Africa: Forests under threat
Known by its historical past because of the vast and powerful empire that surprised European visitors in the XIV century, nowadays the Malian territory comprises more than 1,200,000 square kilometres in West Africa, over the Sahara desert in the north, the Sahel grasslands in the centre and the savannah region in the south. In the Sahel, human life as well as that of the flora and fauna follow the Niger River's annual flood cycle, with high water levels between August and November. More plentiful rainfall and water courses - including the Niger River - in the southern region give place to a more lush biodiversity.
With more than 58% of its land desert and another 30% threatened by the continued encroachment of the Sahel, Mali faces desertification and deforestation as two capital environmental problems, both of them strongly related to the loss of biodiversity.
The wide variety of plants and animals from the forests and other ecosystems containing trees - like the savannah - constitute an important component of household food supply. In many villages and small towns, the "hidden harvest" from forests and trees is essential for food security since it provides a number of essential dietary products. For example, the fruit of Saba senegalensis is widely eaten in Mali. The failure of the plantation projects using alien fast growing species in order to mitigate the effects of the drought registered in the decade of 1970, was due to the fact that they did not recognise that for many rural people the non-timber forest products are important to their social and economic survival. Thus they preferred native species to alien ones, no matter how fast they could grow.
Forests and trees contribute also indirectly to food security because they have a major role in the sustainability of agricultural production systems by providing, for example, nitrogen to the soil as in the case of leguminous species. This is the case of an agroforestry system adopted in Mali, with millet cultivation under Acacia albida.
The meat of wild animals - from mammals to insects - that are hunted or collected in the forests for food, known as bushmeat, is an important source of animal protein in both rural and urban households. Many communities still depend on wild animals and their products, used alone or with herbs, for medication and the treatment of a wide variety of diseases.
The use of wildlife as a food resource is controversial. To the official viewpoint the decline of wildlife in many parts of the country results from increasing population and the associated demand for land for agriculture and human settlement. Nevertheless such simplistic approach ignores the underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation. Nowadays the necessity of integrating the needs of local people into the management of wildlife resources and biodiversity is accepted as the only way to ensure conservation.
A similar situation is occuring with regards to firewood. A study conducted in 2000 by Mali's National Energy Bureau concluded that firewood accounts for nearly 100% of the country's domestic fuel needs, which - according to the study - would mean that each year more than 464,285 hectares of land would have to be deforested for energy supply purposes. However, taking into account recent studies in Africa, which prove that firewood use is not - as previously believed - a major cause of deforestation, the conclusions of the above study should be subject to further scrutiny.
Mistaken policies like those adopted in the past to conserve the forests in Mali, based on the "Blame the poor" approach, need to be avoided. In the mid-1980s an oppressive set of state policies was adopted. The Forest Service implemented a series of draconian restrictions on the use of forest products by local communities. This step was very unpopular and strongly resisted, since fines exceeded by far the rural per capita income, people were left without an important portion of their livelihoods, and policy implementation was aggressive. At last it had to be abandoned without any positive results. March 2001.
After the tragic floods in Mozambique, the time is ripe for people to start asking questions on what went wrong. What turned those floods into an epic disaster? What can be done to reduce the likelihood of it happening again?
David Lindley, national co-ordinator of the Rennies Wetlands Project (RWP) in South Africa, explains that "the cumulative impact of human activities without regard for nature has turned the recent floods from a natural phenomenon into a man-made disaster of epic proportions. Floods are a natural occurrence but nature has lots of checks and balances for preventing them getting out of hand," he points out. "Rivers do not occur in isolation but are part of intricate wetland systems consisting of grassland 'sponges' in the upper catchment areas, to marshes, reedbeds and floodplains in the middle catchment to swamp forests and estuaries at the bottom. These and many other types of wetlands are all linked together by rivers. Grasslands and wetlands are the river's safety valves. Grasslands are incredibly effective at increasing the infiltration of rain runoff into the ground. This reduces surface runoff flowing into rivers and streams during times of high rainfall, and maximises ground water seepage into these areas in the dry periods. When a river floods, wetlands spread out the water, slow it down and absorb it like a sponge, preventing the dangerously high peaks from occurring. It is these peaks which cause most of the damage, such as washing away bridges, and flooding towns." With approximately 50% of South Africa's wetlands destroyed through poor land management, the recurrence of devastating floods can only increase. Unless what's left is sustainably managed.
"What humans have done, in our infinite arrogance and lack of foresight, is to upset the integrity of our wetlands and mess with the dynamics of our rivers," Lindley says. The RWP has surveyed the upper catchment of the Sand River in Mpumalanga, for example, and found that 80% of the wetlands and most of the grasslands have been tilled for farming or overgrazed. It is no wonder that the Sand River is a raging torrent, if the upper catchment is in such poor condition. In the Northern Province, the same is true for wetlands of the Letaba River, which runs swollen and angry, overloaded with South Africa's greatest and most vital export - top soil. Vast tracts of bushveld have been overgrazed, leaving the soil bare, hard, and vulnerable to sheet erosion and flooding. This sad tale is bound to be true for those tributaries flowing into the flooding Limpopo. All over South Africa, floodwaters often have nowhere safe to go anymore. They cannot sink into the ground or be held back by marshes and floodplains. So they build up to monstrous proportions, wreaking havoc along their path and finally off loading their load of water onto land at the end of the chain - in this case the people of Mozambique. South Africa is externalizing it's cost of poor land management onto it's neighbours. June 2000.
Nnimmo Bassey, President of Oilwatch Africa, was detained on Sunday 26 October, when returning to Nigeria from the meeting of the International Committee of Oilwatch in Ecuador.
An architect, poet and active defender of human and environmental rights in this country, Nnimmo has been carrying on a persistent denounce of the abuses of oil companies in Nigeria. Although he has been politically active in Nigeria for years, it is only since becoming a high-profile, vocal critic of the oil industry that he has been imprisoned. In June-July 1996 he was imprisoned during 43 days for attempting to attend a West African regional meeting of Friends of the Earth.
