Rechter: Shell moet stoppen met affakkelen
Persbericht Milieudefensie - 14.11.2005 17:51
Amsterdam/Benin-stad, 14 november 2005 --- Tijdens een historische
rechtszitting besliste het federale gerechtshof in Nigeria vandaag dat
oliemaatschappijen als Shell moeten stoppen met het affakkelen van gas
in de Niger Delta. Volgens het hof zijn deze praktijken in strijd met
bepalingen uit de grondwet.
'Gasflaring' door Shell in Nigeria
Rechter C. V. Nwokorie oordeelde dat het affakkelen ernstige schade aan
mens en milieu toebrengt. Behalve Shell maken ook oliebedrijven
ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, TotalFinaElf en Agip zich schuldig aan
affakkelen. Ook deze bedrijven mogen niet langer meer affakkelen.
Affakkelen gebeurt nergens ter wereld op zulke grote schaal als in
Nigeria. Door die uitstoot veroorzaakt Nigeria in zijn eentje meer
broeikasgassen dan alle sub-saharalanden samen. De uitstoot gaat gepaard
met een cocktail aan stoffen die al jarenlang de plaatselijke bevolking
vergiftigt.
Anne van Schaik, campagneleider Globalisering en Milieu bij
Milieudefensie: 'Dit is een geweldige overwinning voor de Nigerianen. Al
decennialang hebben zij te kampen met de schadelijke gevolgen van het
affakkelen van gas bij oliewinning. We hopen dat Shell nu ook de andere
problemen, zoals de immense olievervuiling, gaat aanpakken.'
De rechtszaak is gestart door Jonah Gbemre, een vertegenwoordiger van de
Iwerekan-gemeenschap in de Niger Delta. Friends of the Earth, de
internationale milieuorganisatie waar Milieudefensie deel van uitmaakt,
heeft de zaak mede-ondersteund. Afgelopen zaterdag nog is Shell, onder
andere vanwege haar vervuilende schadelijke activiteiten in Nigeria,
door Milieudefensie onderscheiden met de zogeheten 'Schone Schijn Award
2005'.
 http://www.milieudefensie.nl/globalisering
http://www.foenl.org
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Achtergron informatie:
Notes for Editors* :
This action was filed in the summer and permission was granted to Mr
Gbemre to bring his case on 21 July 2005. The case is one of a number of
cases brought by Niger Delta communities to stop gas flaring. A fact
sheet on Nigerian gas flaring is below. A report published by the Climate Justice Programme and Environmental Rights Action, 'Gas Flaring in Nigeria: A human rights, environmental and economic monstrosity', is
available here, in both HTML and PDF versions:
http://www.climatelaw.org/media/gas.flaring/report/
Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria is dedicated to
the defence of human ecosystems in terms of human rights, and to the
promotion of environmentally responsible governmental, commercial,
community and individual practice in Nigeria through the empowerment of
local people: www.eraction.org.
The Climate Justice Programme is an initiative hosted by Friends of the
Earth International. It aims to encourage and support the enforcement of
the law internationally to combat climate change. Over 70 organisations
and lawyers are signatories to its Statement of Support, including
Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, WWF and organizations based in
developing countries: http://www.climatelaw.org.
*NIGERIAN GAS FLARING FACT SHEET*
*1. How much gas is flared in **Nigeria**?*
More gas is flared in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world. The gas
industry statistics publisher, Cedigaz, indicates that Nigeria accounted
for 19.79% of global flaring in 2001 (latest year), more than the second
(Iran) and third (Indonesia) countries combined: see Statistical Leaflet
available here: www.cedigaz.org.
The UNDP/World Bank in 2004 estimated Nigerian flaring at close to 2.5
billion cubic feet daily (over 70 million cubic metres daily), amounting
to about 70 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Strategic Gas Plan for
Nigeria, Joint UNDP/World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance
Programme (ESMAP) (February 2004), paragraph 2.5.
*2. Some of the effects of flaring in **Nigeria***
The cocktail of toxic substances which has been emitted in the flares for over 40 years, including benzene and particulates, has exposed Niger
Delta communities to health risks and property damage, in violation of
their human rights.
The flares affect their livelihood and expose them to an increased risk
of premature deaths, child respiratory illnesses, asthma and cancer, as
well as acid rain. For example, conservative assumptions using World Bank information on the adverse effect of particulates, suggests that gas flaring from just one part of the Niger Delta (Bayelsa State) would
likely cause annually 49 premature deaths, 4,960 respiratory illnesses
among children and 120, asthma attacks.
This exposure violates Nigerian constitutional guarantees, for example,
of the fundamental rights to life (Article 33) and to dignity (Article
34). It also violates the rights guaranteed in the African Charter on
Human and Peoples' Rights, for example, of every individual to enjoy the
best attainable state of physical and mental health (Article 16) and of
all peoples to a general satisfactory environment favourable to their
development (Article 24).
Flaring in the country "has contributed more greenhouse gas emissions
than all other sources in sub-Saharan Africa combined" according to the
World Bank.
Memorandum of the President of the International Development Association
and the International Finance Corporation to the Executive Directors on
an Interim Strategy Update for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, February
13, 2002, Report No. 23633- UNI, paragraph 15.
The UNDP/World Bank figure of 70 million tonnes of carbon dioxide would
have made Nigeria the world's 42nd biggest emitter of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel and cement manufacture in 2000, ahead of Portugal,
Switzerland, Sweden and Norway. This ranking is obtained from the World
Resources Institute's Climate Analysis Indicators Tool, available here:
http://cait.wri.org.
*3. What's the cost of gas flaring in **Nigeria**?*
The annual financial loss to Nigeria from gas flared has been put at
about US $2.5 billion:
"[F]laring represents a significant economic loss (lost opportunity value estimated at some US$2.5 billion, based on LNG values)." Strategic Gas Plan for Nigeria, Joint UNDP/World Bank Energy Sector Management
Assistance Programme (ESMAP) (February 2004), page 13,
paragraph 1.13.
At the same time, about two-thirds of the population are estimated by the World Bank to live on less than US $1 a day:
"GNP per capita, at about US$320, is below the level at independence
forty years ago and below the US$370 that it gained in 1985. About 66
percent of the population now falls below the poverty line of roughly one U.S. dollar a day, compared to 43 percent in 1985."
World Bank Nigeria Country Briefing, April 2005
[ http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/NIGERIAEXTN/0,,menuPK:368906~pagePK:141132~piPK:141107~theSitePK:368896,00.html]
*4. What do the regulations say?*
Apart from human rights law, flaring has been in general prohibited under environmental regulations since 1st January 1984, unless a
ministerial consent has been lawfully issued and conditions are complied
with. Under section 3 of the Associated Gas Reinjection Act 1979, a
consent can only be issued if the Minister is satisfied that utilization
or reinjection is not appropriate or feasible in a particular field or
fields. If a consent is issued, the Minister is empowered to require the
companies to pay a sum (reported in 2002 to be 10 Naira per million cubic feet (about 4 UK pence or 7 US cents), and under the Associated Gas
Re-injection (Continued Flaring of Gas) Regulations 1984 certain
conditions must be met. Despite requests by Environmental Rights
Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, no consents or conditions have been
disclosed by any of the companies.
[Fact Sheet produced by the Climate Justice Programme and Environmental
Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, June 2005]
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