MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

Opinion: Why is IFC contributing to poverty in Guinea?

Published

4 years ago

July 29, 2020

Market in Guinea

While most of the world was sheltering in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March, a hundred families were uprooted from their lush, centuries-old village in western Guinea and relocated to a barren hilltop to make way for a sprawling bauxite mine, backed by the International Finance Corporation.

Residents of the Hamdallaye village say the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée, or CBG, moved them to an unfinished resettlement site that lacks adequate housing, water, and arable land to replace the farmland that the company has taken from them over the past decade.

Three months later, World Bank President David Malpass responded to the Black Lives Matter movement by committing to tackle racial injustice and inequality, including within the World Bank Group. A banner reading “#EndRacism” was draped across the façade of the bank’s headquarters in Washington.

If these words are to be more than just a hashtag, the bank should take a hard look at how it is deepening inequality by contributing to the plunder of African resources, at the expense of African lives, to help some of the wealthiest corporations accumulate more wealth.

One of the world’s largest bauxite miners, CBG is a joint venture of the Guinean government and three multinational mining companies — Rio Tinto, Alcoa, and Dadco — and supplies the raw material for aluminum in an array of consumer products, from Ford trucks and BMW luxury cars to Campbell’s soup and Coca-Cola cans.

In 2016, the company received a package of loans estimated at $795 million from IFC, the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and a syndicate of commercial banks to expand its bauxite production. The German government guaranteed a portion of the financing through its untied loan guarantees program.

Last year, the residents of Hamdallaye joined 12 other villages in filing a complaint with IFC’s independent watchdog, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, or CAO, saying CBG had grabbed their ancestral land, polluted their water sources, and caused long-term damage to their livelihoods with IFC’s acquiescence.

The company responded to the complaint, as well as others, by saying that it has adopted and adhered to IFC’s environmental and social performance standards over the past four years but that it “wishes to learn more about the concerns expressed in the complaint and initiate a process to resolve the disputes with the Complainants.”

The communities and the company were scheduled to begin mediations in April 2020 under the auspices of CAO. The people of Hamdallaye expected to have this opportunity to negotiate their resettlement terms on a fair footing. Mediations were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, yet CBG plowed ahead with the resettlement of the village regardless. The company has since issued a statement about this.

To help Hamdallaye and the other communities prepare for mediations, my organization, Inclusive Development International, supported them to conduct a participatory mapping exercise and to analyze Earth observation data from 1974 to 2019. This mapping documented and geolocated the impacts of CBG’s operations on 17 villages.

The results were staggering, suggesting that the residents of these villages — which make up only a small fraction of the roughly 230 villages affected by CBG’s expansion — collectively lost more than 100 water sources and more than 80 square kilometers of cropland to CBG’s mining activities. The company has yet to pay a cent in compensation for this land.

What’s worse, CBG is not rehabilitating most of the land it exploited. Bauxite mining strips vast areas of fertile topsoil to access the minerals underneath, creating “dead zones” that are useless for agriculture without proper rehabilitation. An analysis of satellite imagery indicates that over the lifetime of the mine, the company has rehabilitated only about 10% of the land that it has exploited, and large portions have been re-mined since the IFC-backed expansion began in 2016.

The land that CBG and other bauxite miners are destroying underpins the economic and food security of some 400,000 farmers in the Boké region. Far from bringing development to this corner of West Africa, this investment threatens to cause impoverishment on a massive scale.

So why is a member of the World Bank Group, along with the U.S. and German governments, fostering poverty in what is already one of the world’s poorest nations?

The project backers said that CBG’s expansion would benefit social development and stimulate economic growth in Boké. IFC acknowledged the investment’s significant risks but justified them on the basis of the environmental and social “additionality” that it would bring, pledging to “support the Company in areas such as biodiversity, resettlement and water management.” The loan package is predicated on CBG’s commitment to comply with its environmental and social performance standards.

CBG has not only failed to acknowledge and redress its 30-year legacy of harm, but it is still not complying with IFC’s standards as it expands its operations over vast new areas of land. That is not just our analysis but also the conclusion of the project’s independent environmental and social monitor.

CBG’s unwillingness to remediate and avoid further harm may have been tolerated by the lenders so far, but it is causing enormous frustration among the local population. In 2017, Boké saw large-scale riots by thousands of young people protesting bauxite mining in the region, resulting in multiple deaths of protestors at the hands of security forces. The protesters weren’t saying no to mining; they were simply demanding a fair share of the benefits.

CBG’s multinational owners do not actually need IFC’s advice on how to mine bauxite more responsibly. After a lengthy legal battle, Rio Tinto reached an agreement with Indigenous landowners to lease the site of its Gove mine in Australia’s Northern Territory. Rio agreed to pay the communities between $15 million and $18 million a year in rent over a 42-year period, along with a range of other development and employment benefits.

