{"id":45676,"date":"2022-01-13T17:06:11","date_gmt":"2022-01-13T17:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=45676"},"modified":"2022-01-13T17:57:20","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T17:57:20","slug":"shell-becoming-softer-target-climate-campaigners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2022\/01\/13\/shell-becoming-softer-target-climate-campaigners\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Shell is becoming a softer target for climate campaigners"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the Amadiba community on South Africa’s “wild coast”, the Indian Ocean isn’t just an economic resource which provides fishers with livelihoods. It’s also spiritual. <\/strong><\/p>\n

“The oceans are sacred to us,” said Sinegugu Zukulu, an Amadiba environmental activist. People in training to become traditional healers, known as sangomas, perform rituals on the beach to consult with their ancestors and many African churches perform baptisms in the ocean. “So we cannot allow our ocean to be used for activities that are going to lead to destruction and render the ocean useless to us.”<\/p>\n

His warning is addressed at Shell, the European oil major that has paid ships to shoot soundwaves at the bed of the Indian Ocean in an attempt to find oil. Zuklulu and other campaigners took the oil major to court, arguing that local communities were not properly consulted. They say the seismic surveys will scare off fish and any future oil spill would devastate the region’s fishing and tourism industries and cause spiritual damage.<\/p>\n