Responding to an urgent call of the Oilwatch Network Secretariat, the International Secretariat of the WRM addressed a message to all WRM members and friends, asking to express their solidarity with Nnimmo. At the same time a fax was sent to the Nigerian Ambassador in Buenos Aires, Argentina, expressing our concern for Nnimmo's arrest and asking to be informed about his situation. We later received news that Nnimmo had been released. What follows is the letter where Nnimmo expresses his gratitude to all who supported him in those difficult moments:
I write to thank you all for the solidarity shown over my present brush with the weilders of state power here. I was arrested on arrival at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos at about 9 pm on Sunday 26th October. I was detained in the airport for the night and transferred to the Head Office of the SSS in Lagos the next morning. All through Monday I was subjected to rigorous interrogations. I spent Monday night in their cell. No talk of convenience in the cell! I regained partial freedom at about 8 pm on Tuesday night, I was allowed out of their center, but with all my luggage held hostage. That included my eye glasses, wedding ring, wrist watch and wallet. I was further interrogated on Wednesday and Thursday. Centred on my involvement in the struggle for a better environment in Nigeria. Centred also on my activism in the Oilwatch network.
I was finally released yesterday [Friday 31st October] at about 12 noon. My luggage was returned to me but my Passport is still being held. This means that my movement is severely restricted. Means my attending the FoEI AGM in Uruguay is quite unlikely.
Where is the liberty? Where my freedom? Our freedom?? I was only able to reunite with my family at about 5 pm yesterday; and this was when I was able to have a change of clothes since I left Quito!!
I have to keep reporting to the SSS and that in itself is dangerous!
That's the price to pay for fighting for an environment suitable for mankind.
That's it for now. Please do not push this matter to the back burners. Keep on the pressure. Nnimmo." November 1997.
WRM "unwittingly subversive"
As a response to a fax sent by the WRM International Secretariat requesting information about Baton Mittee, Nigerian activist arrested in connection with the Ogoni Day, we received the following letter from the Embassy of Nigeria in Buenos Aires:
"Mr. Ricardo Carrere. World Rain Forest Movement.
Re: Arrest of Baton Mittee in connection with Ogoni Day.
1. I am directed to acknowledge receipt of
your letter dated 28th January '98 on the above subject matter, and
to inform you that its contents have been forwarded to appropriate authorities
Human rights abuses continue
In spite of political changes after the coming to power of the new military government headed by General Abdulsalami Abubakar in 1998 the situation of human rights in Nigeria has not essentially improved. Members of civil society organizations - some of them involved in environmental causes - are frequently victims of abuses by military and police corps. The situation of jailed Nigerian environmentalists and Human Rights activists has provoked grave concern worldwide since the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa in November 1995 in relation to the struggle of the Ogoni people for the defense of their territory against Shell.
On 4 and 23 March 1999 the Nigerian military government announced the release of most of the remaining political prisoners. They included at least 39 prisoners of conscience and possible prisoners of conscience held in connection with alleged coup plots. Those who recovered their freedom have corroborated reports by prisoners released earlier and by former government officials that the alleged coup plot was a government fabrication used to imprison influential government critics, journalists and other human rights defenders. Severe cases of torture have been also denounced.
The process has not a clear positive trend. Three environmental activists - Mr Sagbama Owei Okpo, Mr Akpobarelo Didiya and Mr Sea Mum Kuku - have been in police detention since last March 20. Their supposed "crime" was to have public documents with them. All three are being held in solitary confinement in the cells of the State Investigation and Interrogation Bureau (SIIB) at Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Access to family and friends is denied, as well as that of medical assistance even if their health situation is deteriorating. It has also been denounced that they were subjected to torture, ill-treatment and humiliation while imprisoned.
To the former can be added that the government has not revoked the State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree, No. 2 of 1984, which allows indefinite detention without charge or trial of those deemed to have threatened the security or the economy of the state. No answer has been given to the questions raised by victims of human rights violations and human rights defenders about responsibility for the deaths in custody of political prisoners and for political killings suspected of being extrajudicial executions by government forces. April 1999.
Thousands of hectares of mangrove forest and fresh water swamps of the Niger Delta, in the Cross River State, will be destroyed by ongoing oil exploitation activities. Responsible for the situation are the companies Moni Polu Nigeria Limited, that in early 1998 started its oil prospections in the area, and Nobles Drilling, which was contracted to start drilling oil wells. By December 1998 about 8 oil wells had been sunk. A 1000 km long pipeline, that will pass through over 25 communities, has also been programmed. In spite of the letters of protest sent by Nigerian environmental NGOs to the firms involved and to the national authorities, the new phase of the project will start without the accomplishment of the required Environmental Impact Assessment.
Oil prospection and exploitation are known
worldwide for their negative environmental and social impact at the
local level: loss of indigenous peoples' or peasants' lands, health
problems, destruction of rainforests, pollution of water sources and
air. At a global level, more extraction means more fuel consumption
and liberation of CO2 to the atmosphere, the most relevant gas causing
global warming. In the specific case of Nigeria, the military intimidate
local populations, burn their houses and even kill the villagers that
resist oil related activities in their lands. Several cases of human
rights abuses have been denounced, as testified by the long struggle
of the Ogoni people against Shell in Ogoniland and the most recent facts
involving Chevron in the Delta State.
Nigeria has lost between 70 and 80% of its original forests and nowadays the area of its territory occupied by forests is reduced to 12% even if the entire country is located in the humid tropics. Having the largest population in Africa (115,000,000 inhabitants in 1996) it registers levels of 40% of illiteracy, while GNP per capita is only US$ 240. The authorities seem to ignore this reality and prefer to devote funds and efforts to megaprojects as the above referred, regardless of the real needs and aspirations of local communities. April 1999.
Oil and violence
Oil exploitation is responsible for the destruction of mangroves, local community displacement and suffering, as well as environmental degradation of water sources and soil in Nigeria. This depredation is usually accompanied by brutal actions against local community members and activists, during which armed corps constitute the executive arm of the companies. The Niger Delta is an area where oil prospection and exploitation are especially active. Environmental destruction and human rights abuses in this region to the hands of Shell and Chevron have been repeatedly denounced.
