oilwatch africa at dakar...

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Oilwatch Africa

At

World Social Forum (WSF),

February 2011, Senegal, Dakar

Leave the Oil in the Soil

Climate Justice Now!

Oilwatch Africa participation in the World Social Forum at the Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal, 6-11th February 2011

The OWA representatives were: Michael Karikpo (Nigeria); Noble Wadzah (Ghana); George Awudi (Ghana); Siziwe Khanyile (South Africa); Geoffrey (Uganda), Nnimmo Bassey (Nigeria).

The participation of OWA delegation was focussed on climate change related movement-building activities at the forum.

The major focus of the participation was to build alliances and to prepare for the UNFCCC COP17 coming up in Durban, South Africa in November/December 2011. Oilwatch Africa members also used the gathering as a venue for strategizing on how to further the main objectives of the network in the year, notably the campaign to Leave the Oil in the Soil.

WSF MARCH

Oilwatch Africa participated actively in the WSF march from the Dakar city centre to the venue of the WSF activities. Oilwatch Africa was the cynosure of almost everyone participating in the march and those who lined the route of the march. With bright eye catching lemon green as background Oilwatch banners with inscriptions such as: “Leave the oil in the soil” and “Do not incinerate Africa” resonated with so many at the event. Distinguished progressive leaders including President Morales of the Republic of Bolivia later addressed the rally at the end of the march.

Workshop –Climate change: from false solutions to real solutions Oilwatch Africa in conjunction with Friends of the Earth Africa, Environmental Rights Action and other organizations organized perhaps one of the most well attended and vibrant workshops at the WSF. The workshop took place at the Climate Justice Tent had over 85 people in attendance and featured presentations from Dave from South Africa on Nuclear power in Africa and its impacts. He also talked about the huge pressure on some African countries to build nuclear power plants to provide energy.

Siziwe Khanyile and Desmond D’sa of South Africa took us through the World Bank funded Eskom coal project and the continuing struggle of local communities and CSOs against the project as well as the struggle of local communities against toxic pollutions from refineries in Durban respectively.

Other speakers were Niclas Hallestrom and Nnimmo Bassey.

Niger Delta Women in the struggle Perhaps the high point of any of the meetings held at the Climate Justice Tent was the entrance of the Niger Delta women who sang and danced to uplifting solidarity songs as they made their way to the meeting. Many in attendance hummed and danced along with the women. The women then proceeded to share inspiring experiences about their struggle in the Niger Delta and the positive changes they have been able to achieve as a result of their persistence even in the face of brutality and suspicions of genocide committed by Nigerian security apparatus in the employ of the oil multinationals and the Nigerian government.

Africa wide CSO consultation Oilwatch Africa in conjunction with FoE Africa collaborated with the Pan African Justice Alliance (PACJA) to kick start the African CSO collaboration towards Durban Climate change summit and beyond. Although this meeting did not achieve much of the objectives it was expected to, it nevertheless set the ball rolling in building and uniting communities and civil society groups in Africa round an important irreducible minimum of working together to ensure that African leaders make decisions at

UNFCCC summits and other connected meetings with the interest of Africa uppermost in their minds.

The meeting also gave African CSOs present the opportunity of meeting with comrades from South Africa and trying to find out what each wants and expects the other to do as part of the processes towards Durban and beyond.

Details of OWA participation at the WSF The scope of work by the OWA people at the WSF centred on:

1. Promoting its campaign ‘ Leave the oil in the soil’. The campaign/activities were focused on the context of demanding for climate justice.

2. Movement building around oil and gas issues and climate justice 3. Engagement activities of other networks working on climate justice to form

new alliances and strengthen existing ones 4. Media interviews on the impact of oil and gas on 5. A workshop oil and gas and extractive sector challenges in Africa

OWA Workshop held 10th February 2011

OWA organised this workshop in collaboration with FOEA people attending the WSF. The workshop theme was: fossil fuels and extraction sector; issues and impacts Siziwe Khanyile of Oilwatch South Africa spoke on Oil and coal fuels in South Africa. In her presentation she underlined the fact that South Africa emits 40% of greenhouse gases from Africa. Of this amount the biggest emitter is Sasol. She also revealed that South Africa is currently constructing two coal power stations in the country. The country is also planning to open several new coal mines by 2018 to supply the power plants run by Eskom and Sasol. The environmental impacts of these mines include acid drainage that pollute ground water as well as other health impacts accounting for the government spending of an additional USD 4billion on health annually. The next speaker at the workshop was Noble Wadzah of Oilwatch Ghana. He spoke on the Oil and Gas production situation in Ghana. He noted that Ghana joined the ranks of

oil producing countries with its first commercial export in December 2010. As expected, the entry of Ghana into the oil-producing club has generated high political interest and the attention previously placed on cocoa as the major foreign exchange earner for Ghana is shifting to the oil sector spelling potential neglect and doom for the cocoa sector. Wadzah regretted that the government of Ghana has already started using oil revenues as collateral for foreign borrowings even before the first commercial oil shipments happened. He also revealed that the World Bank was promoting the oil industry in Ghana through lending to the oil companies and engagement in oil policy issues in the country. The environmental impact of oil on the Ghanaian environment is already being felt with the country officially recording three (3) major oil spills before the first oil lifting. The spills occurred offshore and has resulted in killing of marine biodiversity include 7 whales. Reminiscent of the intransigence of oil companies in Nigeria, the offending oil company (Kosmos Oil) in Ghana refused to pay the fine imposed by government. This is corporate impunity permitted because Ghana has not put in place the relevant petroleum legislations to regulate the oil sector before the oil production begun. OWG and other oil sector CSOs are actively engaged in resisting oil company impunity including oil spillages in Ghana. David Fig made a presentation on Uranium mining from South Africa. He stressed the harmful effects of radioactive wastes and the fact that there is no technology to stop such impacts. Uranium is found in the gold mines in South Africa and it is dumped as waste because the companies did not know what to do with it. Now South Africa has found commercial use of the Uranium and so it is being separated from the old waste piles and sold. This action is seriously polluting water sources and affecting health in South Africa. In the discussions that ensued it was said that the claim that nuclear power stations emit less greenhouse gases is a myth. The fact that Russia was negotiating with Namibia to provide floating nuclear power reactors in Namibia was also revealed. This development is dangerous to the people of Namibia and neighbouring countries

Desmond D’sa from Durban, South Africa spoke on ‘Refined Poison’ and painted a grave picture of the harm on communities of South Durban by the four oil refineries located there. The refineries emit a toxic cocktail of chemicals that include benzene and known carcinogen. Other prevalent diseases include asthma, which afflicts up to 50% of the population in the area.

“The refineries and the oil industry are killing the people of South Africa,” D’Sa lamented. “The are killing people living close to the oil facilities in Durban. It is slow poison. People are dying in instalments.” Tom Goldtooth of the Indigenous Peoples Environmental Network, USA, spoke on the devastation impact of tar sands extraction in Canada. Delving into the past, he spoke of the good use of tar sands where they were used to waterproof canoes. He denounced nations such as Canada who have not fulfilled their obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. He also called for the rejection of carbon markets as solutions to climate change. The commodification of nature was denounced and the cooption of NGOs such as WWF and Conservation International by polluting industry and carbon speculators was regretted. He called for all to resist negative economic globalisation and privatisation and work for the decentralisation of energy production.

Testimonies from Niger Delta Women’s Group

A group of women (comprising more than 15 from the Niger Delta), struggling against the impacts of the oil and gas industry attended the meeting and their members made presentations to the gathering. They were at the WSF under the umbrella of the gender action group, