Campaign

Gas Flaring in Nigeria

March 7th, 2010 in Campaigns by adminView Comments

Oil production in the Niger Delta in Nigeria is big business. “Royal Dutch Shell has been the major oil producer in the Niger Delta for the past 50 years” (“It’s hell in the Niger Delta”, Amnesty International).

The problem is that the industry is not taking full responsibility for its actions – environmental and safety standards are simply not strong enough and are not enforced.

Another Amnesty International briefing entitled reports how people living in the oil producing areas of the Niger Delta have to drink, cook and wash with polluted water (“Shell – Clean up your act”, Amnesty International). The report states that hundreds of oil spills occur each year, that Shell is often slow to stop leaks and that compensation is difficult to obtain.

The result is polluted land that undermines the production of crops, fish stock availability and human health in general.

One of the biggest problems comes from a practice known as gas flaring – the burning of excess gas that is produced as a result of oil extraction. In the UK this gas is piped off and used efficiently for other purposes such as heating homes. In Nigeria it is simply burnt off causing the uncontrolled release of toxic gasses and causing the spread of un-burnt oil.

Gas Flaring is unnecessary and is illegal in Nigeria and yet the practice continues with substantial damage to health and to the environment.

Why should we care about this?

There are lots of really good social and environmental reasons regarding why we should put pressure onto Shell – improving the environment and quality of life for people in Nigeria for example.
However, perhaps most shockingly, Shell is a UK based company.
Real responsibility is placed on us to hold our own companies to account – we wouldn’t accept these standards in the UK and it is not acceptable for UK companies to behave in this manner abroad.

In addition, Shell is particularly concerned about what we, as UK consumers, think. So not only is this the right thing to do but because, as UK consumers, we have so much relative power, there is a real chance of creating real difference with this campaign. Click on the Take Action link below.

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