Last April the Ekebiri communities of the Southern Ijau Local Government Area of Bayelsa were victims of the violence displayed by a group of soldiers, under the control and direction of Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC). Ekebiri is a clan of three communities -Ekibiri I, II, and Opuadoma- with 32 other satellite villages, with an estimated population of about 10,000 people. NAOC has been responsible for several human rights abuses in the Niger Delta. The company has even been accused by several of its host communities for instigating ethnic clashes amongst them as a way of weakening their resistance.
The events leading to the blood-bath started when the communities demanded from NAOC a compensation for the incessant spillages that have occurred in their territories, since 1969, the last being in 1997, and in which the company refused to pay. At the beginning of 1999 the company went into discussion with the communities but refused to pay the demanded sum. The discussions then broke down and the communities took steps on April 17 to enforce their demand by closing down the company's 2 manifolds in their communities. The following day NAOC took a military escort and reopened the shut manifolds, what was resisted by the villagers. The soldiers then opened fire into two boats, filled with unarmed youths and chiefs of Ekebiri I and II, who where on their way to a meeting with the Commissioner of Police of Bayelsa State. Eyewitnesses said that the shooting lasted for about 40 minutes and the soldiers shot the fleeing youths and chiefs until they landed on their community waterfront. Some were shot dead right on the community water bank while scrambling to run into their community. On hearing the gun shots, the entire villagers ran for their safety and deserted the village. As a result of this brutal action eight people were killed, two chiefs arrested and the boats seized.
The Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd. has produced crude oil in this region since 1969, but despite these two decades of oil exploration and generation of huge benefits for the company, the local population has remained poor. And their environment destroyed.
The Niger Delta Human and Environmental Rescue Organization (ND-HERO) is worried over the extent of impunity of Agip in dealing with oil producing communities. Agip is considered the worst company ever regarding environmental degradation and human rights abuses, seconded only by Elf Aquitaine.
ND-HERO demands government to take urgent steps to bring Agip and the soldiers involved in these atrocities to justice and for Agip to abandon the use of the military in suppressing communities, and the instigation of ethnic struggles amongst the Niger Delta communities. May 1999.
Victory of local communities over Texaco
The Niger Delta, in the southern region of Nigeria, has been the scenario of environmental destruction and human rights abuses related to oil prospection and exploitation. The activity of oil companies like Shell, Mobil, Chevron and NAOC -supported by Nigerian armed corps- is strongly denounced and resisted by local communities. Local peoples have just achieved a great victory over the powerful US-based Texaco Company, which has been forced to stop its operations in the Delta region. This successful result was obtained as a result of effective protests and direct actions. For example, community members blockaded the Funiwa and North Apoi platforms, cutting production of more than 50,000 barrels per day of the light crude extracted from that area. At the same time, youths attacked Texaco's office in the southern industry hub of Warri.
Texaco is not the only oil multinational which has been forced to put and end to or scale back their operations due to the occupation of flow stations and oil platforms. Last January Shell, the largest producer of oil in the region, was the first to be shut down by non-violent protesters, and nowadays the company is operating at 25% capacity.
Although the oil companies have not yet left the area, opposition is mounting. In December 1998, nearly 500 Ijaw communities and over 200 non-governmental organizations around the world endorsed the Kaiama Declaration, which asked oil multinationals operating in the Niger Delta to voluntarily cease operations in order to seek remedy for the impacts of oil production on communities and their environment. August 1999.
The struggle continues
Four years have passed since the judicial murder of Ken Saro Wiwa together with other eight human rights activists to the hands of the Nigerian military dictatorship on November 10th 1995, that generated condemnation and outrage worldwide. Nevertheless - and in spite of the political changes that occured in the country - environmental destruction and human rights abuses associated to oil exploration and extraction in the Niger Delta region continues. A delegation of US social and environmental organizations' representatives who visited that region during this month reported that the irresponsibility of the multinational oil companies operating in the area - e.g. Shell and Chevron - in relation to environmental and social issues are threatening to the survival of local people and the fragile political stability of the country. The Nigerian government has not yet met the demands in the Ogoni Bill of Rights which would guarantee them their existence in their traditional territories. Additionally, the authorities continue to work in favour of oil companies and against their own people by not implementing the independent environmental impact assessment on Ogoniland as recommended by the UN. Environmental degradation and poverty are not only affecting the Ogoni, but also other people of the Niger Delta, such as the Ijaw, the Itsekiri, and the Urhobos.
"We the Ogonis have been cheated in the past 41 years of our fair share of revenue from oil exploration and extraction in our land by Shell with assistance from the governments of Nigeria. We need not restate the fact that in a land so richly blessed by nature, we have been met with poverty and injustice. Our people have nothing to show for their sacrifices and for a long time, this giant multinational corporation has continued to humiliate our existence. Shell has wasted our environment with oil exploration and in return repaid us with a degraded and polluted land, poisoned air and streams" reads a statement by MOSOP-UK (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People) dated September 10th. The Ogoni people reject the so called "Development Project Programme" that the company has proposed for their territory and have declared Shell "persona non grata" in Ogoniland.
"Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues" said Ken Saro Wiwa before being executed. His last message keeps its significance and vigour in these difficult times. September - October 1999.
A positive change in oil activities?
The Urhobo National Assembly (UNA), which represents the Urhobo nation in the Nigerian federal state, stopped all oil exploration activities in the region of the Niger Delta, where an oil spill fire destroyed last September a large area of fragile ecosystems. Once again the involved oil company is Royal Dutch Shell. It will remain expelled from several affected communities until an independent investigation on the explosion has been satisfactorily conducted and made known by experts from several Southern countries. The Urhobo also demanded for immediate clean up of all polluted land, as well as compensation. "When this spill occurred we thought we will be treated like human beings. But this has gone a long way to prove right what our other neighbours have been telling us about oil firms, especially Shell, about their insincerity" said a leader of the Ikeerre community.
