Oil-Niger Delta - Raghav

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAgw_Zyznx0

The Niger Delta is rich in oil and natural gas. It is one of the biggest exporter of oil in the world. The exploration of fossil fuels in this location started back in the 1950s. However, because Niger was a colony, international companies were allowed to use and export these resources without the consent of the local communities. This meant that the country could not take advantage of its massive oil reserves.

When Niger was given independence, these companies used lobbying and bribery to ensure they could continue exploiting Niger’s resources. The contamination of the local environment by the companies like Shell, left significant scars on the rivers and land that many locals relied on for food or for income. Fish became harder to come by, and the land became tainted with oil. The locals looked on as these international operations took their resources, paid off their politicians, and polluted their livelihood.

In response, many locals set up their own oil extraction and refineries. Once the oil is refined, the various products would be sold in local and global markets. These sites were illegal but served as important sources of employment and oil for locals. Paramilitary groups also formed in order to protect these groups. In 2009 the Nigerian government implemented an amnesty program that paid the groups to stop refining the oil. This program was meant to rehabilitate and educate former militants. For a brief period of time, the number of illegal oil refineries began to reduce. However, due to corruption, this program failed.

For many of the locals, the illegal oil refiners are their only means of survival. In order to stop the black market oil, the Nigerian military is sent out to destroy whatever sites they see and dump whatever illegally refined products they find into the rivers. This contributes to the decline of the land and river ecosystems.

What this shows is the difficulty a country may face when its economy relies on extracting natural resources. It also shows the importance of a strong government that will allow the country to grow and develop sustainably and equitably.

Jharia and Niger Delta Vidushi

Jharia

• An underground fire has been burning for centuries in a coal mine in Jharia
• The people are affected by the toxic fumes
• They have to move because their houses are getting burned - fire spreads under their houses and then burns their houses
• Shows the effects of mining on people
• Before the companies came to open cast mine Jharia was nice
• So much of the Coal is burned to smoke - Worth billions of dollars
• Underground coal fire: Coal seam burning aids air pollution by releasing smoke laden toxic gases. India is said to have world’s greatest concentration of coal fires (Greenpeace, 2016). Jharia coalfield which has been burning for more than a century is an explicit example. Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) estimates that about 37 million tonnes have been already burnt by coal seam fires since they overtook the coal fields. Moreover, out of 80 identified fires only 10 have been successfully extinguished till date (Bavashi, 2017). Coal mine methane: Coal mines release methane which is a potential green house gas. About 6 per cent of methane emissions come from coal mining (Greenpeace, 2016). Impacts on water resources: Underground mining also lowers the groundwater level around the mines since vast quantities of groundwater is pumped out in order to remove the coal from the mines. This affects water availability in the vicinity of the mining area. Exposure of geologically toxic elements and minerals: Underground mining exposes huge amount of earth materials and rocks. They possess a significant risk of contamination from heavy metals and geologically derived toxic minerals to nearby ground and surface water sources.

Niger Delta

Companies like Shell come to take oil from the Niger Delta

Though Nigeria sits on top the largest oil reserve on the planet, Nigerian people do not get much benefit

Companies like Shell take the oil