Oil spills in the Niger Delta: Will Shell come clean?

Warning: this episode contains mentions of baby loss.

Three years ago, we brought you the story of a Nigerian fishing community suing Shell in UK courts over oil spills. This year marks 10 years since their battle began, and the year it finally goes to trial.

The Niger Delta is one of the ten most important wetland ecosystems in the world, home to some 31 million people. But the river that sustains so many lives of so many species has become poisoned over decades by oil.

Environmental justice is a long and winding road, but communities are standing firm in their bids to hold the world’s most powerful corporations to account. They rely on media coverage to keep their fights in the limelight, yet they often struggle to be seen. Why is that?

In this episode, we are joined by Lazarus Tamana, UK president of the Movement For The Survival of The Ogoni People , and Dr Emem Okon, Executive Director of community-led NGO Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre. They help us unpick the media’s coverage of the climate crisis - examining undisclosed relationships between news outlets and corporations, a failure to understand national vs. ‘World’ news, and telling choices of media language.

Follow Amnesty UK’s ‘No Clean Up, No Justice’, read Dr Emem Okon’s research, with the Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre and Both Ends.

The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (⁠@mathildamall⁠) and Helena Wadia (⁠@helenawadia⁠) , with Lily Erwood as Assistant Producer.

The music is by ⁠@soundofsamfire⁠

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