London’s High Court has ruled that 13,000 fishermen and farmers from the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s oil region, can bring claims against Shell for environmental breaches, leaving the global oil giant with the option of a settlement or going to trial.

Locals from two Nigerian communities, Bille and Ogale, had since 2015, accused the multinational oil company of leaving the area chronically polluted through its operations and refusing to clean up or compensate them.