WORLD NEWS | In Africa’s Okavango, oil drilling disrupts people, nature

MOMBASA (Kenya), April 8 (AP) — Gobonamang Kgetho has a soft spot for the Okavango, Africa’s largest inland delta. This is his home.

This watery and wildlife-rich land is fed by rivers in the Angolan highlands, which flow into northern Botswana and then into Namibia’s Kalahari Desert.

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Several Aboriginal and local communities live in the vibrant swamps, along with a large number of species including African elephants, black rhinos and cheetahs. Much of the surrounding area is also teeming with wildlife.

Fisher Kgetho, from the Wayei community in Botswana, relies on his pole and dug out canoe to circle the swamp in search of fish. But things have changed in recent years — in the Delta and across the country.

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“The fish are shrinking in size and populations are declining,” Kgetho, whose life and livelihood depend on the health of the ecosystem, told The Associated Press. “The rivers flowing into the delta have less water.”

Drilling for oil exploration, as well as human-caused climate change leading to more erratic rainfall patterns and water withdrawal and diversion for development and commercial agriculture, have altered the landscape on which the Kgetho and many other human and wildlife species depend.

Defenders of the delta now hope to stop at least one of those threats — oil exploration.

Namibia’s environment ministry plans to hold a hearing to consider revoking the drilling license of Canadian oil and gas company Reconnaissance Energy.

Local communities and environmental groups allege that land was bulldozed and dug up without the permission of local communities, damaging land and polluting water sources.

Kgetho worries that rivers in his region are drying up because of “overuse by the extractive industry, including upstream oil exploration.”

In a written statement, the company’s African arm, ReconAfrica, said it safeguarded water resources by “regularly monitoring hydrological data and reporting to appropriate local, regional and national water authorities” and “using stringent safety and environmental protection measures”. standard”.

The statement went on to say that it had held more than 700 community consultations in Namibia and would continue to engage with communities in the country and Botswana.

The company has been drilling in the area since 2021 but has yet to find a producing well. The hearing was originally scheduled for Monday but has been postponed until further notice.

The drilling license will currently run until 2025, having previously been granted a three-year extension by ReconAfrica.

Locals insist on using the legal route, but with little luck. In another case, Namibia’s High Court delayed a decision on whether local communities should pay to file a lawsuit against the company’s actions.

Earlier, the court rejected an urgent appeal by local people to stop the Canadian company’s drilling activities.

A decision is now being made as to whether the government’s legal advice should be taken or waived by the plaintiffs. A new decision date is set for May.

Namibia’s Energy Minister Tom Alvindo has insisted on the country’s right to explore for oil, saying European countries and the United States are also doing the same.

Alweendo supports the African Union’s goal of harnessing renewable and non-renewable energy sources to meet growing demand.

Similar deterioration fears exist in Botswana and the wider region. Most of the country’s diverse ecosystems are threatened by various development plans.

For example, a study found that the quality of rivers in nearby Chobe National Park has declined, in part due to its booming tourism industry.

In Congo’s Cuvette-Centrale Basin, a dense and ecologically prosperous forest that is home to the largest population of lowland gorillas, part of the continent’s largest peatlands saw an oil and gas auction last year.

The Congolese government said the auction process was “in line” with development plans and government plans and would adhere to strict international standards.

Environmentalists are not convinced.

Wes Sechrest, chief scientist at environmental group Rewild, said protecting areas like the Okavango Delta “with strong and healthy wildlife populations” “is an important part of solving the interconnected climate and biodiversity crises we face .”

Peatlands also act as carbon sinks, storing vast quantities of gases that would otherwise heat the atmosphere.

Sechrest added that “local communities will bear the heaviest costs of oil exploration” and “should be properly consulted about any extractive industry project, including the many possible environmental damages, and decide whether they are acceptable to them.”

Steve Boyce, director of National Geographic’s Okavango Wilderness Project, which mapped the delta, said researchers now have more data to support the need to maintain the wetlands.

With the help of Kgetho and other locals, whose “traditional wisdom and knowledge” led them through the swamp, Boyes and a team of 57 other scientists were able to detail some 1,600 square kilometers (1,000 square miles) of peat land.

“These large-scale systems that can sequester large amounts of carbon are our long-term resilience plan,” Boyce said.

For Kgetho, whose journey with the scientists was filmed in a documentary released earlier this year, there is a more immediate reason to defend the Okavango.

“We have to protect the delta,” Kgetho said. “It’s our livelihood.” (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)