After 10 years of waiting, 13,000 Nigerians are one step closer to justice in their fight against Shell?s alleged environmental devastation.

More than 13,000 members of the Bille and Ogale communities in southern Nigeria are embroiled in a legal battle with Shell Nigeria, accusing the company of exposing them to approximately 100 oil spills.

These spills caused severe damage to their land, waterways, and drinking water, leaving them unable to farm or fish.

The Africa report said a High Court ruling in the UK, which was dismissed by the Court of Appeal, stated that since the claimants could not link damaged areas to individual oil spills, the claims should be treated as a ?Global Claim? ? a type of legal action only used in contractual disputes in the construction industry.

The appeal, whichh was granted on Friday, overturns a March UK High Court ruling, setting the stage for Bille and Ogale communities in Nigeria?s oil-producing Niger Delta for a full trial over devastation by oil pollution, allegedly caused by Shell PLC?s Nigerian subsidiary SPDC.

According to Leigh Day, the UK law firm representing the two communities, under the global claim, Bille and Ogale communities would have to prove that Shell was responsible for 100 per cent of the environmental pollution.

If there were any other sources of pollution for which Shell was not responsible, each individual?s claim would fail.

A Shell spokesperson told Reuters the majority of spills related to the Ogale and Bille claims were caused by illegal third-party interference, including pipeline sabotage, but that SPDC would continue cleaning affected areas.

?We believe litigation does little to address the real problem in the Niger Delta: oil spills due to crude oil theft, illegal refining and sabotage, with which SPDC is constantly faced and which cause the most environmental damage,? the spokesperson said.

In the High Court ruling, each of the 13,000 claimants was required to prove which specific oil spill or leak caused precisely what environmental damage at the start of the case, before any expert evidence or disclosure was ordered.

Leigh Day international department partner Dan Leader expressed delight that the Court of Appeal has allowed the claims to proceed to trial.

?It has been 10 years since these two Nigerian communities first brought their claims in the UK courts and many of our clients have died while awaiting justice,? he said in a statement.

?Our clients have had to fight to the Supreme Court to get a ruling that the UK Parent company, Shell PLC, is potentially liable for the environmental devastation they have suffered,? he added. Shell has tied the case up in knots all over again and it has barely moved forward since the communities? Supreme Court victory in 2021.?

The leader described the judgement as a landmark for environmental claims going forward. Now the global claims test has been dismissed, he said, and claimants will bring complex environmental claims arising from multiple and repeated pollution without being asked to prove the impossible.

?Our clients were being asked to pinpoint exactly which oil spill or leak caused which incident of pollution on their land. The sheer scale of the pollution allegedly caused by Shell?s subsidiary over many years makes this an impossible task.?

In a statement, Izzie McIntosh, climate campaigner at Global Justice Now, which campaigns alongside the Bille and Ogale communities, said the two communities had spent years ?bravely fighting back?.

?Their actions, she added, could help to build a world where corporations can no longer act with impunity in the name of profit while remaining sheltered from the legal consequences of the destruction they allegedly cause. (New Telegraph)

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