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Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2000 11:08 AM
Subject: [mobilize-globally] URGENT SIGN-ON Subject: [theafricanobserver] Fw: URGENT SIGN-ON Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 09:11:39 +0100 From: "Orevaoghene C. Obaro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----- Original Message ----- From: "disera" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2000 1:43 AM Subject: URGENT SIGN-ON (REGRETS for cross-posting) ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ACTION/ FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, NIGERIA; #214, USELU-LAGOS ROAD; UGBOWO; BENIN CITY; NIGERIA TEL/FAX: +234-52-600 165 E-MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED] October 25, 2000 URGENT SIGN-ON Dear Friends and colleagues, We have attached a petition to the World Bank asking it to withdraw all support for the proposed West African Gas Pipeline because of the serious threat the project poses to the communities and the environment of Niger Delta area, Ghana, Benin and Togo. We appeal to all concerned individuals and organisations around the world to quickly study the petition and sign-on. As the petition will be released in different locations around the world in early November, we urge all those endorsing the petition to do so before November 13, 2000. To sign-on send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and copy [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For organisations, the following information will be needed: Name of organization, address, name and title of person signing for the organisation. Please forward to your networks. Thank you. Isaac Osuoka Environmental Rights Action and Oilwatch Africa ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Open Letter to the World Bank on the West African Gas Pipeline Dear President James Wolfensohn, We, the undersigned organisations and individuals from around the world, wish to express our solidarity with the local communities of the Niger Delta area and Nigerian civil society organisations who have rejected the West African Gas Pipeline project and requested that The World Bank should discontinue any support for the project. We share the concerns of the communities that the project would aggravate environmental devastation, human rights violations, communal conflicts and impoverishment of the communities in the gas fields and pipeline route. We understand that the World Bank funded the initial feasibility study for the West African Gas Pipeline and continues to support the project, which will transport natural gas from gas fields in the Niger Delta of Nigeria to special consumers in Benin, Togo and Ghana. The project is being developed by a consortium of transnational oil corporations including Chevron and Shell in partnership with the state owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Societe Beninoise de Gaz and Societe Togolaise de Gaz. The partners signed agreement for the project in 1999 and construction of the pipeline is expected to be concluded by 2002. The World Bank has been working with the governments of Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana to set a fiscal and regulatory structure to make the project profitable for the corporations. By continuing to support this project, the World Bank is encouraging the corporations and the governments involved to ignore even the most basic processes to protect the natural environment and the livelihood of local populations. Though the pipeline will have negative impacts on the natural environment and the local communities, the communities have not been informed about the nature of the project, as prior consultation with the communities is clearly not a consideration for the consortium. Also, a transparent and inclusive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process was not carried out in all the countries involved. It is unfortunate that months after representatives and indigenes of local communities in Nigeria's Niger Delta, delegates from Ghana, Benin Republic and Togo as well as concerned NGOs and social movements met in Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria between 14 -15 March 2000 and protested the absence of consultation and EIA, Chevron, the managing sponsor of the project and the Nigerian government have been carrying on with total contempt for the objective fears of the communities. Consultation Although the project was conceived before 1993 and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed as far back as August 1999, members of the communities in the gas fields where Chevron's gas gathering facilities are located and communities along the proposed pipeline route have been ignorant of the project. This is because Chevron has maintained a high level of secrecy, refusing to inform and consult with the communities that will bear the impacts of the project. We, therefore, conclude that Chevron and her partners are not willing to address the fears of the communities, which have arisen with the history of violations and destruction associated with Chevron and the other transnational oil corporations. Chevron, the managing sponsor of the West African Gas Pipeline, is currently being sued in U.S. courts for their role in aiding and abetting the Nigerian military in killing and torturing unarmed civilians protesters on two separate occasions, on the Parabe platform and in of Opia and Ikenyan villages on May 28, 1998 and January 4, 1999, respectively. Similarly, Shell, a member of the consortium is responsible for numerous killings and rights violations in the Niger Delta area. Chevron has failed to give adequate information in response to enquiries by civil society organisations in Nigeria, Ghana and Togo. The responses to organisations have been scanty and self-contradictory. In some of the responses, Chevron claims to be committed to consultation with host communities. However, with the project billed to commence by 2001 and construction expected to be concluded by 2002, there would not be enough time for adequate consultation considering the magnitude of the project and expected impacts. For example, in March, 2000, Chevron failed to show-up in an information and consultation meeting to discuss the WAGP with local communities, civil society organisations, media, government agencies and experts from Nigeria, Ghana and Togo, though the independent organisers had invited the company and officials of the company had announced that the company would be sending representatives. Similarly, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) failed to turn up for the information and consultation meeting despite the prior indication of willingness to attend during meetings with the organisers. The governments of Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana also have not demonstrated any real commitment to consultation with local communities and civil society organisations. We must point out that a favourable condition for democratic participation in decision-making of local communities does not exist in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, due to continuing militarisation of the area and central government legislation that deprives the local communities of all rights to ownership and control of land. With the government having the power to arbitrarily expropriate communal land for oil and gas development, the people are quite powerless to engage in any meaningful participatory consultation with oil companies and the state. Environment The West African Gas pipeline project, like similar projects in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria and other tropical