Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
3
Learning from the Quest for Environmental
Justice in the Niger River Delta
Max Stephenson Jr. and Lisa A. Schweitzer
The peoples of the Niger River Delta have been engaged in ongoing
struggles to secure some measure of genuine development from the con-
tinued oil production in their territory (Okonta and Douglas 2001)
despite the ecological degradation that accompanies those processes
(Moffatt and Linden 1995). Many analysts, who have examined the
environmental pollution of the Delta and the role of petroleum explora-
tion and production in that process, have concluded that more just
outcomes could be achieved with more transparent and accountable
governance in Nigeria itself. However, because this region accounts for
a signifi cant percentage of the world's oil production, a hefty share of
the overall profi ts of one of the globe's largest corporations (Royal Dutch
Shell), and much of the oil consumed in the United States, it is unlikely
that current patterns of degradation and exploitation will be altered
unless changes are also made in the patterns of transnational trade and
economic globalization shaping these activities.
This chapter situates environmental justice claims used as surrogates
for poverty and cultural marginalization in the Niger River Delta into
two broader currents of theory building. First, we examine the unfolding
Delta story through the lens of Ulrich Beck's cosmopolitan realist theory,
particularly his concept of the double contingent character of the current
international political order's changing contours. This perspective pro-
vides a means to understand better the claims and capacities of the
institutional participants in the struggle (Beck 2005). Second, and equally
important, we summarize widely held views concerning accountability
claims appropriate to democratic governance and identify the primary
alternate international and intranational accountabilities at play in
the Delta. This second perspective is useful for distinguishing the role(s)
of the Nigerian state and other relevant actors at multiple analytical
scales. All levels of the Nigerian government have been complicit in the