The people of Guinea deserve nothing less. And we expect no less from a “development” project that has benefited greatly from the largesse of our public tax dollars.

Original Post: Devex

MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

Oil activities in Murchison Falls National Park threaten Wildlife Conservation – AFIEGO study reveals.

Published

2 days ago

July 25, 2024

witnessradio.org

By Witness Radio team.

A study conducted by the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) and its partners has revealed that oil development activities are threatening the existence of Wildlife conservation at Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP).

Uganda has 10 National Parks including Queen Elizabeth, Lake Mburo, Murchison Falls, Kidepo Valley, Kibale, Mount Elgon, Rwenzori Mountains, Semuliki, Mgahinga Gorilla, and Bwindi Impenetrable National Parks and are managed by Uganda Wildlife Authority, (UWA).

Murchison Falls National Park, one of the oldest and most visited national parks in Uganda, is highly attractive to tourists due to its rich biodiversity. According to the Ministry of Wildlife, Tourism, and Antiquities’ 2024 report, Murchison Falls National Park received the highest number of tourists among all the national parks in Uganda between 2019 and 2023.

Data from Ministry of Tourism shows that in 2023, the Murchison park received 141,335 visitors which is equivalent to 36.4% of the 387,914 tourists that visited Uganda’s ten national parks.

The 24-page document titled Murchison Falls National Park is dying: How oil activities, climate change, and poaching are negatively reshaping the Park’ reveals that the Tilenga oil project infrastructural development presents immense risks to Murchison Falls National Park.

The Tilenga Oil project, part of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is operated by Total Energies E&P (U) B.V. According to the EACOP website, EACOP is being constructed in parallel with two upstream development projects known as Tilenga and Kingfisher respectively.

Between February and June 2024, AFIEGO and partners conducted research to assess the progress of the development of the Tilenga oil project infrastructure and to examine the impact of this infrastructure on biodiversity.

In Murchison Falls National Park, oil sector infrastructure such as drilling rigs, well pads, flowlines, pipelines, roads, and others are being developed to enable commercial oil production by TotalEnergies under the Tilenga oil project.

Findings reveal that there has been progress in developing oil sector infrastructure in park assessed through satellite images. According to the study analysis of May 2024, satellite imagery shows rapid development of the tens of well pads and clearing for roads and the pipeline network inside the park.

The progress in oil development has had chilling effects on humans and biodiversity. Findings from the study expressed growing concern and fear towards light pollution, increased poaching risks, and increased motorization. Elephants are invading different areas of residence because of vibrations from the oil rig.

Among the impacts seen is the escape of wild animals from the park and the killing of people neighboring it. The study reveals that between 2023 and April 2024 in Buliisa district, five people have been killed by elephants. Oil host communities that live around the Park reported that elephants are moving from the Park and are invading communities destroying croplands and killing people.

According to experts in the study, the elephants could feel the vibrations from the drilling rig in their feet which causes them to move away from the Park and into communities.

The study also noted that the Tilenga oil project drilling rig is responsible for increasing light pollution in the Park and the surrounding communities. The light from the rig can be seen at long distances up to 13.9km away. Concerns were raised by this research’s respondents, who observed that the feeding and other patterns of nocturnal and light-sensitive wildlife could be negatively impacted by the rig’s light pollution. Such wildlife includes leopards, lions, birds, and others. These could migrate from the Park, or suffer worse impacts such as death.

Away from the above, the study observed that the paved roads that have been constructed in Park to support the Tilenga oil project activities have opened it up to more motorised traffic exposing wildlife to poaching, accidents as well as noise and air pollution.

Furthermore, Well-pads are located an estimated 950 and 750 metres respectively from the Murchison Falls-Albert Delta Ramsar Site in Park which is an Important Birding Area and important spawning ground for the Lake Albert fisheries.

“The development of good pads near the Ramsar site has been implicated in risking the conservation of aquatic biodiversity such as water birds especially the vulnerable Shoebill, fishes, and mammals like the hippopotamus” the study mentioned.

Additionally, the development of well pads and other oil sector infrastructure were also implicated in increasing the human population in Park. “The presence of human beings has been shown to lead to avoidance by wildlife, especially larger mammalian predators, of areas where human beings are. Wildlife such as the Uganda Kob was said to be slowly acclimatizing to the human presence and can be found near oil sector workers”. The study revealed.

Also, it pins oil activities in the Northern sector of the Park where the rig that will drill the Jobiri wells is located, the Northern side is characterized by savanna vegetation hosting more wildlife than the Southern sector, endangering the conservation of the savanna grasslands. According to experts in the study, predators such as lions, hyenas, leopards, and others also prefer to live in the Northern sector of the Park where they can easily access prey among others.

