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| WHY OIL & MANGROVES DO NOT MIX! The demand for crude oil to propel our Industrial Revolution ever forward comes with a high, too often, externalized cost, which few consumers realize or think about, yet which we all must pay for.in the end. In this mad rush for globalization and free trade, the immense problems created by oil exploitation are made clearer and are in urgent need of our immediate attention. This urgency also applies to the health and future of vast tracts of mangrove forests which are today adversely affected by oil pollution and related developments. Oil spills, which are quite numerous and continue to plague the petroleum industry are a very serious concern in regards to the health of our planet's remaining mangrove forests. The leaked oil permeates the coastal waters and streams, coating the exposed, air breathing roots of the mangroves, making it difficult, if not impossible, for the plants' breathing lenticels to perform their essential functions, thus in effect slowly suffocating the mangroves. Massive mangrove die offs are a common phenomena plaguing the mangrove regions where coastal oil exploitation occurs. Photo - Nijer Delta, with wetlands ruined by oil spills Because oil spills often occur in remote regions, these innumerable accidents may go for long periods undetected, and are consequently very difficult to clean up in an effective and timely manner. Also, becasuse the harmful effects of such spillages are so devastatingly long term, international efforts to conserve these invaluable coastal wetland ecosystems are thwarted. And, the affected mangrove forests are being rapidly degraded by the careless workings of the petroleum industry. Today, an immensely important case in point exists in Nigeria where petroleum and natuiral gas extraction has been carried out with careless abandon by multi-national oil interests. These mega-corporations, operating without constraints, have been sinking their wells to the ultimate depths of human depravity, violating both human rights and all ecological principles in their heedless quest for greater profits for fewer pockets. MAP joins other earnest voices in calling for an international forum or commission to be established which will set strict environmental and social standards for these kinds of multi-national resource extraction operations, and begin the important job of monitoring and regulating these operations. In short, we are asking for tough restrictions on modes of operations and tough sanctions against violaters. An international body to carry out such standards setting and enforcement might operate under the auspices of the United Nations (perhaps a UN "environmental rights commission"), but it should be a transparant body fully accountable and non-alligned with corporate or political interests, and should include means for fair representation from the varied interest groups, such as academics, NGOs, local government officials, and local community leaders. Your further thoughts and advice on this draft recommendation are appreciated. --------------------------- Photo - Shell oil spill ruined drinking water To underscore the seriousness of oil pollution, MAP's director joined a US delegation in Nigeria to visit the Niger Delta. The following is excerpted from MAP's 44th Edition of the Late Friday News Dear Friends, I have just returned after a brief visit to the front lines of a battlefield called the Niger Delta where an intense war has been obscurely raging for over 40 years now. The Niger Delta contains the third largest contiguous mangrove forest in the world. Once rich in biodivesity and teeming with marine life, the area is now being rapidly degraded by petroleum production. The entire region is engulfed in what might be called a Petroleum War--a war fueled by the uncontrolled avarice of the multinational oil conglomerates too long wed to their ubiquitous cronies and mafia-style henchmen in government. During my second week in Nigeria, I was struck down by malaria--wounded in battle, you might say--another victim in this unholy war against the planet. But the roads to oil riches in Nigeria are lined with countless other victims and environmental refugees, whose very source of life and sustenance is left in abject ruin. Yet, this is a war in which there can be no victors--only victims-- for in the end everyone who is native to this planet stands to lose. Those hundred and more uncontrolled gas flares burning continuously for decades are adding to global warming, eeriliy lighting the way towards imminent natural disaster, while those multifarious oil spills and pipeline leaks are saturating the land and water ways, until, as one local resident put it, "There are no fish near shore now, the mangroves are dying, our food crops will not grow, our well waters are contaminated, and even our rainwater is no longer safe to drink!" The feature article which follows attempts to shed more light on this story, which must somehow be told on a wider scale. This is a story about massive power failures and corporate irresponsibility, about news blackouts and human rights violations. This is also a story of the immense suffering and the courageous struggle of the people of the Niger Delta. It is in this light of supporting their just struggle for a healthy environment, for their self-determination and basic human