LONDON: In the first case of its kind, Colombian the farmers have filed a case in a London court claiming that BP Exploration Company (Colombia) Ltd, which joined forces with Colombia’s national oil company and four foreign multinational corporations in a consortium to construct the 720km Ocensa pipeline, caused landslides and damage to soil and groundwater, causing crops to fail, livestock to perish, contaminating water supplies and

making fish ponds unsustainable.

The farmers are claiming damages against BP for breach of contract and negligence. If the court accepts the evidence of environmental damage caused by the project it could open the way for similar claims by other communities in developing countries who say they have been adversely affected by oil pipelines.

In 1988 and 1992 BP discovered two oilfields in Colombia and in 1995 it began construction of a pipeline to transport crude oil to an exportation terminal 830kms away. The pipeline crossed 192 villages and most of the land was owned by small-scale peasant farmers. It has a capacity to transport 620,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

According to the claim lodged by the farmers’ lawyers, an environmental impact assessment conducted by BP prior to construction of the pipeline acknowledged significant and widespread risks of damage to the land, but the farmers, most of them illiterate, were not informed of these risks. BP promised compensation to the farmers for damage that might occur but said there would be no long-term environmental damage.

“BP, part of one of the largest oil companies in the world with world-class expertise, should have known the possible effects,” the lawyers state.

Pedro Florez, one of the farmers suing BP, said: “Now that my land has been destroyed I realise that the money I was paid for the pipeline to be built across my farm was a mere pittance and that BP took advantage of my inability to read and write and of my lack of understanding of technical language. I can no longer keep the same number of animals or crops, or fish in the local lake, because of the poor quality of the water.”

Farmers say that during construction of the pipeline natural vegetation that protected the soil from sun, wind and rain was removed and replaced with vegetation that did not protect the soil. They say there has been soil erosion.