SHELL IN NIGERIA

COMPELLING REASONS FOR COMPANY TO CONDUCT ITSELF RESPONSIBLY Excessive exploitation strips the land of its environmental resources, destroying the subsistence farming. Millions of people depend upon the natural resources for survival, including the poor in many other parts who rely on the resources restricted to certain areas. The spills pollute local water sources that people depend on for drinking, cooking, bathing, laundering and fishing. They also release dangerous fumes into the air, sometimes rendering villages uninhabitable and causing serious illness for those who are unable to relocate.

Contd.
The chemicals, which end up in local waterways and fields through soot and precipitation, include carcinogens such as benzene, a deadly chemical that can cause convulsions, chromosomal damage and birth defects. The gas burned in flares is not the clean natural gas used for heating or cooking; the gas is contaminated with toxic compounds and the flares send huge toxic plumes into the air. This contributes to the Green House Effect.

Helps corporations to build public trust and thus build more profits. WIN-WIN situation for both COMMUNITY & SHELL !!!

WHAT SHELL COULD HAVE DONE ??

Help with the infrastructure and development of the community.
Give more employment in order to prevent theft of petroleum. Change the business approach to being more benevolent. Adopt better pollution prevention & control methods.

Contd.
Build public relations with media and generate goodwill. Land restoration programs to make barren lands fertile. Encourage Nigerian Government to make peaceful negotiations between the people of Ogoni & Shell and insist on stopping the use of military to control the people. Open channels of communication with people of Niger Delta to resolve the conflict ASAP.

CURRENT PRACTICES OF SHELL

Shell started projects on bio fuel production in order to reduce the emission of CO2 content in the atmosphere Shell interest in regulations have increased and resulted in high standard in refining process

High standards and regulation to reduces the accidents inside refineries and also in the pipelines that are implanted in the villages and farm lands High measures in avoiding oil spills and gas flares
Effective handling of waste using improved technology

Contd.
Continuous investment in the maintenance and safety of the plant. Ex: Shell spent $6 billion to improve the safety of wells, pipelines and refineries Increase the standard of local people by providing employment to them Huge investment in the development of the community, a total of $365 million spent in 2011 Huge investment in technology and research to reduce environment degradation.

INTRODUCTION
Bauxite mining by the company, Vedanta Resources plc threatened the lives of the Dongria Kondh that populate the region of Niyamgiri hills, Orissa which is claimed to be an important wildlife habitat in Eastern Ghats of India. According to the villagers, the opening, in 2008, of an aluminium refinery in neighbouring Lanjigarh by Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), has brought misery, disease and impoverishment. Vedanta received support from the state of Orissa to expand the refinery, and to start an open-pit bauxite mine in the Niyamgiri hills. It had been given the green light from the Supreme Court of India and only a final clearance from the Ministry of Environments and Forests was awaited.

GLIMPSE AT TIME-LINE OF EVENTS

In 2002, Vedanta approached the communities surrounding Lanjigarh, informing them that they were going to build a factory. Vedanta had promised employment for everyone, assuring the Kondh that only one village would be displaced. In 2003, Vedanta forced the community of Kinari to vacate their village and coerced farmers into selling their land at far below its market value, displacing hundreds of people. Government of Orissa failed to inform the Kondh of their rights, and Vedanta did not warn them of the potentially devastating impact of its project. Police sought to promote the interests of the company both in the framing of false charges and in the suppression of dissent. The police arrested all the protesting men, and kept them in jail. Union Minister of Jairam Ramesh had withdrawn clearance for the Stage II expansion project of the company at Lanjigarh and banned mining of bauxite by Vedanta Alumina on August, 2010 on grounds that it was violating the provisions of the Forest and Environmental laws.

K DEEPAK RAJA (11EMPDM199) BHARTI VERMA (11EMPDM198) AMIT KANABAR (11EMPDM195)