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Oil: Prize or curse?
CHIDI ACHEBE and PAUL R. EPSTEIN
Environmental devastation of the Niger
Delta
"Appalled by the denigrating poverty of my
people, who live on a richly endowed land; distressed by their political
marginalisation and economic strangulation; angered by the devastation of their
land, their ultimate heritage; anxious to preserve their right to life and a
decent living, and determined to usher into this country as a whole, a fair and
just democratic system which protects everyone and every ethnic group and gives
us all a valid claim to human civilization, I have devoted my intellectual and
material resources, my very life, to a cause in which I have total belief and
from which I cannot be blackmailed or intimidated."
Ken Saro-Wiwa
Closing statement to Nigerian military
court.
The controversial execution of Ogoni
environ-
mental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in November 1995, attracted international
attention to the plight of the Ogoni people and other minority groups in the
oil-producing areas of the Niger River Delta. It, for good or ill, instantly
placed a spotlight on the struggle of these and other peoples in the region to
free themselves from the clutches of multinational corporations such as
Shell which have destroyed their homelands through environmental pollution.
The Niger River Delta is an environmental
disaster zone. Between 1986 and 1996, 2.5 million barrels-equal to 10 Exxon
Valdez, disasters - has been spilled in this region. The burning of 8 million
cubic feet of natural gas everyday compounds the environmental catastrophe.
According to Green Peace.:
"Since the beginning of Shell’s operations
in the Niger Delta, the company has wreaked havoc on neighbouring communities
and their environment. Many of its operations and materials are outdated, in
poor condition, and would be illegal in other parts of the world.
The Sierra club goes even further:
"The Oil Industry has had devastating
effects. Our report found ‘badly maintained and leaking pipe lines, polluted
water, fountains of emulsified oil pouring into villagers’ fields, blow outs,
air pollution.’ Farms and fisheries are spoiled, and the mangrove swamps, which
provide people with building and other materials and are a vital part of the
ecosystem, are disappearing. At the same time the people get little benefit from
the immense wealth being generated.
Pollution caused by the oil and natural
gas industry has been mind-boggling and extensive. It has led to ground water
pollution, which in turn has caused outbreaks of diarrhoea epidemics. Birth
deformities are on the rise as are certain soft tissue cancers. Environmental
pollution has led to the displacement of farmers and their families into
surrounding urban centres already ill equipped to deal with the economic, social
and health requirements of their burgeoning populations. Most of the new
migrants in these urban centres become trapped in cycles of poverty and penury.
One of the major causes of the ‘rural
flight’ is the pollution of the soil and land and the concomitant, progressive
reduction in crop yields in the Niger River Delta. The oil industry has caused
soil and land degradation through multiple mechanisms. Soil pollution has led to
a decline of soil fertility through the dumping and build up of toxic
substances. There has been a deterioration of soil physical properties as a
result of reduced organic matter (the structure, aeration and water holding
capacity of soil is affected), and reduction of soil organisms. There has also
been an associated decline in soil biological activity. Other devastating
effects of polluting activities include water logging, increase in salt or
starch soil content, sedimentation or "soil burial", loss of vegetation cover
through deforestation, and soil erosion.
Nigeria lost approximately 469 square
miles annually to deforestation between 1990 and 1995 according to the World
Bank figures. This value, however, includes only those areas lost due to
shifting cultivation, permanent agriculture, ranching, settlements, and
infrastructure development, and does not include the areas of land loss due to
fuel wood gathering. Be as it may, 96% of Nigeria’s pristine forests have been
cut down!
One of the immediate consequences of this
form of human intrusion is significant loss of biodiversity. Under this strain,
species may be pushed to extinction. The ecological benefits forests provide to
the environment, such as watershed protection, nutrient recycling and climate
regulation are lost with deforestation of this magnitude. Other consequences
include decreased species diversity, due to reduced habitable surface area,
which corresponds to a reduced "series carrying capacity". Genetic diversity
diminishes as the size of habitants shrink. This phenomenon also drastically
affects the populations of species living in these environments. Smaller
habitants can only accommodate smaller populations; this results in an
impoverished gene pool. Flexibility and evolutionary adaptability to changing
situations is severely hampered as the genetic resources of a species diminish.
