FoE International News
Dutch Court ruling against Shell
A Dutch court has ruled that Shell Nigeria is responsible for polluting farmlands in a landmark case brought by four Nigerian farmers and FoE Netherlands. The court said Shell's Nigerian subsidiary SPDC is accountable for damage caused by oil spills at Ikot Ada Udo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
FoE Nigeria's Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey, who has played a pivotal role in bringing to light the havoc wreaked by Shell in the Niger delta, said: "This win for the farmers of Ikot Ada Udo has set a precedent as it will be an important step that multinationals can more easily be made answerable for the damage they do in developing countries. We anticipate other communities will now demand that Shell pay for the assault on their environment."
Though this is an important victory, the court did not return a similar verdict in the cases brought by plaintiffs from Goi and Oruma communities. The court ruled that sabotage was involved in those locations. The plaintiffs find it incomprehensible that the court has allowed itself to be convinced by a number of blurry photos and poor quality video images submitted by Shell. With the plaintiffs, FoE International remains convinced that poor maintenance is the cause of the spills.
The plaintiffs and FoE Netherlands plan to appeal this ruling. They also plan to appeal the ruling that exonerates the Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell parent company, which owns 100% of SPDC shares. SPDC's profits, estimated at 1.8 billion euros annually, are deposited in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, under existing laws, Royal Dutch Shell cannot be held liable for the damage done on the basis of these facts alone.
The plaintiffs and local communities have been demanding that Shell cleans up oil pollution, compensates those affected and prevent further leaks from occurring. The communities of the Niger Delta depend primarily on the environment for their livelihoods, including farming and fishing.
More information: FoE Netherlands: milieudefensie.nl/english
Jagoda Munić elected chair of FoE International
Late last year Jagoda Munić was elected as the new chair of FoE International. Jagoda joined FoE Croatia as a volunteer in 1997 and was president of the group from 2001 to 2007. She has degrees in biology, library and information sciences, and pollution and environmental control. She has lead biodiversity research projects and public advocacy campaigns including an anti GMO campaign that resulted in one of the strictest anti GMO laws in the world. Outgoing chair Nnimmo Bassey said: "Jagoda's commitment and experience will inspire the wider Friends of the Earth federation. Her appointment gives FoE International a charismatic and talented new chair."
Oil sands protesters arrested
Erich Pica, President of FoE USA, describes his experience protesting against the Keystone Pipeline System, a partly-completed pipeline to transport synthetic crude oil and diluted bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands region in Canada to multiple destinations in the US:
February 14 − Yesterday, I was arrested for the first time in my life! My hands were cuffed, alongside so many others, at the White House fence, as I joined 47 environmental and progressive leaders − including Bill McKibben of 350.org, Mike Brune of the Sierra Club, NASA climatologist Dr. James Hansen, Daryl Hannah, and civil rights leader Julian Bond − in sending a strong message to the Obama administration.
The rally and the actual acts of civil disobedience and arrest were at various times somber, joyous, raucous, inspiring, defiant and spiritual − but most of all they imbued in me a sense of powerful obligation to represent all the people affected by the pipeline.
Sitting at the White House gates I felt as if I was giving voice to the communities in Nebraska and Texas fighting the pipeline at their personal risk. I felt that I was giving voice to the tens of thousands of Friends of the Earth members who have urged the president to deny the pipeline. I felt that I was standing up for the future of my son, Zander, who will have to live with the decisions that all of us make today.
Mr. President, I, and the 47 protesters who were arrested -- as well as the 1,253 arrested in 2011 -- felt a moral obligation to risk arrest to send you a message to deny the Keystone XL: now it is time for you to meet your moral obligation and reject the pipeline.
foe.org/projects/climate-and-energy/tar-sands
Unjust beatings and detention in Sumatra
On January 29, police moved to disperse the crowd at an environmental protest in Sumatra, and beat and arrested at least 25 people. Most were released, but Anwar Sadat, the executive director of FoE Indonesia (WALHI) South Sumatra, remains in prison.
Online petition to free Anwar: www.change.org/ReleaseAnwar
Resource efficiency through waste recycling
The European Union currently landfills and incinerates 60% of municipal waste. Valuable materials which could be recycled or re-used are being thrown away as rubbish, contributing to demand for more raw materials. In the case of textiles, for example, Europeans discard 5.8 million tonnes every year, with 75% going to landfill or incineration and only 25% being recycled. A new FoE report concludes that in order to move to a zero-waste Europe, higher recycling targets need to be accompanied with targets for reuse and waste prevention.
foeeurope.org/less-more-140213
Land grabs and human rights violations in Liberia
Palm oil companies are grabbing more than 1.5 million acres of land in Liberia and are violating the human rights of local communities, warn Liberian NGOs including FoE Liberia (SDI − Sustainable Development Institute). FoE International is backing the local NGOs' demands for renegotiation of corporate palm oil contracts. Many inhabitants have lost their farms and food sources, livelihoods, as well as culturally sacred sites to oil palm plantations. Civil society organisations are also concerned about large scale conversion of primary and secondary forest to palm oil plantations.
More information: foei.org/simedarby
AGRA's technology push in Africa
A FoE International report by Mariann Bassey describes the flaws with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), a program largely funded by the Bill Gates Foundation. FoE argues that AGRA's corporate agenda risks compounding the problems it aims to solve. The Foundation's programmes may marginalise the vital role of women in traditional societies and lift control of seeds and farm management from community to corporate level.
More information: tiny.cc/10zitw
Ugandan activists regroup to protect Mabira forest
The Save Mabira Crusade, which includes FoE Uganda (NAPE), is vowing to resist fresh moves to give away the forest reserve to the Mehta Group for sugar cane growing. They are vowing to do whatever it takes to save the Mabira forest and other natural resources from degradation. They are accusing the president of resurrecting the Mabira debate to divert Ugandans from discussing prevailing national concerns including huge corruption scandals, especially in the Prime Minister's Office.
More information: natureuganda.org/save_mabira_campaign.php
FoE Cameroon examines lessons learned from forest governance project
FoE Cameroon (CEDCAM) continues to campaign tirelessly on illegal logging. Together with Global Witness, they published a report on Cameroon's engagement in the EU's FLEGT agreement with Cameroon on illegal logging in October 2012, and on 25 January they hosted a workshop examining lessons learned about illegal logging during the four years of the project on forest governance (Gouvernance Transparence Forestière). They also co-published a report advocating reform of the legal regime for large-scale land transfers in Central Africa.
Get oil cowboys out of the Arctic!
FoE Scotland is campaigning against Scottish company Cairn Energy's program of exploration for marginal oil in Greenland which has so far been responsible for:
- Releasing hazardous substances that the Danish environmental authorities deemed "unacceptable" and "in violation of international regulations";
- Two chemical spills between 2009 and 2011; and
- Prospecting for oil in areas that at Cairn Energy's own admittance are "sensitive in terms of biodiversity" and are home to the IUCN Red List species blue whale, narwhal, polar bear and Atlantic halibut.
Sign the online letter at: act.foe-scotland.org.uk/lobby/18
More information, and to watch the Cairn Cowboy Calamity Video: foe-scotland.org.uk/cairn