Four Nigerian farmers take on Shell in a Dutch court accusing
the oil giant of destroying their livelihoods in a case that could set a
precedent for global environmental responsibility. The civil suit, backed by
lobby group Friends of the Earth, alleges that oil spills dating back to 2005
by the Anglo-Dutch company made fishing and farming in the plaintiffs’ Niger
Delta villages impossible.
The case was initially filed in 2008, demanding that Royal
Dutch Shell clean up the mess, repair and maintain defective pipelines to
prevent further damage and pay out compensation.
In a landmark ruling, the Dutch judiciary in 2009 declared
itself competent to try the case despite protests from Shell that its Nigerian
subsidiary was solely legally responsible for any damage.
Oil pollution has ravaged swathes of the Niger Delta in the
world’s eighth largest oil producer, which exports more than two million
barrels a day. Shell is the biggest producer in Nigeria where it has been
drilling for over 50 years. Environmental groups accuse Shell of double
standards and treating spills in Nigeria differently from pollution in Europe
or North America.
The 2010 explosion and sinking of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig
led to around five million barrels of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico in
the biggest ever marine spill. Shell says that spills in Nigeria are well below
five million barrels and that the company cleans up whenever there is a leak,
many of which it says are caused by sabotage.