As usual, Shell has not assumed any responsibility for the peoples' suffering. A trustworthy source of Shell admited to ERA (Environmental Rights Action) at the Aluu-Agbada West flow station, that the pipes are very old and cannot withstand the much pressure. He attributed the frequent spills being experienced to this factor, among others. The last case of September 17 and 18 of 1999 has not been the only one in the Niger Delta. On December 12 of 1998 a blowout occurred on a Shell flow line leading to the Aluu-Agbada West flow station. The accident contributed to the pollution of the Onuigigbo river, which is the only source of drinking water and fishing for the Omuike people.
In relation to the present situation of the country regarding communities and the environment, the Ijaw Youth Council stated that: "Nigeria is standing still on the ocean of oppression. We must move away from sinister waves of violence that have been let loose by the agents of injustice. We have only one option. We either march most relentlessly towards the finishing line of self-determination, resource control, environmental protection and a truly Federal Nigeria or be drowned."
In a surprising move that can mean a positive switch, the Federal Government has blamed the situation in the Niger Delta on what it called "heinous environmental crimes" of multinational oil companies. It also traced the killing of Ken Saro Wiwa and other activists to the activities of the oil companies. The government's spokesperson has been the Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Ime Okopido, who on October 22 outlined strict conditions for oil firms in the Niger Delta and gave them a six-week ultimatum to clean up the communities' environment. Nevertheless, only the future actions of the authorities will reflect how much they are interested in defending their own people's interests. The Nigerian Government has been and is still being severely criticised at the national as well as at the international level for its violation of human and environmental rights. November 1999.
Cross River's forests need your help
Between 70 and 80% of Nigeria's original forests have disappeared and nowadays the area of its territory occupied by forests is reduced to 12%, even if the entire country is located in the humid tropics. All of the country's remaining primary rainforest watersheds, covering about 7,000 km2, are located in Cross River state. This region also contains 1,000 km2 of mangrove and swamp forest, being oil exploitation an important cause of their degradation and destruction.
Commercial logging and hunting of wildlife are important threats to Nigerian primary rainforest and its dependent species. Cross River state is very rich in biodiversity. It harbours several species of primates, migratory and resident birds, and 950 species of butterflies - a quarter of the number to be found in tropical Africa - 100 of which are endemic. Many of Africa's rarest trees, such as mahogany, ironwood, camwood and mimosup, grow in this forest, that is connected to a larger forest area in neighbouring Cameroon. Exports of roundwood of valuable species - such as afzelia (Afzelia africana), ekki, idigbo (Terminalia ivorensis), obeche, and teak (Tectona grandis) - to Europe, the USA and Japan is depleting Cross River's forests.
Social aspects concerning the region are also relevant. NGOCE - a coalition of Cross River conservation groups - is promoting activities for a sustainable use of the forests to the benefit of the local dwellers, as an alternative to the present depredation by foreign actors. Among them: education programmes for the local communities regarding the importance of a healthy forest to their self-sufficient lifestyle, assistance to the communities in developing alternative income-generating projects that will alleviate pressure on the forest, and support to fundraising efforts and provision of technical assistance to NGOs.
Recently Cross River state's new Governor, Mr. Donald Duke, suspended all forest logging concessions that were granted under the previous administration. The cancellation of logging licenses is connected with the reckless manner in which the forest reserves had been exploited and a response to the continuous demands of environmental and social NGOs, as the above named NGOCE. December 1999.
In tropical countries oil companies generally act with strong support from local governments. Nigeria, and especially its Niger Delta region, is a paradigmatic case. As a result of the visit that representatives from US social and environmental organizations made to the Niger Delta region in September 1999, the NGO "Global Exchange and Essential Action" has recently published a report titled "Oil For Nothing: Multinational Corporations, Environmental Destruction, Death and Impunity in the Niger Delta." The report says that Chevron, Shell, Mobil, Elf and Agip, "act as a destabilizing force, pitting one community against another, and acting as a catalyst - together with the military with whom they work closely - to some of the violence racking the region today." It underscores that even if during the last 40 years both the Nigerian government and oil multinationals have made huge profits out of the oil extracted from the Niger Delta, the region undergoes high unemployment and poverty rates, corruption, repression, failing crops, declining fisheries, polluted waters, dying forests and vanishing wildlife. Far from contributing to the welfare of the region, oil corporations, the government and the military have exploited ethnic differences in the Delta, as well as menaced and murdered people to avoid any opposition attempt.
Nevertheless, resistance by the Niger Delta peoples continues. Last February the Ijaw National Youth called on the government and the oil companies operating in the Niger Delta to enter into genuine dialogue with local communities "on the matter of resource control, self-determination and a truly federal Nigeria." At the international level, abuses by the military to the detriment of local dwellers are continually being denounced. The government's announcement last October of strict conditions for oil firms to clean up the communities' environment was cautiously but well received by environmental and social organizations. However, there are still no clear signs showing that things have really changed for the better.
It is interesting to point out that "Oil for nothing" was released in the US, coinciding with mounting opposition against a major Chevron refinery in California which is being accused of releasing dangerous pollutants. Several cases of environmental racism - such as the location of polluting industries among poor, generally black communities - have been denounced in that country. It is the same racism that Northern oil companies show with regards to people and the environment in Nigeria. March 2000.
Shell sets forests on fire
In October 1999 the Nigerian Minister of the Environment himself blamed multinational oil companies for the situation reigning in the Niger Delta, and gave them a six-week ultimatum to clean up the communities' environment affected by several oil spills. However, nothing much seems to have changed.
For six months -from 10 June 1998 to December 1998- a pipeline belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) in Kolo Creek, at Num River watershed, burst and discharged crude oil into the Oyara mangrove forests, endangering Otuegwe 1, a small rural community with predominantly indigenous population devoted to farming and fishing. Due to heavy rains that occurred during this period, the oil spill dispersed into surrounding water streams, farms and sacred sites of the Otuegwe. To face the accusations that blamed the company, Shell opted to blame the victims, and attributed the spill to an act of sabotage. Thus it declined to assume the responsibility of repairing the leaking pipeline.
