The Legal Implications of Gas Flaring On Climate Change in Nigeria

Global atmospheric concentration of substances that trap heat causing warming and change of climate is caused mostly by man’s activities- anthropogenic. Since efforts to curtail anthropogenic climate change commenced and countries came together to agree under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon emissions, incidentally a larger percentage of the world was left out, constituting the developing countries, some of which eventually turn out to become leading carbon emitters, like Nigeria and others. Nigeria is a large carbon emitter through its oil exploration activities involving gas flaring. The country’s mainstay is its oil which predominantly dominates its revenue profile. The consequences of its gas flaring are enormous, which constitutes a threat to its environment and to the entire region. Keywords: Gas flaring, oil exploration, legislation, pollution, environment