GLA - Niger delta and Cross River state in Nigeria

Nigeria’s political economy is dependent on crude oil extraction and agro commodities like palm oil. These industries severely impact people and the environment in forested landscapes. The environmental impacts of crude oil extraction in the Niger Delta are severe. Nigeria loses nearly 500,000 hectares of land annually to deforestation, largely caused by large scale commercial palm oil plantations, impacting heavily on local ecosystems, biodiversity and the local economy. This ‘natural resource curse’ has impacted on the fabric of social and political life in Nigeria by a.o. the historical grievances against multinational corporations in the oil sector, the centrality of natural resource extraction for political power, the protection of corporate security and the criminalization of ‘dissent’ in the name of national security. Local livelihoods are at risk due to land grabbing by corporations forcing local communities to engage in survival practices that further degrade the environment.