Local communities of farmers and fisherfolk, which had to suffer not only from health hazards but also from the impacts of the spill on their natural resources, started a campaign with the help of the Niger Delta Human and Environmental Rescue Organisation (ND-HERO). At last Shell had to respond to such pressure and hired Willbros Nigerian Ltd to repair the leakage. The company also chose an "environmentally responsible" way of eliminating the remaining residue of the oil spill: it set fire to vast extents of forest! This strategy of forest burning seems to be the official policy of Shell as a means of "cleaning" crude oil spills in the Niger Delta. Other communities of the Niger Delta, as Obelele and Igebiri, have witnessed this same Shell policy, and already 3,500 km2 have been destroyed by the effect of the drastic method of provoking intentional fires.
As a result of the negative impacts of this activity, people of the Niger Delta do not want the oil companies in general -and Shell in particular- any longer in their territories. However, oil transnationals and the Federal Government continue to ignore the communities' claims, who have to pay the high cost of cheap oil. "We promise to listen", says Shell in its web page. But in the Niger Delta, the company seems to have become almost completely deaf. April 2000.
Poverty, oil pipelines and death
Blaming the victims is common practice in many places. In the case of Nigeria, such practice can only be defined as criminal. On July 11, more than 200 villagers from Adeje died when a gasoline pipeline exploded. Many others suffer from terrible injuries. The media reports that "the victims were villagers who were scooping up gasoline after the pipeline, which carries refined petroleum products from Warri to northern Nigeria, was punctured by thieves on Sunday night." So they were theives and those who punctured the pipeline were "vandals". As easy as that. End of the story. For the government, "several lives" were lost and "a vital petroleum products pipeline" destroyed.
Any more or less responsible journalist should have asked why people are "vandalizing" the pipelines and why people are "stealing" gasoline. Even worse: the news carry the necessary information to reach the obvious conclusions. But the conclusions are not there. The blame is on the victims.
Nigeria, says the Associated Press, "is the world's sixth-largest oil exporter, accounting for about one-twelfth of the oil imported by the United States. Sales of crude oil account for more than 80 percent of the government's revenue." The same agency informs that " some cases of sabotage are carried out by militant activists trying to force the government and oil companies to compensate communities for land use and alleged pollution. In other cases, villagers break open the pipeline and collect the gushing fuel to make a crude mixture of oil and gasoline for cheap generators and other motors."
The above information shows that local communities have not been compensated for their lands, that their environment has been polluted and that none of the wealth generated by oil has "trickled down" to local communities. People don't go about vandalizing oil pipelines just for fun - almost 500 cases of vandalism were reported in 1999 - nor do they collect gasoline to be sold on the roads as a hobby. The former is done through anger and frustration and the latter for dire need. The Associated Press itself links these issues by saying that "pipeline sabotage is common in poverty-wracked Nigeria." An official of the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation came closer to honesty when he said -requesting anonymity- that vandalisation of fuel pipelines was "rampant" in the region, adding: "The issue is not just sabotage. It is simply stealing of fuel to survive."
A government statement, signed by Information Minister Jerry Gana, said that Nigeria has spent "enormous resources" to educate people about the need to "protect installations and oil pipelines so as to avoid these tragic accidents which have always resulted in loss of lives and property." So the official conclusion is that people continue being ignorant in spite of the government's educational activities!
People are not ignorant. They need to survive. They need a healthy environment to live in. And that's what they are trying to do in different manners. The blame for this tragedy is not on the people. It's on the greed of oil corporations -none of the major ones where named in the news- and on the government's unwillingness to protect its own people and environment. July 2000.
At whose expense is oil drilled in the Niger Delta?
Indigenous peoples of the oil-rich Niger Delta region continue to suffer environmental degradation, poverty and violence to the hands of oil companies that operate in the area. The companies themselves, together with the Nigerian and Northern country governments are responsible for the present state of things.
Shell, that holds a sad record during its long history in the Niger Delta, has set aside a total of US$ 1billion to develop its offshore oil and gas field in the region. This project is being financed by a funding agreement between oil companies in Nigeria and the Nigerian Petroleum Corporation. Since oil accounts for 90% of Nigeria's foreign earnings, the Nigerian Government is interested in increasing the country's crude oil production at all cost. At the same time, the state is in charge of the "security" of the area. This does not mean defending the right of local communities to live in peace in a healthy environment but, on the contrary, defending oil companies' interests to the detriment of the Niger Delta population. The Nigerian government is not alone in this task. The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP-UK) has recently denounced that the US government has granted military aid consisting of eight fast attack vessels to the Nigerian Navy, in order to patrol the region.
At whose expense is oil drilled in the Niger Delta? MOSOP-UK denounces that "the Niger Delta people are the ones who are bearing the brunt of the opportunity cost of oil exploration in Nigeria. The weight of this cost is increasingly proving too high to bear on the people". Paradoxically, the Niger Delta means enormous earnings for a few and at the same time poverty and sufferance for the vast majority. "While our children suffer malnutrition from starvation in a land of plenty; our husbands, fathers and brothers are being killed for protesting the injustice met on our land; our women raped by oil company contractors and security agents; our environment destroyed with no hope for our future generations" says MOSOP-UK's President Ms. Gbenewa Phido.
She adds: "It is time the environment of Niger Delta people is protected. It is time the continuous harassment and intimidation of Niger Delta people by oil companies and the Nigerian Security agents is stopped. It is time Niger Delta people are appreciated and respected as a people with rights and not treated as hooligans and troublemakers as has been portrayed in the recent past. It is time Niger Delta people stood up and remain standing until their rights are restored." September 2000.
Shell's choice between profits and principles
Shell is continuing its clever misleading propaganda orchestrated through advertisements circulating in the most influencial press media of the North, in order to revamp its tarnished image and convince public opinion that it is an environmentally friendly company. The campaign "Profits and Principles: Is there a choice?" is based on beautiful photographs of wild animals, lush forests, and tender faces of African people accompanied by texts like: "Time and again at Shell we're discovering the rewards of respecting the environment when doing business". "If we're exploring for oil and gas reserves in environmental sensitive regions, we consult widely with the different local and global interest groups to ensure than biodiversity in each location is preserved." "At Shell we are committed to support fundamental human rights. We invest in the communities around us to create new opportunities and growths."
