Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
Guyanese file case against ExxonMobil’s Stabroek Block projects
– Calls on court to determine if polluting operations consistent with right to healthy environment
International Lawyer, Melinda Janki
Kaieteur News – Two Guyanese, through their lawyers, have filed a case in the High Court against ExxonMobil’s Stabroek Block projects. According to the case, which lists Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, SC, as a representative for the State, the High Court is being asked to determine whether ExxonMobil’s operations violate the Constitutional right of current and future generations to a healthy environment.
The first applicant, Dr. Troy Thomas, is a Scientist and a University of Guyana lecturer. The second applicant, Quadad de Freitas, is a young man from the South Rupununi Region of Guyana, an area rich in biodiversity, now threatened by climate change.
According to Dr. Thomas: “Guyana is a carbon sink. The Guyanese people are not responsible for climate change, but we are already suffering the effects. Climate change, ocean acidification and rising sea level pose existential threats to the people and State of Guyana. As a scientist, I urge people to look at the evidence and to face reality.”
The case Kaieteur News understands refers to the overwhelming scientific evidence of the devastating effect of greenhouse gas emissions, pointing out that oil and gas production are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Guyana is particularly vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels while ocean acidification threatens the Guyanese livelihoods that depend on healthy marine ecosystems.
The case cites Guyana’s international obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement in support of its claim for declarations that emissions from oil and gas production make the environment more harmful to health and wellbeing in violation of Article 149J of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to a healthy environment and requires the State to protect the environment for present and future generations. Article 149J specifically states that: (1) Everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to his or her health or well-being. (2) The State shall protect the environment, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures designed to – (a) prevent pollution and ecological degradation; (b) promote conservation; and (c) secure sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.
The case also seeks to protect children, young people and future generations who bear a disproportionate burden in having to live with the effects of climate change.
The legal team consists of Ms. Melinda Janki and Mr. Ronald Burch-Smith, with support from Richard Lord QC at Brick Court and Joshua Jackson of Cloisters in the UK.
(A more detailed report on this case will be published in tomorrow’s newspaper.)
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