Environmental Justice for Extractive Communities

In this episode, Nnimmo Bassey and Ken Henshaw discuss how environmental pollution is affecting extractive communities and how these communities can organize to demand justice.

Transcript

Voiceover: [00:00:03] You're listening to Partners United on Resource Governance, brought to you by the Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Foundation.

Nnimmo Bassey: [00:00:09] Hello, everyone. You're welcome to the Partners United podcast on resource governance. This is another episode in which we bring to you details concerning how our resources are governed and how communities interact with the resources and with those who are exploiting them. In today's episode, we are looking particularly at environmental justice for extractive communities. Now you must have been hearing about environmental justice being bandied about by many people. It just refers to a situation where those whose communities host resources don't get to have a just access to the resources, they just access to the benefits going from the resources, those resources. But I'm jumping because We have a guest in the house who would do justice to this topic. His name is Ken Henshaw. Welcome Ken Henshaw to today's episode.

Ken Henshaw: [00:01:07] Thank you very much for having me.

Nnimmo Bassey: [00:01:09] Now, before we go deep into the conversation, I believe it would be useful for us to just define what we mean when we talk about environmental justice. And of course, today we are discussing with regard to extractive communities, which means mostly oil and gas communities, as well as communities where other resources are being extracted. So I would like you to be free to cite examples from wherever you would like to. But first of all, could you just help our listeners with their definition or how you would capture the meaning of environmental justice?

Ken Henshaw: [00:01:49] Well, environmental justice is the right of people to leave that environment and ecosystem that protects and respects their rights, well-being and the decency of their existence, and also provides for their livelihoods. That's what environmental justice is. People's right to live in an environment that is not only fair, that sustains their lives, promotes their well-being and secures their future.

Nnimmo Bassey: [00:02:20] Well, thank you for that very crisp definition. So I understand that this is environmental justice is actually very broad. It Includes affirming the sacredness of the Mother Earth or the environment itself. Having respect, as you said, for the people who live in the environment, their right to have access to the resources that nature has given to them. Now would you say that Nigerians in the extractive communities are enjoying environmental justice and if not, why?

Ken Henshaw: [00:02:53] Absolutely not. From the start of the extractive business in Nigeria, the business of oil extraction. This business has been conducted without any respect or reference to the indigenous people who occupy those territories and for the environment. So while the people of this region lived in harmony and one with nature, living off nature and living with nature and living in the context of nature when oil extraction came in. The only thing that was a focus of interest was just unabated extraction, unabated extractism. And this, of course, resulted in a situation where every nook and cranny of the Niger Delta, every land, every creek, every river, every swamp, every stream was prodded for any deposit of hydrocarbon that could be found in those places. In no part of this was any serious seed paid to the protection of the environment, the dignity of mother earth or the dignity of the people who hold the Earth. Those lands in trust for generations yet unborn. And this reckless move towards extraction has resulted in unprecedented levels of pollution. From the 1950s, Oil-producing communities in Nigeria have suffered massive ecological disaster from oil spills that are regular and routine to gas flaring that have become staple practice in the oil and gas extraction sector. There is no time, and I believe from the 1960s that Nigeria there is no active ongoing oil spill. There is simply no time, as I speak to you right now, is an active oil spill going on somewhere in the Niger Delta region, right this moment, as I speak to you right now, there are flares burning, polluting the environment and polluting the people going on as we speak at this exact moment. And so to the question of why, why are the people of the region suffering this level of environmental injustice? It's simple because the government of Nigeria and its oil industry collaborators have simply refused to pay any heed or respect for the environment or for the people who live in the environment. They are only focus has been on extracting resources from that land and destroying the environment in the process of doing so. And so this is where we are in the Niger Delta. We live in an environment that has been totally denied of any kind of justice, and environment has been desecrated, has been destroyed. An environment where even the United Nations Environment Programme in 2011 pronounce may take up to 25 to 30 years to restore back to fruition and may be the largest ecological remediation exercise ever embarked upon by man. This is the environment that people in the Niger Delta region leaving an oil and gas are still being extracted in the same terms, using the same reckless, you know, technicalities to extract is still going on as we speak.

Nnimmo Bassey: [00:05:49] Well, Ken Henshaw, you've mentioned many things that should send our listeners worrying about if this level of damage is ongoing and has been going on for decades in the Niger Delta, what is the situation of the people who live in those communities? Their justice denied, dignity denied, massive ecological disasters, unprecedented harms, You said government pays heed to the environment and how are the people surviving?