This study was released barely a few weeks after a group of 828 civil society organizations (CSOs) led by Afiego, 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) petitioned 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 followed reports that Total Energies E&P (U) B.V. was 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.

As Total looks to add more oil rigs escalating the impacts, the recent study reveals that its current infrastructural projects—including oil rigs, well pads, pipelines, and roads—continue to cause negative impacts on biodiversity conservation in the Park.

In a bid to strengthen biodiversity conservation, the research study recommends that TotalEnergies and the Ugandan government stop all oil exploitation activities in the Park and calls for the intervention of the United Nations (UN), Ramsar secretariat, and UNESCO World Heritage Committee to engage the Ugandan government to stop the oil activities in Park.

Furthermore, the Ugandan government and development partners called upon to support the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in addressing risks such as climate change, poaching, and human-wildlife conflicts that are endangering the conservation of vital wildlife that supports the multi-billion tourism and other industries in Uganda.

The Uganda Wildlife Authority refused to comment on the study findings. The spokesperson of the Authority Mr. Bashir Hangi in an interview with Witness Radio said he was unable to comment on its contents.

“We haven’t read the detailed report and cannot comment on its contents. Allow us to read the report,” he wrote in a WhatsApp text message to Witness Radio.

Dr. Patricia Litho Kevin, the Assistant Commissioner for Communication in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, acknowledged that there are potential risks associated with oil exploration and production, a reason why they established robust regulations, monitoring mechanisms, and contingency plans to prevent and respond to any environmental incidents.

She adds that the Government of Uganda is committed to ensuring that the oil projects are executed in an environmentally sustainable and responsible manner because it also understands the importance of preserving the natural heritage and biodiversity.

MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

A Financial gap: Can China be stopped from financing the EACOP?

Published

3 days ago

July 24, 2024

witnessradio.org

By Witness Radio and Südnordfunk team.

The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) faces a financial hole. Numerous Western banks and insurers have already bailed out – meanwhile, the pipeline construction is in full swing. The shareholders seem confident that they will be able to finance the project. And Chinese banks, in particular, are coming into play.

Witness Radio’s Partner, Südnordfunk, a community radio in Germany, speaks to Zaki Mamdoo of the StopEACOP Movement and Ryan Brightwell of BankTrack about the reasons for the delay and the question of how China can be stopped from funding this disastrous project during the -Project is no longer attractive. China intends to close EACOP’s financial gap program.

The program was first broadcast in Germany, and Witness Radio is bringing you the same program in the English version.

Südnordfunk is partnering with Witness Radio to shed light on the different ways the construction of the EACOP pipeline is and will be affecting people, the resettlement programs, evictions, the socio-ecological consequences, and the entanglements of European politics.

Tune in. In case you missed both live programs (English and German broadcasts).

MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

NEMA suspend operations to evict the World Bank project-affected community and other residents accused of being located in wetlands.

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

witnessradio.org

By Witness Radio team

The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has halted all evictions in the Kawaala Zone II and Nabweru villages until community petitions protesting against the evictions are heard. Witness Radio has learned.

This decision to halt the evictions followed several petitions by hundreds of residents affected by the Lubigi wetland restoration exercise. In June, the residents from the two villages petitioned NEMA, seeking a review of the eviction orders issued by evictors and compensation for those whose properties got demolished.

Some of the petitioners are waiting to receive compensation after signing a remedy agreement from a mediation process facilitated by the World Bank’s Dispute Resolution Services (DRS).

In one of their petitions, the World Bank project affected community accused NEMA of hiding behind the Lubigi restoration exercise to deny them compensation for their land which was earmarked for Lubigi drainage expansion, that they had been waiting for over a year.

Since June 2024, many residents in Kawaala Zone II, Nansana, Nabweru, and other villages have forcefully been evicted from their land, while others have faced eviction threats from NEMA claiming these residents encroached on Lubigi wetland.

However, victims have contested NEMA claims, asserting that they have not infringed on wetlands. Some residents claim to have land ownership titles issued by the government of Uganda, while others are tenants of the Buganda Land Board from whom they have been paying ground rent. It is on these grounds that they petitioned the NEMA.

Addressing the affected residents, their lawyers, and village leaders at NEMA offices in Kampala, Dr. Akankwasah Barirenga, the Executive Director of NEMA, confirmed that NEMA was in receipt of several partitions and stated that the authority will hear all communities’ petitions. He further emphasized that no one should be evicted or disturbed from their land until all petitions are heard.

According to NEMA, it has received 137 petitions, and a final decision on whether to evict or not will be made upon completion of hearings.

“No one is going to evict you from your homes before the completion of the hearing of your petitions. After hearing these petitions, you will be informed of the decisions. If it is established that the petitions have substance, the tribunal will decide based on what has been heard,” Dr. Akankwasah revealed