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Environmentalist
and special adviser to the President on Research, documentation and
Strategy, Oronto Douglas has been named among the 20 most influential
writers, thinkers, and activists in the world.

Mr Douglas was
listed in a recent book “Political Awakenings: Conversations with
History” by Harry Kreiser the Executive Director of the Institute of
International Studies, University of California. Mr Douglas was
selected with 19 others, from 485 interviews of people which the book
described as “distinguished men and women who by the power of their
intellect and strength of character shape the world.” Mr Douglas made
the Science, Food and The Environment: Movement for Justice category
which comprised select individuals that have challenged corporate power
which seeks to disproportionately reap the benefits of science and
technology to the detriment of the society.

The other two other
individuals listed in the same category with Mr Douglas are Michael
Pollan who has in the past 20 years written books and articles about
places where the human and natural world intersect, and Eva Harris, a
molecular biologist, who implements a program to distribute DNA
technology to third world clinics to fight diseases.

Reacting to this
listing, Mr Douglas stated, “I am motivated essentially by the fact
that every human being ought to make a contribution towards human
progress. We are not just on this planet to eat, sleep, and then we
die. I think we came because we have a contribution to make.

“My little
contribution in the area of environmental human rights is to further
the whole debate about our progress.” Douglas is co-founder of
Nigeria’s foremost environmental advocacy group, Environmental Rights
Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN). He served as one of the
lawyers on the defence team for the Ogoni leader, Ken Saro Wiwa, who
was executed by late Head of State, Sani Abacha.

He is also the author of several works, including the groundbreaking
Where Vultures Feast: Shell, Human Rights, Oil in the Niger Delta,
which he coauthored with another activist, Ike Okonta.