Nevertheless in the Niger Delta reality could not be more far away from the self image the company is making efforts to show. Since 1958, when Shell arrived to the region a nightmare began for the Ogoni, an indigenous nation of about 500,000 people living in the area. Counting on the support of successive governments Shell took hold of Ogoniland. As in other parts of the world where oil is exploited, the result has been high unemployment and poverty rates, environmental devastation and loss of livelihoods for the local people. Repression has been brutal. About 80,000 people had their villages destroyed and about 2,000 were killed by the state armed corps. Last November 10th marked the 5th anniversary of the murder of the environmental leaders Ken Saro Wiwa, Barinem Kiobel, John Kpuinen, Saturday Dorbee, Paul Levura, Nordu Eawo, Felix Nuate, Daniel Gboko and Baribor Bera. Their "crime" was to fight for the rights of their people against abuses commited by Shell and the Nigerian military government that was backing it.
In 1993 the Ogoni declared Shell "persona non grata" and got it out of their lands. But after an absence of seven years the company is menacing to return to Ogoniland. In April this year the announcement was made that the only aim of Shell was to remove its remaining facilities, which were causing environmental problems in the area due to the emission of poisonous gases and uncontrolled leaking. Nonetheless in October Shell admitted that its real intentions were to reactivate its 125 oil wells in the region. If this happens violence, collusion and misery will increase. It is clear that Shell has got an answer to the question of whether there is a choice between profits and principles. The answer is yes and the choice is profits. November 2000.
Malaysian corporation to invest in palm oil production
Malaysia is the world's top producer and exporter of palm oil, generating fifty percent of the global output, of which 85% is exported. Within the African continent, Nigeria is the country having the more extensive oil palm plantations, with at least 350,000 hectares planted to this crop. According to recent news, a Malaysian corporation will begin to invest in Nigeria's palm oil sector, with government support from both countries.
Sime Darby Plantations - the largest oil palm producing company in Malaysia - will soon establish an oil palm processing refinery in Nigeria's Cross River State. This is the result of the five days visit to Cross River State by a delegation from Malaysia, which was a follow up to that by the state governor to that country some months ago and is at the instance of the prime minister of Malaysia.
The leader of the Malaysian delegation announced the intention to establish an oil palm processing refinery shortly after inspecting oil palm plantations in various parts of Cross River State. He revealed that it was the intention of Sime Darby Plantations to bring some of the new technological know-how in oil palm processing to the state and regretted the state of obsolete equipment in some of the oil estates visited.
He commended the Cross River State government for promoting and providing the enabling environment for business transactions in the state. The delegation visited the Export Processing Zone (EPZ), where its general manager assured the team of free imports and exports. They also visited the Calabar seaport.
So everything seems to be set for this investment. There are however two questions that need to be posed. The first one is related to the Malaysian firm itself: what is Sime Darby's business? According to the company's own web page, it is "Malaysia's largest and oldest conglomerate" and "owns or has interests in more than 270 companies, primarily in Asia. Its core business activities include the distribution of autos (BMW, Ford, Land Rover) and heavy equipment (Caterpillar); the manufacture of finished rubber products (mainly tires); plantations (oil palm, rubber, cocoa, and fruit crops); property development; and trading. Sime Darby is also acquiring generation assets."
In relation with oil palm, the following is revealing: "The company is trusting that the diversity of its holdings will secure growth. While palm oil prices are falling, hurting the plantation business, there is increasing demand for Sime Darby-supplied automobiles and heavy equipment." The Nigerian government should take that into account before subsidising the company with "free imports and exports." If palm oil prices fall, Sime Darby will earn money through its other activities, but what about Nigeria?
The second question is related to oil palm itself. Oil palm plantations are spreading throughout the tropics and in all cases where large scale plantations of this crop are implemented there are reports of important social and environmental impacts. The jobs they generate are few, seasonal, badly paid and in bad working conditions. Local peoples are deprived of their livelihoods and the overall employment tends to decrease at the local level. Impacts on water, soils and biodiversity are widespread and in many cases lead to high deforestation rates. Can this be called development? December 2000.
Gold Medal to Shell: A mockery to the people
Oil companies are worldwide known for the negative environmental impact they produce both at the local and the global levels. While in the places where oil prospection and exploitation is performed, environmental destruction and social disruption is the rule, at the global level the burning of fossil fuels is one of the main causes of global warming.
In this regard, Shell's performance at the Niger Delta, in Nigeria, constitutes a paradigmatic example. The 'Human Rights & Environmental Operations Information on the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies, 1996-1997' states: "There are approximately 7,000 square km of mangroves in Rivers and Bayelsa States, which contain 349 drilling sites, 700 kilometres of flowlines, 22 flow stations, and one terminal. According to a European Community study, the waters of the Niger Delta contain levels of petroleum ranging from 8 ppm to 60 ppm. ...these levels are hazardous to both aquatic and human life." To face increasing criticisms, Shell recently launched a campaign - "Profits and Principles. Is there a choice?" - in influential Northern press media, trying to portray itself as environmentally sound and a defender of human rights.
The campaign seems to have born fruit: Shell will receive next March the 2001 Gold Medal for International Corporate Environmental Achievement awarded by the World Environment Center (WEC). According to WEC's web site, this prize is annually awarded "to a major multinational corporation with an outstanding, creative, sustained and well-implemented global environmental policy . . . The Jury cited Shell for its commitment to sustainable development, both as a guiding principle for its worldwide operations and as a cornerstone of the company's management values".
If one looks at Shell's sad environmental and social record in Nigeria and other parts of the world such decision is impossible to understand. Nevertheless, considering who are involved in the WEC and which companies received the award in previous years, things become much more clear. In effect, according to its web site, "WEC continues to carry out its mission thanks to the generosity of its many funders". Many of the biggest oil, pulp and paper, biotechnology and chemical companies in the world are included as funders: British Petroleum, Occidental Petroleum, Exxon, Texaco, International Paper, Weyerhaeuser, Novartis, Monsanto, BASF, Dow Chemical, and, of course, the Royal Dutch Shell Group. In 1986 the precious Gold Medal was granted to Exxon, in 1989 to Dow Chemical, and in 2000 to International Paper! February 2001.
