Nigerian farmers taking on oil company Shell in the Hague have met with moderate success this week.

A Dutch court ruled on Wednesday that Shell's Nigerian subsidiary is responsible for oil pollution in the Niger Delta. However, of the five cases brought against Shell, the oil giant was acquitted of four.

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Nevertheless, commentators said the ruling opens the door to more such legal challenges. The case in The Hague was the first in which the company has been challenged on its home turf over actions of a subsidiary in another country.

The Niger Delta saw an estimated 7,000 oil spills between 1970 and 2000 and protests against the activity of oil companies in the region have been brutally repressed in the past, escalating the frequency and militancy of anti-oil industry activity. Numerous human rights abuses and incidences of ecocide have been reported in the region.

The Delta’s waters have been poisoned, mangrove forests have been lost and fish populations have plummeted in recent years.

In October 2012, four farmers from the Niger Delta, supported by international environmental organisation Friends of the Earth, brought a civil lawsuit against Shell relating to pollution in the Delta, which they said has badly impacted on their land and affected their ability to fish and farm.

The suit was filed in 2008, but Shell had argued it could not be tried in the Netherlands for the actions of its subsidiary Shell Nigeria, which delayed proceedings.

On Wednesday, farmer Friday Akpan was awarded compensation over damage to waterways. However, in the majority of cases spills were found to have been caused by sabotage, not poor maintenance by Shell Nigeria. 161 spills were judged to have been caused in this way, though 37 were found to be the result of operational failure.

Following Wednesday's ruling, a Friends of the Earth spokesperson said the organisation would appeal over the rulings quashed by the court. Shell is also being tried in the UK, by a group representing the community of Bodo.