In a move to drive the growth of clean energy sources in Africa, a group of over 70 Ugandan and Congolese civil society organisations (CSOs) as well as their partners have urged the Ugandan government, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and TotalEnergies to prioritise the economic well-being of Ugandans, biodiversity conservation and climate action by investing in clean energy, instead of climate-wrecking projects such as the Kingfisher, Tilenga and East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) ones.
The call was made the day drilling for the Kingfisher oil project in Kikuube district was launched, marking the first oil wells in the country.
In a statement issued by environmental group 350.org, the civil society organisations say that the Kingfisher project, which is operated by CNOOC (U) Ltd, will involve the drilling of 31 wells. The wells will be drilled within Lake Albert. As per Uganda’s Ministry of Energy, the deepest Kingfisher oil project well is 7 km deep.
CNOOC (U) Ltd is working alongside its joint-venture partners that include the Ugandan government and TotalEnergies. These partners also plan to develop the Tilenga and EACOP oil projects.
“Ugandans, East Africans and indeed all global citizens of goodwill should be concerned about the Kingfisher, Tilenga and EACOP oil projects. The projects are located in one of the last frontiers for biodiversity conservation, the Albertine Graben, in Uganda. The Graben is home to forests, 70 pc of Uganda’s national parks, major lakes such as Albert, River Nile and others. These ecosystems and biodiversity support Uganda’s major economic activities such as agriculture, fishing, tourism and business. By endangering biodiversity therefore, the joint-venture partners are risking the majority of Ugandans’ economic well-being,” says Dickens Kamugisha, CEO of Africa Institute for Energy Governance.
The organisations add in the press statement that it should also be recalled that the world is faced with the climate change crisis characterised by unpredictable weather patterns, prolonged dry seasons, wetter-than-usual wet seasons and others in Uganda. They go on to say that Kingfisher, Tilenga and EACOP oil projects will result in the production of millions of tonnes of carbon per year. They are also driving deforestation and forest degradation in Uganda’s Albertine Graben, actions that exacerbate climate change impacts.