Ken Henshaw: [00:06:14] Well, of course, the people in the Niger Delta region are traditionally fisher folks and farmer folks. These are people who have traditionally depended on the rivers and the creeks to provide them with fishes and other forms of aquatic life to survive on. They have also depended on the land to provide them with sustenance through farming. This is their livelihood with every single barrel of crude oil that is spilled into the river. The people lose their source of fishing, the crops disappear, the shrimps disappear, the periwinkle disappear and the fishes disappear. And so right now in the Niger Delta, we have got to situation where people who have for generations depended on fishing as a source of sustenance and livelihood out far into the sea to fish, and they return back with their boats empty without any catch. Fishing has basically become impossible. Fishing as a business, as a trade, as a vacation can no longer sustain the people who live in the Niger Delta region. And the same also applies to farming. The people also depended extensively on farming to survive the plant cassava plantations, everything basically to survive, to sell and then to to eat. But because the soil has been so terribly polluted with the regular and incessant destruction of the environment by crude oil spills, the land no longer bears the kind of yield that it is supposed to be. I've been in situations where people plant cassava and then uproot from the ground, squeeze it and what comes out is crude oil, useless, impossible, impossible to use. So the productivity of the river, the swamps and the creeks of the land has diminished in the Niger Delta tremendously. On the other hand, the oil sector has failed to provide the people with jobs. Less than 0.1 percent of the people of the Niger Delta region have been integrated into oil and gas sector as a form of employment. What we see is people suffering double jeopardy. The oil been extracted from the environment does not provide them jobs. It instead takes away and destroyed their sources of fishing and their sources of farming. And the result of this are unprecedented levels of poverty and destitution. It was this poverty and destitution in the 1990s that led to what we now call militancy because people became so frustrated with the fact that they simply could not survive on those conditions or with those conditions anymore. And so in one, it is simple. To put it simply, the people in the Niger Delta region suffer unprecedented levels of poverty and destitution, and they also suffer from the damaging effects of environmental pollution in the Niger Delta region. We know that life expectancy in Nigeria is between 53 and 54 years, but in the Niger Delta, life expectancy is four to six years lower than you have in other parts of the country. We work in the Niger Delta communities where you visit communities on weekends. The biggest occasion, the biggest pastime that happens in local communities in the Niger Delta are burials. So you drive into a community in the region and you see posters announcing this burial or that burial. And you see at the top of the poster an inscription, We thank God for a life well spent. And you look at the innocent faces of the people described as a life well spent. The are in their 40s, in their 30s and their 20s. So right now in the region, a person dying at the age of 40 or the age of 30 has lived the life, a good life. It is a life well spent. Life has become poor in the Niger Delta region, it has become brutish, solitary and quite short. And this is the state of the people who live in that region.

Nnimmo Bassey: [00:09:56] Ken Henshaw, thank you for painting such a dreadful picture of life in the Niger Delta of the level of poverty and destitution of fishers, fishing without catching edible fish and farmers harvesting crops that are useless. Now this brings to mind a new concept, a new crime that is being pushed and hopefully will become accepted at the International Criminal Court. The crime of ecocide Recently, a team of lawyers defined ecocide as the unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and widespread or long term damage to the environment being caused by those acts. Now, if the crime of ecocide is accepted in the same level as genocide, as war crimes as crimes against humanity, do you think this would be an incentive for extractive sector operators to behave differently?

Ken Henshaw: [00:10:56] I do not think that establishing a framework which holds people accountable for environmental pollution, willingly knowing the consequences and going ahead to pollute the environment, I do not think that that framework should serve the purpose of only sharing extractive companies in a way and making them do the right thing. No, that's too limited. I think that environmental justice includes holding extractive companies accountable. So the ecocide, the things they have done in the past to one tom and reckless destruction of the environment, which they have done willingly, openly and brazenly. I think that such a framework will serve the purpose of holding them not just accountable, but ensuring that they take action to carry out remedial activities to fix the ecological disaster they have caused in communities. Because it's not just enough in 2021 to tell oil companies stop polluting what happens to the over six decades to environmental pollution that hasn't been cleaned up? What happens to the rivers that are all dead, the swamps and the creek that no longer hold crops and periwinkle and so on and so forth? What happens to the lands that have been stained by hydrocarbons that can no longer sustain plants anymore? What happens to the years of ecological destruction? I think that having a framework that holds companies accountable for ecocide to go beyond just deterrents, it should extend to ensuring that environmental justice is established and in the context of the people of the Niger Delta.

Ken Henshaw: [00:12:33] Environmental justice means fixing the mess that has been made in the last 60 years, restoring the livelihoods of the people, restoring their dignity, the dignity that comes with the ability of a human being to provide for himself. When the oil companies came into this region and destroyed the environment and not only destroyed the environment, but it took away the dignity of the men and women who live in this space when they were no longer able to provide for themselves and their family also went through the window, their dignity. And environmental justice must include fixing that dignity, restoring the livelihood of the people and holding the companies who did this accountable for the ecocide they have committed. And for me is the extent of the law, which I think you know should be taken into consideration.