Palm oil deficit in a traditional palm oil producing country
Oil palm is indigenous to the Nigerian coastal plain, having migrated inland as a staple crop. In the case of Nigeria, oil palm cultivation is part of the way of life - indeed it is the culture - of millions of people. However, during the past decades the country has become a net importer of palm oil. While in the early 1960s, Nigeria's palm oil production accounted for 43% of the world production, nowadays it only accounts for 7% of total global output.
Contrary to the situation of the oil palm heavyweights Malaysia and Indonesia - whose production is based on large-scale monocultures - in Nigeria 80% of production comes from dispersed smallholders who harvest semi-wild plants and use manual processing techniques. Several million smallholders are spread over an estimated area of 1.65 million hectares in the southern part of Nigeria. Oil palm is inter-cropped with food crops such as cassava, yam and maize.
In an attempt to emulate the "success stories" of the two above mentioned countries, Nigeria tried to implement large-scale plantations, which resulted in complete failures. Such were the cases of the 1960's Cross River State project and of the European Union-funded "Oil palm belt rural development programme" in the 1990's. This project included the plantation of 6,750 hectares of oil palm within an area thought to be one of the largest remnants of tropical rainforest in Nigeria. In spite of local opposition, the project moved forward and EU funding was only discontinued in 1995, seven years after its approval.
The project was implemented by a company called Risonplan Ltd., partly owned by the government. The company appropriated land owned by local communities without their consent and with minimal compensation. Once land had been secured, Risonpalm constructed a huge dyke and bulldozed many thousands of hectares of the project area for cultivation. Local peoples' forests, farms and grave sites were destroyed, fish ponds were poisoned, pesticides banned in Europe were used, and land tenure problems arose. The dyke and drains have considerably altered the hydrology of the area which has already led to the death of trees. The proliferation of roads led to an increase in logging and hunting, and it is expected that all of the area's mature timber trees will be felled in the near future. As revealed in the Commission's own mid-term review, the use of heavy machinery caused compaction of soils. Local peoples conducted strikes and tried to obstruct the project, which consultants to the Commission conceded was the "only effective means to express their discontent".
Other large scale projects have resulted in similar impacts and have also resulted in major failures. The situation thus appears to be at a standpoint, where neither monocultures nor smallholdings seem able to provide answers to the problem of the scarcity of palm oil in one of the countries where the oil palm is native. However - according to experienced local people - the solution to the problem should not be impossible to achieve if adequate policies were put in place and implemented, along with certain guidelines such as:
- Large scale monocultures should not be
implemented because they involve soil - and in many places water - mining,
they damage ecosystems, undermine human society and they are an inefficient
way of producing resources.
People protect mangroves against shrimp farming
The Nigerian area of saline mangrove swamps stretches through the coastal states with 504,800 hectares in the Niger Delta and 95,000 hectares in Cross River State. The mangrove forests of Nigeria rank as the largest in Africa and as the third largest in the world.
The Niger Delta has provided the best conditions for the thriving of vegetation on the Nigerian coast. Many of these areas are truly representative of untouched mangrove forests, as well as being reserves that protect unique and threatened valuable species. By some estimates, over 60% of fishes caught between the Gulf of Guinea and Angola breed in the mangrove belt of the Niger delta.
Typically, these are fragile ecosystems which can be easily destroyed by unsustainable human interventions such as oil exploration, exploitation and transportation processes.
The inhabitants of historical settlements in the Niger Delta depend on fish and other mangrove resources for their livelihood. Mangrove wood is still a multi-purpose resource for fish stakes, fish traps, boat building, boat paddles, yam stakes, fencing, carvings, building timber and fuel.
Although there is an institutional framework for the management of forests and wildlife, existing legislation is either obsolete or ineffectively enforced. Some areas have been proposed for wetland conservation but none of the proposals have been implemented.
Current problems for mangrove conservation include urban development, coastal erosion, oil pollution, gas flaring as well as the replacement of native mangroves by the exotic palm Nypa fruticans, which has been identified as an ecological disaster deserving urgent attention.
Now, a new menace looms on the Nigerian horizon: industrial shrimp farming. Sponsored by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a branch of the World Bank, the Shell Petroleum Company of Nigeria Contractors will receive funds to develop this activity with the support of the Nigerian President.
The Mangrove Forest Conservation Society of Nigeria, together with other NGOs and CBOs - Rights Action, Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Eni-Owei _OU-Degema, ECO-out reach, Agape is a birth right, Niger Delta Project for Environment, Human rights and Development (NDPEHRD), Civil Liberty organization, Ijaw Council for Human Right (ICHR), Niger Delta Protect League (NDPL), Okoloma Forum and Kalio-Ama Ecological Foundation - are opposing the project and propose a rejection/moratorium on the IFC Credit Loan facilities to Shell Contractors without consultation. They will also draw up a programme to reverse presidential or any other support for shrimp farming. October 2001.
Godforsaken by oil
The Niger Delta is one of the world's largest wetlands, and the largest in Africa: it encompasses over 20,000 square kilometers. It is a vast floodplain built up by the accumulation of centuries of silt washed down the Niger and Benue Rivers, composed of four main ecological zones - coastal barrier islands, mangroves, fresh water swamp forests, and lowland rainforests - whose boundaries vary according to the patterns of seasonal flooding.
The mangrove forest of Nigeria is the third largest in the world and the largest in Africa; over 60 percent of this mangrove, or 6,000 square kilometers, is found in the Niger Delta. The freshwater swamp forests of the delta reach 11,700 square kilometers and are the most extensive in west and central Africa. The Niger Delta region has the high biodiversity characteristic of extensive swamp and forest areas, with many unique species of plants and animals. It also contains 60 - 80 per cent of all Nigerian plant and animal species. The Niger Delta alone has 134 fresh water and brackish water fish species as compared with 192 for the entire continent of Europe.
All that is being destroyed, within the framework of widespread human rights violations, by oil transnationals such as Shell, Agip, Mobil, Texaco and Chevron. As Nnimmo Bassey from Oilwatch says: "The story of oil and gas in Africa is the story of rogue exploitation, despoliation and bizarre brigandage. It is a story of pollution, displacement and pillage. It is a montage of burnt rivers, burnt forests and maimed lives. An oil well is a death sentence if it is located in your backyard."
