Join call for $1 billion emergency fund for Shell oil spills in Nigeria

Over 400 million gallons of oil have been spilled, devastating an area half the size of Florida.

Tell Shell to take responsibility for the disaster and establish a $1 billion emergency fund to help clean up its mess.

Later this month, Shell shareholders will gather for their Annual General Meeting. While they sip scotch and revel in their latest profits report, the people in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta of Nigeria will still be struggling to deal with the effects of massive oil spills that dumped hundreds of millions of gallons of oil onto their lands and into their waters over the past 50 years. That’s because, to this day, Shell has never cleaned up its mess.

An area half the size of Florida was devastated in the Niger Delta, yet Shell has made no serious effort to take responsibility, and offered no relief for the millions of people who call the Niger Delta home. Instead, the situation is getting worse - no longer able to scoop water from oil-covered streams, villagers now have to walk several hours to get water. Fishing, which plays an essential part of the local economy, has also been seriously affected with no fish being seen in the streams in the past five years.

Tell Shell's CEO Peter Voser that it is time to accept responsibility for the damage Shell has caused, and provide the $1 billion emergency fund as the first step of a longer-term cleanup operation. If we get 30,000 people signing the petition, Friends of the Earth Netherlands will deliver it at the Shell AGM.

A landmark report from UNEP - United Nations Environmental Programme - concluded that the maintenance of the Shell infrastructure “has been and remains inadequate” and calls for a $1 billion starter fund for clean-up in the Ogoni region to be contributed by the oil industry and government.

By some estimates, the equivalent of a Exxon Valdez spill occurs every year in the Niger Delta. And 50 years after the start of its operations, it’s time we demand Shell take responsibility for the damage it has caused in Nigeria. That's why we're partnering with Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth International. Together, we can show that a company must take responsibility for its actions, instead of simply earning record profits.

Sign our petition to Peter Voser telling him that Shell must accept responsibility for its actions, starting with a $1 billion emergency fund, recommended by UNEP, as part of a wider Ogoniland cleanup programme.

Thanks for fighting for corporate accountability, and for the people of the Niger Delta.

--Becky, Emma, Kaytee and the rest of us

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More information:

UNEP, Ogoniland Oil Assessment, Aug 4, 2011
Amnesty International, Shell: Own Up. Pay Up. Clean Up 

New York Times, Far From Gulf, A Spil Scourge 5 Decades Old, June 16, 2010