rights, that this story is written. And, one thing I have personally learned during this difficult journey through a part of a man-made inferno is that there are no easy shortcuts on the road to sustainability! Meanwhile, for the people of the Niger Delta, the struggle continues... Towards a Just and Sustainable Future, Alfredo Quarto, Mangrove Action Project Photo - Ogoni community protest against Shell Oil The Niger Delta: By The Light Of Shell's Flares Bursting In Air! "The world's 450 billionaires alone have combined financial assets greater than the combined annual incomes of half of humanity. The problem arises from a predatory global financial system, driven by the single imperative of making ever more money for those who already have lots of it. This is rapidly depleting the real capital--the human, social, natural, and even physical capital-on which our well- being depends." (Excerpts from Money as a Social Disease, by David C. Korten, May 20, 1997) Introduction: From September 6-20, 1999, a special U.S. delegation visited the Niger Delta to witness firsthand the social and environmental problems facing residents of the Delta today. The two week tour of the Delta was organized by Global Exchange and Essential Action in cooperation with the Nigerian NGO Environmental Rights Action (ERA). The following is a personal account concerning this experience. A Road To Ruin Paved With Oil Nigeria has been and still is a union of vibrant ethnic nationalities. However, since the days of colonial rule till now, this ethnic diversity has too often been used against the Nigerian people by those seeking resource riches and power. The forced division and subjugation of the people is most evident in Southern Nigeria, in the Niger Delta, where rich crude oil flows from the severed veins of the Delta into the awaiting cupped hands of the multinationals and their corrupt partners in local government, leaving the Delta communities impoverished and drained of all life sustenance. Though once rich in natural resources, including extensive mangrove forests and associated rich coastal fisheries, the Niger Delta has been the sight of extreme environmental destruction and human rights abuses related to oil exploitation. Nevertheless, over 40 years of ruthless military rule and reckless industrial development have not quelled the local communities, nor kept them from resisting. Today, the devastating activities of oil companies such as Shell, Texaco, Mobil, Chevron, Agip, Elf, and NAOC, which are supported by Nigerian military and mobile police, are being courageously opposed by local communities. Popular and effective protests, including non-violent occupations of oil platforms, have not merely cut oil production, but instead brought needed light to the destructive practices of exploitation and abuses seemingly inherent in the industry's operations in the Delta. Photo - Mangrove Community at Iko Village The recent election of retired General Olusegun Obasanjo has buoyed the hopes of some that democracy has been restored to Nigeria. Yet from the point of view of our US delegation visiting in the Niger Delta, proof of this rekindling of democratic reform is sadly lacking. Instead, a murderously unjust business as usual was found to be still prevalent there. US and European multinationals are still locked in a deadly embrace with corrupt government and military officials, threatening any serious reform measures. We also found that both human rights violations and environmental destruction continue on the Delta, apparently unabated by Obasanjo's election. Environment Rights Action was the main local organizer of our two week tour, arranging for us to visit numerous Delta communities. They were in a sense our tour guides through some unwritten chapter of Dante's Inferno. The human suffering we witnessed and the intense depredations committed by the oil companies and the government against both the people and their environment are quite sobering to behold. Yet, the people of the Niger Delta have not lost hope, and so their common struggle for self-determination and environmental health continues. "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..." (Nigeria: victory of local communities over Texaco, from the World Rainforest Movement Bulletin #26, Sept. 10, '99) However, such popular demands for justice and reform have not been met. Instead, amid continuing government corruption encouraged by big money interests, both social and environmental abuses still abound. Terror in the bloodied garb of tortures, rapes, and murders have become commonplace. The feared Mobil Police, the so-called "Kill and Go" units are responsible for innumerable extrajudicial executions, especially during the recent terrible reign of the late General Abacha. It was under Abacha that the famed Ogoni environmentalist and writer, Ken Saro Wiwa, was hanged, along with eight of his co-workers. However, even now, the Mobile Police still operate with seeming impunity in the Niger Delta. Some regions of the Delta are still under military rule, where numerous roadblocks and inspections contiune terrorizing local residents. For instance, last week in the troubled state of Bayelsa, military oppression was reported to have resulted in the killings of over 50 Ijaw youths near Yenagoa, the capitol of Bayelsa. The youths were captured by the military then executed--their bodies dumped in