Shell should clean up 'oil exploited' Niger Delta, says report

|
ShellGasFlaring2
Oil giant should stop gas flaring, provide clean drinking water and clean up the legacy of oil spills, polluted land and waterways in Niger Delta
 

Shell has a duty to clean up the on-going legacy of its oil operations in the Niger Delta, according to a report from the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR).

The Delta is one of the most oil-polluted environments in the world, with an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of oil having been spilled since Shell first began extracting oil in the 1950s.

Lawsuit

The company is already facing a lawsuit in the Netherlands in relation to alleged oil pollution in Nigeria, and in June 2009 was forced to pay out $15.5 million to the indigenous Ogoni population over human rights abuses in the region.

The ECCR report says Shell and its subsidiary, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), could reduce community opposition by taking immediate action to:

  • end gas flaring;
  • replace ageing pipelines;
  • provide sustainable drinking water for local communities;
  • introduce on-going human rights training for all staff.


Gas flaring

The report says that gas flaring in particular constitutes a 'daily reminder to communities of Shell's apparent valuing of production above environmental and public health concerns'.

Shell pledged in 2007 to end gas flaring but has since cited lack a of funding from the Nigerian government for its failure to meet the pledge.

Social responsibility

The authors of the report acknowledge that the Niger Delta's problems are partly a result of government corruption, but argue that Shell has a duty to prevent the damage it is causing the local communities and environment.

'Nigeria receives a huge income from oil yet largely fails to invest in human development in the Delta, and often enough the Nigerian security forces have been among the worst oppressors of their own people.

'No multinational company can claim to be ethical if it extracts resources and generates wealth from a society mired in poverty and human rights abuse,' says the report.

The report also recommends that Shell staff pay should be linked to progress on human rights and environmental challenges in the Delta.

Useful links

ECCR report
Shell Guilty campaign site

Amnesty report on Shell

  READ MORE...
COMMENT
Shell pays up in New York, but continues to flare gas
Shell's $15.5 million settlement provides hard cash to to the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta but while activists claim 'victory' they vow to fight on to end toxic gas flares
NEWS
'Pollution-as-usual' for Shell, report reveals
A new report reveals Shell's expanding investment in the most polluting fuels, attempts to scupper plans to act on climate change and the complicity of top executives in continued gas flaring in Nigeria
REVIEW
Poison Fire Interview
Filmmaker Lars Johansson talks to the Ecologist about the making of the film 'Poison Fire' and the curse of oil in the Niger Delta.
NEWS
Greenpeace calls for a ban on Arctic oil drilling
Immediate moratorium on all activity by oil and gas industries would help safeguard the local community and ecosystem as well as reduce potential carbon emissions
NEWS
Shell must close carcinogenic Philippines depot
The Supreme Court in the Philippines yesterday ordered the closure of Shell's Pandacan oil depot, which has been responsible for continuing carcinogenic air pollution.

More from this author