Tl;dr: A Canadian company is planning on a project in Africa that will take up 1/6 of the world's remaining carbon budget. This is an issue of neocolonialism and environmental racism.
[Image description: Infographic slideshow from Fridays For Future.
1: Recon Africa: Stop drilling in the Kavango Basin, a project that will take up one sixth of the world’s remaining carbon budget.
Global Day of Action: June 4th
#SaveOkavangoDelta #KavangoAlive
2: Reconnaissance Africa (ReconAfrica) is a Canadian-registered oil and gas company which has begun drilling for oil in the Kavango Basin, located and Northeast Namibia and Northwest Botswana.
Their license areas cover a total of 34,325 square kilometers (8.5 million acres).
Including parts of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin (traverses through Angola, Botswana, and Namibia) and along the Okavango River, which feeds into the Okavango Delta.
3: The Okavango Delta is a large inland delta located in Botswana and is a world-renowned hotspot of biodiversity.
It is designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and a Wetland of International Importance by the The Ramsar Convention.
It is home to many endangered species, including the African wild dog and the last remaining population of African savanna elephants.
4: ReconAfrica's license areas are home to around 200,000 people.
The company has failed to properly inform and consult with the local people and receive the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigneous San communities.
Several local inhabitants have stated that they were not consulted or even informed that drilling would be taking place.
The few consultations that have occurred happened too late in the process, and were inaccessible to many members of the community.
5: Based on ReconAfrica’s own projections of 120 billion barrels of oil equivalent, a carbon gigabomb of up to 51.6 Gigatonnes of CO2 will be emitted.
The equivalent of one sixth of the world's remaining carbon budget.
6: Activists across the world are calling out and pressurizing Recon Africa along with the Canadian government to stop this catastrophic project.
This is a classic example of neocolonialism, corporate ecocide, environmental racism, and the abuse of power for profit yet again from countries in the Global North. This must be stopped!
Stand in solidarity with frontline activists and take action!
7: Calls to Action:
Check out the toolkit at: bit.ly/SaveOkavangoDelta
Register for the action calls on June 4th:
5 AM GMT: bit.ly/SOD-ActionCall
6 PM GMT: bit.ly/SOD-ActionCall2
Registration for artbuild by @climatestrikecanada on June 3rd at 10 PM GMT: bit.ly/KavangoAlive_ArtBuild
Organize or attend covid-safe in-person actions at Canadian embassies and/or ReconAfrica in your country.
Participate in the Digital Protest by posting/sending over your picture to @fff.digital
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Note: Social media handles refer to Instagram
Please spread this!
Again, you can help by going to bit.ly/SaveOkavangoDelta.
@allthecanadianpolitics @politicsofcanada
So it's been a while since June (currently September 6th, 2021,) but I've done some research and from what I could find, not much has changed about the situation.
I did the #thing and emailed representatives, and thought others might benefit from a template to use if they liked.
" Dear Mr. Johnathan Wilkinson,
Minister of Environment and Climate Change
It has recently come to my attention that the Canadian-based oil and gas company ReconAfrica (Reconnaissance Energy Africa) has acquired the rights to explore for oil and gas in more than 35 000 square kilometres in the Cubango-Okavango river basin in Namibia and Botswana, and project to extract 120 billion barrels of oil from the region (1/6th of the entire world's carbon budget.)
The Kavango basin feeds into the UNESCO protected World Heritage Site, the Okavango Delta. While it has not been afforded the same protections, any drilling, mining or fracking will greatly affect the environmental health of the area — home to a wealth of biodiversity and many endangered species, such as the endangered savanna elephants, who rely on the basin and delta to flourish. The Kavango basin and Okavango delta are also a pivotal source of water to the Kalahari Desert, home to around one million people of a marginalized indigenous group called the San in Namibia and the Basarwa in Botswana.
Neighbouring communities in Namibia and Botswana have both aired concerns about a lack of communication and consultation from ReconAfrica, some citing that they were not even informed that drilling was to commence in the region. Activists and critics have also said that ReconAfrica's undertaking in the region violates the Indigenous and Tribal People’s Convention No. 169 (ILO No. 169) of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP).
I am writing to you today not just out of concern for the actions of a Canadian company in the global south, or to raise awareness for the unique complications of oil extraction within the Kava region, but in the hopes that action can be taken to prevent Canadian companies from enacting gross environmental harm internationally.
Our responsibility to environmental protection does not end at our shores, but in any place that a Canadian company sets up its residence.
Whether or not a Canadian company is working within our borders, it is important to set a standard for comportment towards environmental health and safety — especially as we enter a new age of climate change development — to ensure that we, as a country, are moving towards a future that we can live with.
Please find the attached declaration of alliance with Saving Okavango's Unique Life (SOUL) for more information on the sensitive nature of the Kava region and actions to take regarding exploitation by ReconAfrica.
Sincerely,
[name] "
Saving Okavango's Unique Life declaration of alliance (must sign)
https://savetheokavango.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ALLIANCE-DECLARATION.docx
Contact info for Canadian Ministers/Deputy Ministers to email including Environment and Climate Change, International Affairs, Natural Resources, etc.