LAY OF THE LAND

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People in Bangladesh have developed a keen interest in Shell Oil's decades of environmental destruction and human-rights violations in Africa's Niger Delta. That's because their country is the oil giant's next target. Last year, the Bangladeshi government signed a contract with Shell to begin oil and gas exploration in the Sundarbans, home to the world's largest tiger reserve as well as its largest expanse of mangroves, which buffer the country against cyclones and tidal surges. When urged by Bangladeshi environmentalists to spare the area, Shell's manager for corporate issues suggested that the multinational had learned from its mistakes in Nigeria and that oil and gas development might in fact "offer the best hope for enhancement of such areas." According to Mohammed Ali Ashraf, forest and wildlife campaigner for Friends of the Earth Bangladesh, "Shell knew pretty well that there is no environmental law in Bangladesh [and is] taking every opportunity of the loopholes of our worthless judicial system." For more information, contact the Mangrove Action Project, Earth Island Institute, P.O. Box 1854, Port Angeles, WA 98362-0279; (360) 452-5866; or go to www.earthisland.org/map/index.htm.

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