Nnimmo Bassey: [00:13:19] That's very well good defining environmental justice in the context of the Niger Delta. Unfortunately, the crime of ecocide would not be retroactive. I understand from lawyers that you don't make laws that are retroactive in terms of criminal dealings, but that is a big drawback with regard to the harm so far in Niger Delta over the past 60 years, as you said now. So we have a double double tragedy here, fixing the mess, restoring the dignity of the people. What role can the people play or are playing in terms of trying to reclaim their rights to a safe environment in the Niger Delta?

Ken Henshaw: [00:14:00] Well, historically, the people of the Niger Delta region have always tried to restore your dignity, reclaim the dignity of the environment, also and protect Mother Earth. One of the first crises that happened in the Niger Delta region in modern times was the uprising, led by the 12 day uprising led by Isaac Boro. And one of the demands of that uprising was that the environment of the people will be restored and be respected. Their right to live in an environment that was regenerative and could provide for their livelihood was respected. That uprising was crushed. The next uprising that we have documented is the Ogu Etche uprising, where the people of a Nwechem community in Etche local government of Rivers State walked up to the oil company, Shell and demanded that they fix their environment and protect their livelihoods. Shell, at the time in 1990, invited the mobile police to Nwechem community, and the massacre was unleashed on the people. Hundreds of Nwechem people were killed, burnt and dumped in river. A panel of inquiry was set up in Rivers state by the River States government to settle the circumstances of that event, and it held the Nigerian authorities responsible for that. Cheques were issued as compensation to those families that went to the bank and the cheques bounced. Up till today, some of them still have those checks since nineteen ninety up to today. The next attempt by the people of the Niger Delta region to seek ecological justice was the Ogoni, the muscle of the movement for the Ogoni people, led by Ken Saro-Wiwa demanding a fairer deal from the Nigerian state, demanding an end to the atrocious environmental practices of oil companies in the Niger Delta region. That movement was crushed violently by the Nigerian states. Ken Saro-wiwa and eight others were hung. Others were sent on exile. Many women were raped. Several persons were killed. I mean, there have been several instances every time the people of the Niger Delta region rise up and demand a fairer deal, the respect of the environment, the protection and restoration of their livelihoods. They are violently crushed by a combination of not only wedlock between the culprits and the military, the oil companies and the Nigerian government. That unholy wedlock hangs like a specter, always hanging as the specter above the Niger Delta like a shadow always ready to descend. Today, if you take a boat across the rivers and creeks of the Niger Delta region, you see checkpoints. You, as an indigene of this region, you have to raise your hands up in surrender when you are passing the checkpoint. This happens every single day on the roads and in the creeks and rivers of the Niger Delta region. The Niger Delta region is perhaps the most militarized state in Nigeria, except perhaps now in the north east of the country. This place is the most militarized space in the entire country. The reason for that militarization is that it is impossible for the people to express any form of dissent. It is impossible for the people to try to hold these companies accountable. It is impossible for the people to protest, to complain. The army is always present to cross every form of dissent, to kill people, and these killings and crushing happens on a daily basis. Again, the interests of the government have always been to protect the interests of oil companies and ensure the free and unhindered flow of hydrocarbons from the rivers, the creeks and the lands of the Niger Delta region. It is for this reason that the people have totally lost faith in the judicial system in Nigeria. Don't forget that an atrocious activities such as gas flaring has gone on for at least 60 years, and the people of the Niger Delta region rose up and took the matter of gas flaring to a court, the Nigerian court. And that court in 2005 declared gas flaring illegal in Nigeria. It declared gas flaring an infringement of the right of people to life. Since the pronouncement was made, the oil company didn't blink an eye. The Nigerian government didn't appeal it. They didn't even bother enforcing that law of its own court. There was no bother about enforcing the court. It was simply ignored. And since 2005, when was cut until today, Gas flaring has continued till this moment and I speak. And because the people have lost confidence in the Nigerian judicial system, they have now taken the advice to the international space on at least two or three different occasions. The people of the Niger Delta have taken cases to court in the Hague, demanding justice, the protection of the environment, remediation demanding that the years of destruction, wanton reckless destruction and pollution be accounted for. And for me, it's a shame. It's a personal shame that people that are citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria cannot depend on their own government to protect their interests, to respect the environment and protect that environment. But they need to go outside the country to seek justice. This is a very, very, very sad statement to make about the government, whose responsibility is to provide for the welfare of the people. It is a sad statement to make but unfortunately, it is also the truth. It is also the truth. The people of the Niger Delta region have always consistently fought to protect the environment,

Nnimmo Bassey: [00:19:07] Right! So the people have been on the forefront of defending the environment, fighting for their rights, and they are meeting many road blocks. Now, I would like to speak briefly to the fact of the militarisation of the Niger Delta. We do not think that this is done because the facilities really need protection, and this is why you have the military all over the place.

