English A small delegation from the UK – LWA’s Jyoti Fernandes, filmmaker Has San and activist Oluwa Atanda – have travelled to Nigeria to provide solidarity to farmers and fishermen in the Niger Delta.
Last week, October 21st – 27th, they attended a climate justice gathering in the Niger Delta organised by the Lekeh Development Foundation (LDF) to meet with frontline communities, activists and farmers who are fighting for justice against the fossil fuel companies who are destroying their lands.
Landworkers’ Alliance and the Ogoni
At COP26 in Glasgow Landworkers’ Alliance delegates met representatives of the Ogoni Community in Nigeria who were there to seek reparations from the international community for the damages their community has suffered from oil extraction and climate change.
Since then the LWA has sponsored delegates from the Ogoni people to attend the Climate Change negotiations to present their case for support from Loss and Damages. Friday Nbani from the LDF is there every year with his t-shirt letting the international community know that “Shell is Hell”. Friday and his team invited us to come and connect with their struggle.
LWA’s Campaign Coordinator Jyoti Fernandes – who is also a representative of the Climate Justice collective of La Via Campesina – is working together with frontline communities of farmers and fisherfolk to leverage money from international finance mechanisms – such as the Loss and Damages Fund – for reparations to adapt to the impacts of climate change. To support this work, Has San is making a film to spread awareness of their struggle, and Oluwa Atanda, of Nigerian heritage from Bristol, is spreading awareness in the UK diaspora community.
Pollution in the Niger Delta
Shell Petroleum Oil company, and others, extract huge amounts of oil from the Niger Delta – home to the Ogoni people. The pollution caused by this oil extraction is having horrific impacts on the soils and waters of the delta, contaminating the Ogoni’s crops and animals. Research has uncovered high levels of toxic chemicals and heavy metals in the water and seafood, and local farmers even speak of how they can taste oil in the fish that they eat.
Gas flaring (part of the crude oil production process) burns excess natural gas and spits toxic particles into the air which contributes to air pollution. Research has proven that this air pollution can cause early menopause and miscarriages, asthma, skin conditions and the acid rain even corrodes their rooftops; yet it is a practice which has continued on Ogoni land for over 60 years.
Millions have been forcibly removed from the land for pipelines and refineries, and millions more have been displaced by flooding. These land grabs are also resulting in deforestation of mangroves which are an important breeding ground for the fish that local communities rely upon.
Not only are the communities of the Niger Delta directly affected by the pollution, but climate change has hit them hard too. Sporadic rainfall, chaotic seasons, flash floods, landslides and gully erosion all affect farmers’ abilities to grow food for their local communities. The delegation heard reports of hunger, which is most acute in the farming and fishing villages where it seemed impossible to harvest enough produce despite their best efforts.
The Ogoni’s struggle
The Ogoni people are some of the least responsible for global warming, but the most impacted by it. This is why they are demanding climate justice across all levels of their society. The delegation visited schools, churches and farmers co-operatives who were all asking for our solidarity in holding those responsible accountable.
The Ogoni people have a long history of resistance and organising. Ken Saro Wiwa was an organiser in the 90’s who was murdered alongside 8 others for mobilising the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. This spirit of resistance is still growing today, sustaining a movement of community activists making a plan for climate resilience in the Niger Delta.
Students, professors, engineers, frontline activists, youth, farmers and women, who have been fighting for environmental justice for decades, are all a part of the climate conference we are attending, to begin this process from the ground up.
“Clean up, Pay up!”
For farmers in the Niger Delta to be resilient, they need fresh air and clean soil; so they first have to stop oil pollution. Then, they can begin the mammoth task of cleaning up the soil and water, replanting mangroves and re-establishing their fields and agroforestry systems.
Reparations are critical here. The destruction of the lands, waters and health of the Ogoni people by fossil fuel companies goes way beyond the need to just mitigate climate change. Oil companies have destroyed livelihoods, decimated ecosystems and reduced lifespans. Equity must be restored.
Activists have been working tirelessly on practical, financial and litigation strategies for reparations for these frontline communities. So far they have won some landmark cases, for example in 2005 the landmark Gbemre vs. Shell Oil Petroleum Development Company case ruled that the gas flaring “violated the right to a healthy environment and dignity of the human person”.
Local organisations, like the Health of the Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), have been working on a strategy for transition, but there is an urgent need for greater focus on how agricultural transitions in the area can help farmers to adapt to climate change, restore the fertility of their soil and bring back the diverse agricultural systems based on varieties that have disappeared.
What are LWA doing to show solidarity?
One of many difficulties organisations working in the Niger Delta region face is that the processes for distributing funds for loss and damages circumvents the community activists working on the ground, preferring to channel finances to big organisations instead.
Jyoti is working on a project with local cooperatives of farmers to create a ‘Just Transition Plan’, which can support local networks in the Niger Delta to meet other La Via Campesina networks across Africa, and organise farmer-to-farmer agroecological training.
Next month, to coincide with COP29 in Azerbaijan, together with the European Coordination of Via Campesina (ECVC), LWA will launch a campaign asking UK and European activists to engage with their country negotiators to leverage finance for agroecology from the Loss and Damages funds.
This example of extreme pollution in the Niger Delta is a clear and irrefutable case of ‘loss and damage’, so we will bring this ‘Just Transition Plan’ – created by farmers, local students and scientists – forward as an example of what the international community should be financing.
Celeste, a veteran campaigner who worked with Ken Saro Wiwa, told the young activists gathered:
“The oppressors are brutal and have no conscience. You have to be prepared mentally, physically and otherwise. They need to be held accountable for their actions, and we can only do this together.”
Stay tuned for our campaign ‘Leveraging Finance for Agroecology’ and get involved. The Ogoni people of the Niger Delta in Nigeria are asking for your support.