the nearby rivers. We were told that police roadblocks regularly stop and strip-search local travelers, checking the bodies of those they search for scars or markings which might identify them as members of an oppressed traditional Ijaw sect, the Egbesu. Those found with suspicious markings are taken away and executed. Several of our friends at ERA who travelled from Port Harcourt to the troubled region to investigate reports of violence, were themselves stopped by the military police and threatened with automatic weapons pointed at their bellies. They were forced to turn back, but fortunately were not harmed. When our own delegation visited Yenagoa two days after the reported violence, we ourselves were confronted by the military who were entrenched by the river at the so-called gateway to the Niger Delta. As we disembarked from our bus, we were met with icy stares from armed guards who moved towards us nervously ordering us to halt. The company commander, a barrel chested man with a gruff, unpleasant manner, ordered us back on the bus, spitting out the command that if any of us snapped a photo, he would "snap our heads off!" From his mean disposition, we suspected he was quite serious and capable of fulfilling that threat! Bayelsa State is still under military control (one might say siege), though the governer of that state had declared that he had given the army orders to return to barracks. This is obviously not the case, and the governor of Bayelsa State has really little, if any, authority over these occupying forces. Other regions of the Delta which we visited did show a marked decline in military presence, and an atmosphere of hope was forming where local residents felt that a possible window of opportunity existed for democratization, but it was evident that much reform was still needed, and the road to that reform was perilous. Many oppressive laws which had been decreed by previous military dictators, such as the late Abacha, are still on the books. Therefore, at any moment the valued window of progressive reform could very swiftly be closed. Each community we visited had similar complaints against the oil industry. Shell, Chevron, Agip, Texaco, and Mobile were among those mentioned most often in their denouncements. By far, Shell Oil, which runs over 50% of oil operations in the Delta, was the most notorious and troublesome of the multinationals, accused by locals of gross negligence involving violations of human rights and callous disregard for the environment. Since 1993, Shell Oil has been barred from Ogoniland where successful resistance to Shell's operations by the popular Movement for Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has resulted in stoppage of several Shell operations in the region. Photo - Shell oil gas flare burning continuously for decades. We witnessed many continuously burning gas flares which had been lit and steadily burning for years, some for over30 to 40 years, polluting the air with dangerous CO2 and methane gases, contributing fiercely to the global warming trend, while resulting in destructive acid rains and serious contamination of air, water and land. These flares were noisy, and one could feel there awful heat and smell their associated gases from hundreds of meters away. These bright fires at night lit up skies over the nearby villages. The flares danced wild like some distorted form of eternal flames casting somber shadows and eery orange light over the unfortunate Delta communities. Even the comfort of night's natural darkness was robbed from these communities who existed on that terrible periphery of the oil industry's wastefulness. Gas flaring is one of the most troublesome legacies of the oil industry in Nigeria. Yet, this highly contentious practice of gas flaring is not necessary, and in fact goes against all wise use practices and precautionary principles. Over one hundred such giant gas flares are still burning both onshore and offshore, actually changing the micro-climates of the areas affected. It was reported that each day the total energy wasted in Nigeria by this flaring equals all the daily power usage of the entire African Continent. Numerous residents mentioned the flares as their greatest nemesis. According to an IUCN funded report on the Niger Delta produced by Environmental Rights Action, "Flaring of associated gas must be considered as the most significant environmental impact of the Nigerian oil industry, both locally and globally. ...75% of Nigerian gas is flared..." These errant flaring practices in Nigeria far exceeds any other country's allowable flaring limits. (The Human Ecosystems of the Niger Delta, by Nick Ashton-Jones, Susi Arnott and Oronto Douglas, 1998, p. 158) (Mr. Bobo Brown, Shell's public relations officer, actually claimed to our delegation that local residents benefited from these flares because they could dry their food stuffs for free by setting these nearby the burning gases!) Besides the grave problems associated with the gas flares, on site oil leaks and ruptured pipelines are commonplace. On average, there are three major oil spills in the Niger Delta recorded each month. (In the first quarter of 1997 alone, Shell recorded 35 incidents of oil spills in its operations..." (Land, Oil and Human Rights In Nigeria's Delta Region, Constitutional Rights Project, CRP, 1999)) Forty year old pipes, rusty and in obvious need of repair, run