Last Thursday, over 11,000 people and 17 institutions from the Ogale community in the Niger Delta filed compensation claims against Shell for damages and loss of livelihoods (Reuters). The claims follow others brought by members of the Bille community in 2015, bringing the total number of people seeking compensation to nearly 14,000.

This past Friday, a Dutch appeals court ruled that Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary was responsible for two pipeline leaks in the Niger River Delta, occurring in 2004 and 2005 in the villages of Oruma and Goi (Reuters and Bloomberg).

The Nigerian government announced its plans to restore nearly 10 million acres of degraded lands. It is now one of 26 countries in Africa that have committed to restoring collectively more than 200 million acres of land as part of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative. The restoration of degraded forests and other landscapes was found to have the most climate mitigation potential of 20 natural climate strategies examined for a recent study. For the full story see https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/nigeria-pledges-to-restore-nearly-10-…

On December 18, a Dutch appeals court ruled that Royal Dutch Shell can be held liable for oil spills in Nigeria by its subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC). Shell was ordered by judges in The Hague to provide the court with documents that clarify details about the oil spill, particularly its causes and whether those in charge were aware of them. This decision overturned a finding by a lower Dutch court in 2013 that Shell’s parent company could not be held liable for oil pollution by its Nigerian subsidiary.

Four years after a critical United Nations report, the Nigerian government has established a fund to oversee $1 billion worth of cleanup and restoration in the Ogoniland oilfields of the Niger Delta. According to President Muhammadu Buhari, the new fund will be overseen by representatives of the Ogoni people, the United Nations, the Nigerian government, and oil companies responsible for the contamination.

Compensation talks will begin this week between Royal Dutch Shell lawyers and 15,000 Nigerian villagers who say oil spills destroyed their livelihoods. The villagers sought millions of dollars in payment in London for two spills that polluted the Bodo fishing communities of the Niger Delta. Shell accepts responsibility for the spills but it disagrees with the plaintiffs about the volume spilled and the number of people who lost their livelihoods. Talks broke down in 2012 before the lawsuit, but will resume this week in Port Harcourt, the main city in the Delta.

Nigerian villagers took Royal Dutch Shell to court last week in a pollution case that campaigners say will open the door for more compensation claims against international companies. Villagers from the heavily polluted Niger Delta region, along with Friends of the Earth, accused Shell of polluting their land and waterways in three oil spills from 2004 to 2007. The case marks the first time a Dutch company has been sued in the Netherlands for the actions of a foreign subsidiary.

Royal Dutch Shell said at the Hague that it will not pay for thousands of oil spills in Nigeria caused by bandits, estimating that 70 percent of spills were caused by sabotage or theft. "When it comes to issues of the safety of people and crime, it's the responsibility of the government," said Peter de Wit, director of Shell Netherlands. "That's not happening.

A long-awaited UN report said that restoration of the Ogoniland region could be the "most wide-ranging and long-term oil cleanup" ever taken, possibly taking as long as 30 years. The report, which follows a two-year investigation, has drawn fire as it is partially funded by Shell, the oil giant that has accepted liability for the 2008 and 2009 spills that impacted the region. The report found that 10 communities were seriously threatened by pollution, and one community has said that it will seek hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.

Royal Dutch Shell said at the Hague that it will not pay for thousands of oil spills in Nigeria caused by bandits, estimating that 70 percent of spills were caused by sabotage or theft. "When it comes to issues of the safety of people and crime, it's the responsibility of the government," said Peter de Wit, director of Shell Netherlands. "That's not happening.