Ken Henshaw: [00:19:29] I think that the major reason that the military is in the Niger Delta region, yes, of course, it is to protect oil facilities, to guard against the destruction of oil facilities and all that. And it's unfortunate because the destruction of oil facilities, the very start of the destruction of oil installations from way, way, way back was an avoidable descend into anarchy. It was avoidable. Some groups in the Niger Delta, when the government of Nigeria made it a staple, made it a practice. You know made it their routine to crush every single group that asked questions about manner oil companies should be conducting themselves in the region. When the federal government made it their responsibility to crush each of these groups to ensure that the oil companies operate recklessly without any accountability. When that happened, other groups that emerged after the 1990s after the early 2000s, they realized that non-violent approaches were no longer sustainable in the region, and they were forced to speak in language that the Nigerian government understands. And that is exactly what led to the first cases of unfreezing of oil installations, and the government will tell you that they are, they have these forces in the Niger Delta region because they want to protect them against oil theft in the region. This is criminal. The presence of the military in the Niger Delta region is not to protect against oil theft by communities. oil theft has always been there. In fact, former President Goodluck Jonathan said that Nigeria's oil is stolen at an industrial scale. He said that between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels of crude oil are stolen from Nigeria every day. Do you think it is local communities with with with 50 litre cans and 200 litre cans that are stealing 400,000 barrels of crude oil every 24 hours? No, definitely not.

Nnimmo Bassey: [00:21:26] I wouldn't really like to stop you, but we have to begin to wrap up this conversation, and our listeners are wondering whether everything is so bleak and hopeless and more arrests are being sought, more investment in that sector. What is going to happen to Nigerians now? I would just like you to to look, take a wider look for Nigeria and look at all the African countries where extractive activities are going on. Do you think that we'll ever get to a point where people should be hopeful that things will be done differently? Briefly.

Ken Henshaw: [00:21:54] No, I do not. I think that in Nigeria and in other African countries, the paradigms are essentially the same. All companies essentially operate in the same manner. I think that if oil companies are to be held accountable, that responsibility must be on the shoulders of a patriotic and focused government, either in Nigeria or in other African countries. I think that such government should be the ones that will not be blackmailed into believing that if environmental laws are enforced, oil extraction will stop and the countries will go broke because this is the blackmail that oil companies have always dished out. This is the same blackmail they used you know in flaring gas for decades in Nigeria. They kept telling Niger government that if gas flaring stopped, oil extraction will stop. Revenues will decline, dwindle and finally disappear. That's the blackmail. So if we must stop this reckless extraction going on, we need to have governments in Africa that are focused and patriotic enough to look to oil companies eyeball to eyeball and tell them enough is enough to either operate based on a respect for the dignity of the people, for the dignity of the planet, the dignity of the land and the seas, and the deep and ecological justice. Either you operate within the confines of disrespect or you pack up and leave. That is the only time that we will be able to see this business of oil done in a manner that respects people, respect the environment and protects the sources of livelihood of people. But of course, we all know that whether we like it or not, the business of oil extraction is coming to an end. And like I always said, the stone is did not come to an end because the world ran out of stone. The age of oil will come to an end, whether we like it or not. And I think that for indigenous people in Africa, this is the time to stop holding oil companies accountable, not for the resources they have taken out of the earth, but for the damages that they have made in the entire communities where they operate. It is time to start demanding that governments put pressure on these oil companies to remediate the years of environmental harm they have done. This is what I think needs to be done.

Nnimmo Bassey: [00:23:59] Thank you so much, Ken Henshaw. That's where we wrap it up today. Thank you so much, listeners, for being a part of this podcast. And Ken has just thrown a challenge on all of us, not just in Nigeria, not just in the Niger Delta, but across the continent of Africa and the whole world. This is a time to shift away from dirty energy, from destructive extraction and to work in a way that we can enjoy the environment in harmony with citizens who live in the particular areas and also considering that the planet belongs to all of us. Thank you so much. We'll meet you again. Next time.

Voiceover: [00:24:35] Please visit partnersunited.org to join the conversation on environmental justice. To report any issues that have threatened your environment, please visit www.report.nhrc.gov.ng or blow the whistle at www.report.corruption.org. You can also visit homef.org for useful advocacy resources on climate change, food systems, freshwater ecosystem and other socio-ecological issues.