above ground, crisscrossing every which way in cumbersome clusters. When these leak, too often the oil companies are slow to repair them. One Shell leak near Otuegwe 1 community, was reported to have spilled over 800,000 barrels of crude from a 16 inch buried pipeline which began leaking in June 1998. The leak which was in a remote place was not repaired till months after it had begun, and the resulting devastation left the residents of Otuegwe 1 community at a serious loss. The "economic and cultural heart of the community" was seriously imperiled. (Report From Nigeria 2, by Michael Fleshman, Human Rights Coordinator, Africa Fund, June 17, '99) According to Michael Fleshman, who visited the remote site of this extensive spilll, "The impact of the spill on the community has been devastating, as the oil has poisoned their water supply and fishing ponds, and is steadily killing the raffia palms that are the community's economic mainstay. Lacking any other alternative, the people of the village have been forced to drink polluted water for over a year, and the community leaders told us that many people had become ill in recent months and that some had died....The sight that greeted us when we finally arrived at the spill was horrendous. A thick brownish film of crude oil stained the entire area, collecting in clumps along the shoreline and covering the surface of the still water..." (M. Fleshman, June '99) . During the last four decades, over $300 billion worth of crude oil have been extracted from the Niger Delta wetlands, earning huge profits for a privileged few, while virtually robbing the affected communities of both life and livelihood. Disgracefully, the oil companies do not take responsibility for the ecological disasters their operations engender. And, the real costs of oil production are externalized by the multinationals to be borne unfairly by the communities of the Niger Delta. Even the many oil leaks are conveniently labelled by the companies as sabatage, thus placing the blame on the local communities where the spills occur. This supposedly exonerates the oil companies of all responsibility for swift repairs and compensations. We heard many stories of spills which Shell allowed to continue unabated, while the affected communities received no fair compensation, simply because Shell placed the blame on the local residents. Often the sabatage claim was reached by Shell officials before any team of investigators actually came to inspect the site of the leak. From our own observations of existing above ground pipelines--some clearly affected by rust and corrosion-- it was obvious that many leaks in the system could easily occur on their own. We visited the community of Umuebulu, where Shell had illicitly sited a chemical waste dump within 50 meters of the nearby community. Members of our delegation were stunned to view this site through the erected fence barrier which kept us out, but was no deterrent against the noxious fumes of dangerous chemicals carelessly stored there. Shell had purchased the land originally to supposedly build a housing complex for its workers, but instead secretly established the dumpsite. Now, village well waters and the surrounding air were suspect of being poisoned by the chemical soup leaching from ill devised open pit holding ponds and stored leaky barrels. Everywhere we visited we viewed the resulting destruction of the local environment and the oppressed communities affected by what can accurately be described as an outlaw oil industry. Under the somber shadow of this industry of wealth, millions of Niger Delta residents try to survive. The irony of so much oil being extracted from the same lands where abject poverty has itself become institutionalized was not lost on us. Over the last 40 years, billions of dollars in profits are earned each year, as millions of barrels of oil are extracted. Meanwhile, the very life blood of the reghion is being drained--high unemployment, failing crops, declining wild fisheries, poisoned waters, dying forests and vanishing wildlife. Even the rainwater is acidic and poisoned! What more can the oil companies take from the people? And, what should they be required to give back? At the mangrove community of Akwa Ibom in Iko, we found the same sad refrain, with yet another painful twist added. Shell Oil came to the region in 1974, establishing oil wells amid the once healthy and productive mangrove forest. The Akwa Ibom community had made its living before by fishing and farming, gathering their wood for house construction and for fuel from the nearby mangroves. Before Shell came to their area, the community had economic stability and could support itself. There was always plenty of healthy food and clean water, and the mangroves provided dependable sustenance. However, all of this changed when Shell arrived. Earning a living from once dependable resources was impossible, as repeated oil leaks coated the breathing roots of the mangroves, thus killing off parts of the forest, and burning gas flares poisoned their air and drinking water. Their very way of life.was threatened. When deteriorating conditions finally became unbearable, in 1987 the community leaders approached Shell, asking for fair compensation for their lost resources and for a solution to their growing environmental problems. Instead of negotiating with the community, Shell alerted the feared mobile police