If you don't do it, don't think this is just local resistance, that you can't be found in your countries, we have you on our target list, Naidoo told reporters in Opatija, adding that he would strongly go after the companies in their countries of origin and that this was a fight for preserving the planet and more than that.
The planet will survive but mankind will disappear because of fossil fuels and global warming, he said.
Company executives say they are concerned about climate change, yet continue to do their job as before and we won't tolerate that any longer. We ask our governments to resist corporate interests. Look your children in the eyes today and tomorrow and ask yourselves if you are making the right decisions, Naidoo said.
Commenting on Croatian Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak's statement that anyone against the exploration project was against the country's development, he said, It's clear that we are for sustainable development but not the one that harms current and next generations.
He told the Croatian government that the Adriatic Sea was not just an important ecological resource but economic too. If drilling for oil begins, you can say goodbye to tourism, he added.
Speaking of his experience in Africa, Naidoo said at the start of similar projects, citizens were always promised great benefits, but eventually only several senior state officials and executives of the companies doing the job benefitted, while the local population was left to deal with the consequences.
Naidoo said the Adriatic could be the centre for producing solar electricity and that this would employ more people without endangering the environment. Scientists have established that 80 percent of fossil fuels must stay in the earth to prevent disastrous climate change, he added.
Greenpeace International, Friends of the Earth International and Demand Climate Justice endorsed today's public statements on oil and gas exploration and exploitation in the Adriatic.
If the Croatian government has a choice, will it champion the right of all people to live or will it join the climate criminals who are willing to turn their backs on science, justice and mankind in the name of big business, asked Demand Climate Justice coordinator Asad Rehman.
Friends of the Earth International president Jagoda Munic said they supported local organisations in the fight against the exploitation of fossil fuels because of the damage they did to the environment and society and because it was time to turn to renewables, which she said Croatia had plenty of, and do everything to avoid the disastrous consequences of climate chaos.