By Witness Radio team
A group of 828 civil society organizations (CSOs) such as Witness Radio- Uganda, oil host communities, fisherfolk, small-scale farmers as well as tour and travel operators, and other individuals from Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have petitioned the President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to stop the ongoing TotalEnergies’ oil drilling in Murchison Falls National Park and its planned deployment of a second oil rig in the park.
The petition follows reports that Total Energies E&P (U) B.V. is sweet-talking the President to allow them to deploy the second rig in the park following the Petroleum Authority of Uganda’s (PAU) refusal to allow them to deploy another oil rig in the park over biodiversity conservation concerns.
The undersigned led by the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) claim that the oil extraction in one of the pristine areas presents risks such as immense environmental destruction witnessed in the Albertine Graben in Uganda.
TotalEnergies is drilling oil from 130 oil wells in Murchison Falls National Park under the Tilenga oil project as well as from tens of wells from Lake Albert under the Kingfisher oil project, which is widely criticized by experts given the fact that Murchison Falls National Park alongside the Bugungu and Karuma Game Reserves remains one of Uganda’s most important conservation areas.
“Biodiversity experts and tour guides are worried about the impact that oil rigs, well-pads, oil roads, and other infrastructures could have on biodiversity. Light pollution from the rig has caused a risk to the conservation of nocturnal wildlife such as lions, leopards, various bird species, and others.
Paved oil roads in the park have been identified as a risk factor for increasing poaching, which is already affecting the conservation of wildlife such as hippopotami Plus, an increased human presence in the park has also been implicated as a conservation risk for shy and nervous wildlife such as waterbuck and bushbuck. The fact that well pads and an oil pipeline called the Victoria Nile Crossing are being developed a few meters from or will affect the Murchison-Falls Albert Delta Ramsar Site is concerning.” The petition mentions.
Given the imminent or ongoing risks, TotalEnergies E&P (U) B.V. is not concerned, it plans to deploy a second oil rig to extract oil from Murchison Falls National Park, which is likely to exacerbate negative impacts on biodiversity concerns further.
“We are saddened by reports that TotalEnergies E&P (U), B.V. wants to deploy a second oil rig to extract oil from Murchison Falls National Park. The company is already operating an oil rig to drill the Jobiri wells under the Tilenga oil project in the park. The time is now for you to protect the park and through this petition,” the petition reads in part.
Murchison Falls National Park plays a critical role in Uganda’s tourism sector as it received the highest number of tourists between 2019 and 2023. According to the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, the park received 141,335 visitors, equivalent to 36.4% of the 387,914 tourists that visited Uganda’s ten national parks in 2023. Further, in 2022, the park received 146,649 visitors, accounting for 39.8% of the 367,869 tourists that visited Uganda’s national parks.
“Your Excellency, you have variously championed tourism, noting that it is important for Uganda’s economic growth. In your 2023 State of the Nation Address, you informed Ugandans that the tourism sector had earned Uganda US$ 1.047 billion by February 2023. This was equivalent to 59% of all the services export receipts. As you may know, TotalEnergies E&P (U) B.V. wants to put more pressure on the park by deploying a second rig. We are writing to you today with heavy hearts to stop the ongoing oil activities in the park.” The signatories requested in the petition.
Murchison Falls National Park is one of the biodiversity features affected by the EACOP project. The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) connects the Tilenga and Kingfisher oilfields in western Uganda with the port of Tanga in eastern Tanzania upon completion, the project will be the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world crossing through 10 districts in Uganda, and 25 districts in Tanzania.
Despite Civil societies and concerned citizens raising concerns over environmental and human rights violations associated with the EACOP project, the government of Uganda and Tanzania, and EACOP financiers such as TotalEnergies remain unbothered.
Read the petition: https://www.afiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Petition-to-president-Museveni-to-stop-oil-rig-deployment-in-MFNP-4-July-2024.pdf
