 1:23.9 | and having to keep the ocean out is not a problem that's unique to Wickenham. |
| 1:29.9 | Dan itself, while it's a large land mass, you'll find that more than 90% of its population |
| 1:39.7 | reside on a narrow strip, the coastal strip. |
| 1:44.2 | And that coastal strip where the population resides is below sea level. |
| 1:51.0 | It's not because Guyana's people have a particular affinity for the coast. |
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