Tuesday, December 28, 2021
“Huge Victory” for nature
Shell loses oil dispute against environmentalists
The energy company Shell wants to search for oil and gas deposits off the coast of South Africa. Environmentalists fear that the air cannons used could seriously damage whales in the marine reserve. A court has banned Shell from exploring for the time being.
The South African judiciary has stopped investigations by the energy giant Shell into oil and gas deposits off the coast of South Africa. The Grahamstown High Court in the Eastern Cape banned the company from conducting “seismic surveys” on the Wild Coast – a major achievement for environmentalists who have been protesting the project for weeks and calling for a boycott of Shell.
Shell wants to analyze the structure of the seabed on South Africa’s Wild Coast with seismic waves that are emitted by air cannons on ships in order to identify possible raw material deposits. According to environmentalists, this practice affects the behavior and reproduction of whales and other sea creatures that rely heavily on their hearing.
The Wild Coast, which includes several nature and marine reserves, stretches for around 300 kilometers on the east coast of South Africa on the Indian Ocean. Shell plans to carry out explorations there over the next four to five months over an area of around 6,000 square kilometers. The company has promised to “prevent or minimize” effects on the animals living there as far as possible. A first urgent application against the investigations had recently failed before a lower court.
After the verdict, it was said that Shell respected the court ruling. The company has suspended the explorations and is now examining the judgment, the company said. The organization Natural Justice spoke of a “huge victory”. However, the fight is not over yet and the process will continue.