Perhaps the best description of the essence of oil exploitation is the one overheard by Nnimmo while standing at the Johannesburg International Airport behind two US oil industry workers based in Nigeria. "Just imagine," one said, "how crude oil is always found in Godforsaken places." "No," the partner replied, "it is crude oil exploitation that makes those places Godforsaken." Amen.
To the government and oil TNCs, the Niger Delta's biodiversity and peoples mean nothing. What matters is only the oil hidden underneath. Nature and people are simply obstacles to be removed. The Niger Delta produces 3.2 per cent of the world's oil requirements. Oil exports make up over 90 per cent of Nigeria's export income, bringing the government a daily revenue of US$ 20 million.
But in spite of the brutality of the TNC-government alliance, people continue resisting the destruction of their environment and livelihoods. Such resistance is fraught with danger. Ken Saro-Wiwa, was "legally" assassinated - by hanging - in November 1995, but his message is as strong as ever. Ken described the environment in Ogoni as having been "completely devastated by three decades of reckless oil exploitation or ecological warfare by Shell An ecological war is highly lethal, the more so as it is unconventional. It is omnicidal in effect. Human life, flora, fauna, the air, fall at its feet, and finally, the land itself dies."
It would perhaps be a good idea to ask the "distinguished delegates" of the countries where the relevant TNCs are based, as well as to the "distinguished delegates" of Nigeria present at the upcoming Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity: is this what you mean by biodiversity conservation? March 2002.
The World Bank first and the Hutu-Tutsi civil war later have led the Batwa pigmies to near extinction and years of suffering, without this being reported by the world mass media.
In 1967 the World Bank and the European Fund started to implement a project of cattle raising and potato production in the forests occupied by the Batwa. They were expelled from their forest without explanation nor compensation of any kind. In 1982 the World Bank considered that only 5,000 hectares of these forests should be protected, while the rest was to be converted to cattle raising, pine plantations and military objectives. During the whole process the Batwa were completely ignored by the Bank's "experts". As a result, the Batwa were deprived of their livelihoods and the Gishwati forest shrunk to a mere 3800 hectares.
The already serious problems that the Batwa were facing dramatically increased during the 1990-1994 Hutu-Tutsi war, were they suffered attacks from both sides. Before 1994, the Batwa population was estimated in some 30000 people and 10000 - a third - were killed during a confrontation in which they did not take part. In spite of this, they were never mentioned in the mass media's coverage of the war. The country's forests also suffered and it is estimated that some 15000 hectares of forests were destroyed, while a further 35000 hectares were seriously degraded during the war.
A 61-year old Batwa says: "We were chased out of our forest, which was our father because it provided us with food through gathering and hunting ... The State chased us out of the forest and we had to settle in the fringes, where we die of starvation. All the development projects that were carried out in Gishwati forest have done nothing for us and no Batwa has even received the benefit of a job."
During all these years, the World Bank has been recognizing its past errors and has developed a number of policies regarding the protection of forests and forest peoples' rights. Although these are positive developments, they are useless for the Batwa unless the Bank commits itself to redress its past errors and works out a solution for them, whose plight began with a World Bank project. It may not be a bureaucratic necessity, but it certainly is a moral obligation. May 2000.
For many years, fuelwood use and charcoal production have been blamed for deforestation throughout the South, though this has seldom been the truth. In the case of Senegal it is clearly false. Charcoal is a major energy source in this country, where its capital city Dakar consumes 90 per cent of all the charcoal produced from the forest. However, forests are not even close to exhaustion, and regeneration after woodcutting is reported to be quite robust. But charcoal production is resulting in other types of impacts on the local communities where it is being produced, which have usually gone unreported.
It is important to highlight than in Senegal the state claims ownership over all forests and its Forest Service claims the right to manage them according to "national needs". Within the charcoal production sector, the management system put in place by the Forest Service only allows urban-based merchants to cut the forest, produce charcoal and market it. These merchants hire woodcutters from outside the area. The result is that local communities receive very few benefits from this activity, while the social and ecological costs of forest clearing are spread over the villages as a whole, disproportionally affecting women and poorer households.
In the case of women interviewed on this matter, they have recounted that before the arrival of charcoal producers, firewood had been available just outside the compounds, whereas after the first two years, firewood had to be gathered at distances of several kilometres, requiring anywhere from a couple of hours to half a day to collect. They have also explained that charcoal production has led to the disappearance of game birds and animals which are part of their diet. Additionally, they have complained that the presence of migrant charcoal producers drew down the wells, creating water shortages and water quality problems. Other concerns include social problems arising from hosting scores of migrant woodcutters in the village, harassment of women in the forest and fights over wood gathering between woodcutters and women.
Other impacts affect the community as a whole, among which the destruction of plants used for food, fodder, medicines and dyes, as well as wood for house construction. Woodcutters are also accused of starting bushfires, while heavy truckloads of charcoal are responsible for destroying the roads so badly that villagers are unable to take their products to market and to bring back the products they need.
This unfair situation, where local people receive only the impacts of a lucrative activity - some of the traders are reported to have made 100,000 US dollars in profits per year - has in some cases resulted in organized resistance. Such is the case of the district of Makacoulibantang in Eastern Senegal, where local villagers have blocked urban-based merchants and their migrant woodcutters from working in their forests. Resistance was partly aimed at stopping the destruction of a resource on which they depend for daily needs and partly to reap some of the benefits from woodfuel production and commerce.
Unfortunately, the Forest Service has continued taking sides with the merchants, while the minister for the protection of nature has visualized those acts of resistance as "a dangerous set of events that could spread" and adding that "if villagers were given control of the forests there would be fuel shortages in Dakar." However, the minister appears to forget that the only fuel shortages in Dakar have been purposely created by merchants to obtain further benefits. What they have done is to threaten the ministers and the Forest Service with shortages in order to eke out quotas and to keep the forest policy friendly to their interests - in which until now they have been very successful. July 2001.
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