Okavango, Murchison Falls: Big Oil closing in on two iconic African Edens, flags report

Okavango, Murchison Falls: Big Oil closing in on two iconic African Edens, flags report

Subject :Environment

Context-

• Oil companies are threatening two of Africa’s most iconic biodiversity hotspots (Okavango delta and Murchison falls) in an effort to drill for oil that will ultimately make its way to a global elite and won’t benefit Africans, a recent report by a German non-profit has highlighted.

Okavango delta-

• The Okavango delta is formed by the Okavango river, which originates in the highlands of Angola.
• It flows into the Kalahari desert of southern Africa and spreads out, forming what is called a ‘fan’.
• The Okavango’s waters make the otherwise dry area a waterlogged wetland that provides vital water resources for animals, plants and over one million people.
• The delta is also the homeland of indigenous people like the San.
• The delta is home to Africa’s Big Five wildlife species: Savanna elephants, Cape buffaloes, rhinos, lions and leopards.
• There are also giraffes, zebras, antelopes, pangolins, 400 bird species and over 1,000 plant species.

Murchison Falls-

• It is situated on the northern shore of Lake Albert, one of the Rift Valley Great Lakes that lies on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• The Victoria Nile flows through the park and elephants, hippos, Nile crocodiles, buffaloes and marabou storks can regularly be seen on its banks.
• This natural refuge harbours 556 bird species and 188 mammal species.

Oil drilling led environmental damage-

• In 48 out of 55 African nations, oil, gas and coal companies are either exploring or developing new fossil reserves, building new fossil infrastructures such as pipelines or liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals or developing new gas and coal-fired power plants.
• In the Okavango delta region-
  • ReconAfrica, a Canadian company, has been drilling for oil in the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Nature Conservation Area (KAZA).
  • An oil spill could pollute the Okavango River and ultimately also the Okavango delta.
  • KAZA is the second-largest nature and landscape conservation area in the world.
  • It is spread across the borders of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
• In the Murchison fall region-
  • French oil giant TotalEnergies and China’s National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) plan to exploit one billion barrels of crude oil from the Tilenga oil field at the northern tip of Lake Albert and the Kingfisher oil field at the southern end of the lake.
  • The 1,443 km long pipeline will transport the crude through Uganda and Tanzania to the Indian Ocean Port of Tanga.
  • The whole project would cut through the habitats of several wild species.
• Once the pipeline reaches the Tanzanian coast, oil tankers would steer through mangrove swamps and coral reefs to export the oil.
• The pipeline will also run through 178 villages in Uganda and 231 villages in Tanzania. All in all, TotalEnergies’ and CNOOC’s project will force more than 100,000 people off their lands.