Nigeria

In the global scramble for energy, Nigeria is blessed. Its resources earn billions of dollars each year, and it bobs atop enough oil and gas reserves to ensure wealth for generations. Yet try telling that to impoverished villagers in the country's Niger Delta region, where Royal Dutch Shell has drilled for nearly 50 years. "Look at thisthe crops are stunted, the water is polluted," rails Bari-Ara Kpalap, grabbing a wilted stalk of cassava as he stands ankle-deep in oily water. For Kpalap, a local activist, there is one obvious culprit: "A great part of our problems have been caused by...