who invaded the village at night, burning down many houses and killing a school teacher. This surprise attack was meant to teach the community a hard lesson--one they would not soon forget. Still, today, those burned out structures stand among the rebuilt village, mute reminders of the tyranny which can be unleashed at the slightest provocation. After this tragic incident, Shell built the villagers a fish drying station and processing plant, but this was ill designed and was a further slap in the community's face. Because of the loss in the productivity of the mangroves, fishing was now nearly impossible, and to add insult to injury, Shell provided no generator or electric power to run the fish drying plant, which instead sat idle. The same fate befell the Shell built cassava grinding facility--no power to run the machine! Evidence of such misguided altruism seems to follow Shell at every turn, as if the company is involved in some cruel tortured game played at the expense of the affected local communities. In Ogoni land we visited the site of a decrepit hospital facility which had supposedly been supported by Shell. The facility, though still functioning, was in near ruins, and its beleagured staff undermanned and unpaid for six months. Many building windows were broken and conditions within extremely unsanitary. Lack of medicines and proper equipment were serious problems. Toilet facilities were abomitable, as were the so-called men's quarters. There was no clean water for the patients and staff, and often patients left the hospital in worse health than when they entered. Shell had built a water tower and begun an unsuccessful bore hole, but unceremoneously abandoned the whole project, leaving the staff to rely on polluted rain water and suspect water from an existing shallow well. The hospital had no electricity, yet, under the guise of some strange misguided sentiment, Shell had donated an electrolyte analysis machine which sat idle for lack of power to run the maschine. Also, a brand new and quite expensive autoclave machine intended for sterilizing surgical instruments and run by diesel power sat still crated in the entranceway. Shell had purchased and shipped the machine, but no steps had been arranged to install it, and no diesel was on hand to run the equipment--further evidence of money being recklessly thrown at a problem without care or consideration. Perhaps in some distant board room in the Netherlands, a Shell PR person is boasting of his company's great generosity and thoughtfulness! (It was at this Shell hospital where I was bitten 8 or 9 times by voracious mosquitoes while walking through the facility wards. I cannot help but wonder if that is where I contracted malaria!) Nigeria is the world's 13th largest oil producer, yet has itself been chronically short of fuel, having to import all of its refined fuel from other oil producing nations. Though the government is a 60% shareholder in oil operations, billions of dollars in oil earnings disappear each year into private Swiss bank accounts. Tragically, local infrastructure is in a shambles--food shortages abound, malnutrition is common among Niger Delta children, power blackouts regularly occur, terrible road conditions and lack of revenue for building maintenance are serious faults in the system--all these problems and more leave Nigeria far behind among the world's economies. It is tragic irony that Nigeria's oil helps fuel the industrialized world in its mad rush for "progress," while the producing nation is left so obviously far behind. Nigeria still needs to recover the nearly $55 billion in oil profits stolen by the military rulers over the last 15 years. Debt relief and poverty alleviation programs are also desperastely needed. The Nigerian human rights community, which includes many of those brave NGOs and community leaders whom we met with, need governmental protection, not persecution. The Obasanjo government should take steps to open a genuine democratic process which actually encourages self-determination and promotes land tenure and resource rights held in the hands of the local communities. And, an open and honest dialogue is called for which involves the leaders of the oil producing communities and the oil companies towards resolution of the crisis that meets the needs of both residents and producers. Consumers themselves must begin to play an important role in this whole healing process by demanding that oil companies adhere to set standards of environmental and social responsibility in Nigeria. If these same companies would only follow the minimum operational criteria which exist within their own home-based nations, the environmental and social situation in Nigeria would be immensely improved. We as consumers must insist that a uniform set of operating standards be established and adhered to for all oil producing multinationals, and these monitored by an impartial commission (perhaps a future established UN environmental rights commission?). If these standards are not followed in the production process, then the consumers have the power to withdraw their patronage from those offending companies. This is one way in which we as consumers can vote on what type of world we wish to live. MESSAGE TO COMMEMORATE THE MURDER BY HANGING OF KEN SARO-WIWA AND 8 OTHER OGONI ACTIVISTS ON NOVEMBER 10, 1995
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