CONTEXTUALIZING LAUDATO SI' IN OGONI LAND: IMPLICATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND RESTORATION

Abstract

Laudato Si: On the care for our common home, is the title of Pope Francis’ encyclical, released in June, 2015. Laudato Si means ‘Praise be to you’―a clause adopted from the first line of the Pope’s patron Saint, Francis of Assisi’s canticle. Laudato Si a clarion call to care for the earth that has witnessed a devastating ecological crisis. The paper situates Laudato Si' within the environmental context of both Ogoniland and the broader Niger Delta. Employing socio-historical and theological method of enquiry and analysis, environmental ethics, the paper discusses how Pope Francis’ ecological vision provides a moral and spiritual context for environmental justice, ecological restoration and sustainable development in the region. Highlighting the key themes of integral ecology, care for creation, ecological conversion and preferential option for the poor, the paper is clear that these ideas expressed in the encyclical "speak directly to Niger Delta communities battling oil corporations." The study further argue that environmental degradation in this region is not only an ecological problem, but also a crisis of morals and values: it is at once economic, political and human rights issues. This paper uses a contextual reading of Laudato Si' to promote the idea that all parties (the Church, government, multinational oil companies, environmental activists and local communities) must work together for restoration and justice. The paper concludes and recommends, the need for ethical transformation, accountability in governance and policy formulation, as well a renewed theological engagement with environment that engenders community participation in ecological healing.