KIMINA - In 2006, British company Tullow Oil discovered oil reserves in the Albertine region in northwestern Uganda. In early 2022, Total signed an agreement with Tanzania and Uganda and Chinese state-owned CNOOC to begin construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The project will create the largest oil-heated pipeline with a length of 1,443 kilometers between Hoima in Uganda and Tanga in Tanzania, from where crude oil will be exported. But not without consequences.
The oil will affect 20,000 square kilometers of wildlife: oil will be drilled mainly at the Tilenga site in Murchison Falls National Park, home to the last populations of Rothschild giraffes, and transported to Kabaale, where the start of the EACOP pipeline crosses between the tropical forests of Bugoma and Wambabya, cutting off corridors of endangered chimpanzee species. At the end of the route, the pipeline will terminate at the boundaries of the Tanga Coelacanth Marine Park, where mangrove forests will be decimated for construction of the new terminal and African coral reefs will be affected.
EACOP has come under strong attack from local activists and environmental organizations who are deeply concerned because it jeopardizes the fight against climate change. Moreover, it violates the Paris international agreement with an estimated production of 34 million tons of CO2, twice as much as Uganda and Tanzania's emissions combined as of 2021.
This story portrays the threatened ecosystems in Uganda and Tanzania, as well as the direct effects on local communities in a world where global warming is a reality while the planet's energy needs continue to grow.
© Pablo Garrigós Cucarella
- Een neokoloniale oliepijpleiding door Oeganda en Tanzania, MO, 06/09/2023.