countries, will surely affect the natural environment upon which the communities depend for survival. The wetlands and the mangroves that the pipeline will traverse are universally registered as fragile ecosystems. We are all aware of the devastating impacts the reckless activities of Chevron, Shell and the other transnational oil companies involved in the exploitation of oil and gas have had on the natural environment of the Niger Delta area. It is worrisome that despite the fact that there are a few legislative stipulations as to how projects should be organised, the oil companies and government agencies almost always ignore such stipulations. Though an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a statutory requirement, which should precede projects of this nature in Nigeria, Chevron has not conducted any EIA for the West African Gas Pipeline. However, gas sales contracts have either been signed or are being negotiated. That Chevron and its partners will conclude agreements for gas sales and project construction before a consideration of the real cost of the project on the natural environment and the local communities is unacceptable to us. It should be unacceptable to the World Bank. The West Africa Gas Pipeline will not contribute towards the truly sustainable development of any of the communities in the targeted countries. The fact is that the gas is not destined to supply the real needs of the communities but those of unsustainable industries. In Ghana, the gas will be consumed mainly by the gold mines. The result will be the expansion of unsustainable gold mining activities and the resultant exacerbation of environmental degradation and destruction of the livelihood of local populations. Hence the project is totally contrary to the commitment to sustainable development. Furthermore, at a time when the world needs to decrease its reliance on fossil fuels because of the global threat of climate change, this project will further increase the world's reliance on fossil fuels. We are aware that the project is being promoted as one that would contribute to the reduction of gas flaring, a serious environmental problem that has been created by the oil companies and the Nigerian government. It is our position that oil companies and the government should be responsible for correcting the problem of gas flaring, which they have created. Reduction of gas flaring should not be tied to profit considerations, as is the case with the West African Gas Pipeline and similar projects of its kind. Despite the claims of the consortium, there is no guarantee that the flaring of ASSOCIATED GAS will be reduced as a result of the West African Gas Pipeline. If the West African Gas pipeline will collect natural gas from special non-associated gas fields, as is the case with the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Project, then there will not be any reasonable reduction of gas flaring. The gas that is flared in the Niger Delta area is ASSOCIATED GAS. Any project that will lead to considerable reduction of gas flaring should be based on a programme aimed at collecting associated gas. The responses to the enquiries of civil society organisations on this matter indicate that Chevron and other members of the consortium do not have a clear programme for the reduction of flaring of ASSOCIATED GAS. Gas flaring by oil companies operating in the Niger Delta area is not just a problem for the local communities. The planet earth is affected as the emission of major greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane from this area contribute significantly to the problem of global climate change. Chevron accepts the problem that it creates and is promoting the West African Gas Pipeline as a project that will contribute to mitigation of global climate change. Chevron is, therefore, asking for credit under the Clean Development Mechanism. However, what this amounts to is that Chevron is asking to be rewarded for attempting to solve a problem it created. Besides, without a clear plan for the reduction of the flaring of ASSOCIATED GAS, it would amount to a faulty decision by_ anyone that intends to grant Chevron any carbon credit for the West African Gas pipeline. Furthermore, we object to Chevron and other companies profiting from reducing gas flaring; we believe the communities that surround these flares must be compensated for years of health and environmental problems associated with gas flaring before any company profits from gas flare reduction Human rights Despite the recent hand-over of power in Nigeria from military to civilian rule, grave violations of human rights persist in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, with increasing brutal repression of peaceful community protests, extra-judicial executions, detentions without trial, violation of livelihood etc. Hopes that the current civilian government would better address the Niger Delta discontent dimmed with the massacre, in November 1999, of Odi residents and the total destruction of Odi town by Nigerian soldiers on the orders of the civilian President, General Olusegun Obasanjo. Without prior consultation with communities and with a pervading climate of insecurity in the Niger Delta area, there is no guarantee that killings and other rights violations will not be a consequence of the West African Gas Pipeline Project. Communal conflict The expropriation of communal land and degradation of communal farmland and wetlands by Chevron and the other oil companies in the Niger Delta area have resulted in scarcity of agricultural land and fishing ground. The result has been an increasing commodification and competition for land. Communal conflicts for land have been assuming an increasingly violent character with destruction of lives and property. Also, with the impoverishment and political marginalisation of the minority peoples of the Niger Delta area, demands for self-determination and resource control is increasing among communities in the area. Some of the communities have openly called on oil companies to withdraw from their areas pending the resolution of these issues. With these crises still unresolved by the Nigerian State, any new project of the magnitude of the West African Gas Pipeline will certainly contribute to worsening the condition for violence and destruction. Based on the foregoing, and in support of the local communities we demand that the World Bank discontinue support for the West Africa Gas pipeline until: i) The Nigerian state, which is a part of the West African Gas Pipeline consortium, addresses the issues of access to land, resource control, livelihoods and self-determination for communities and peoples of the Niger Delta area; ii)The Nigerian central government discontinues its programme of militarisation of the oil- bearing Niger Delta area and create a condition for democratic participation; iii)Chevron and the Nigerian government address the fears of the local communities. These fears as articulated by the people themselves include: The absence of an all-inclusive Environmental Impact Assessment, the grave environmental devastation that will result from the project including deforestation, explosions, the fragmentation of habitats and wildlife corridors and the blocking of water bodies, cultural dislocation as well as economic impoverishment. Thank you. Signed by: (organisations and individuals around the world) cc The President of Nigeria The President of Benin Republic The President of Togo The President of Ghana The President of CHEVRON The Director of PCF of the World Bank 1 -------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. 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