This has significant negative impacts on species survival.
As a result of the gas flaring activities
of Shell and other multinational oil companies, Nigeria has worn the
unflattering badge as the world’s leader in natural gas flaring. This activity
has produced ‘acid rain’ and amplified the number of respiratory ailments and
lung pathologies in the region.
According to the World Bank, 87% of all
associated gas is flared by Shell and her cohorts as compared to 21% in Libya
and 0.6% in the United States. World Bank records highlight the fact that the
Niger Delta atmosphere receives 80 billion cubic feet of gas from the oil
industry’s flaring activities. This gives Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC),
the dubious distinction of being one of the world’s chief contributors to
global warming. Happily, the Liquefied Natural Gas projects, now beyond
phase-2, may reduce Nigeria’s contribution to the world’s climatic instability.
There is an absence of pipe borne water in
the Niger Delta area. Most of its fresh water is obtained from wells dug with
antiquated technology by the villagers themselves or obtained as "fetching
water" from streams or creeks. This makes the inhabitants of this region
particularly vulnerable to environmental pollution.
Ground, fresh and marine water in many
ways is the final meeting point of other forms of pollution - particularly air,
land, and soil pollution. Land pollution either from oil spills or from leaching
or erosion from soil or acid rain, often finds its way into creeks, streams and
rivers, which ultimately contaminate marine bodies and seep into ground water.
The oil industry’s extraction of petroleum
from the coastal area and the continental shelf of the Gulf of Guinea,
compounded by activities devoted to the exportation of the oil products, have
had an increasing, detrimental effect on marine ecosystems. Scores of ships that
move in and out of the Gulf of Guinea have produced millions of metric tons of
oil sludge that end up on the seabed contaminating marine habitats. The sludge
is discharged from the marine tankers when they release their ballasts, since
the vast majority of them are not equipped with oil and water tank separators,
referred to as segregated ballasts tanks (SBT).
Very little documented information is
available about the quantity of oil that is spilled by the oil industry’s
offshore jetties. Indirect evidence from oil washed onto coastal shorelines and
beaches in the area suggest that the pollution is significant. Their coastal
location makes mangroves vulnerable to marine oil spills and on-going pollution
from offshore rigs. The oil spills in mangrove habitats permeate exposed tree
trunks, accelerating the rate of decay of these precious plants and leads to
shore line erosion. Devastated also are the fauna and flora, organisms big and
small that depend on mangroves for survival. The destructive spiral continues
down the food chain as fish populations diminish as do fisherman harvests.
The impact of the Oil Industry’s presence
on the health of the inhabitants in the Niger Delta is multi-dimensional. The
salient areas are discussed below.
The combustion of fossil fuels produces a
toxic mixture of gasses and coated carbon particles. Carbon monoxide, carbon
dioxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen dioxide and various polynuclear aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) are produced during this process. ‘The particulate matter in
the smoke column is what is most injurious to human health. The small particles,
10 microns or less in diameter are most lethal. These particles are the ones
that are small enough to lodge in human lungs’. Long term exposure to these
substances impairs human health the most severely. However, short-term exposure
to high concentrations can aggravate symptoms in sensitive individuals with
heart or lung ailments such as asthma, COPD or coronary artery disease. Lung
cancers can also result from long term exposure to air borne pollution. This
problem is being encountered throughout the Delta region.
Oil spills and spills are capable of
generating serious air pollution whether or not the oil undergoes combustion.
The toxic fraction of light crude oil (found in The Niger Delta Region),
evaporates most easily carrying with it a deadly cocktail of PAHs, including
benzene (a known human carcinogen) and toxic fumes, such as toluene, xylene,
butane, and propane. Air quality after such spills is compromised for an
extended period of time - enough to seriously impair human health. Acid rain
further complicates the problem, altering surrounding streams, creeks and
polluting ground water.
The incidence of skin diseases from
bathing in polluted water has dramatically increased. Ground water pollution
causes repeated outbreaks of diarrhoea.
Malnutrition with the evidence of
kwashiorkor has returned to this part of Nigeria (it was last evident during the
Civil War). The combined impact of water and land pollution is responsible for
crop failures and diminishing fish populations.
•To be concluded
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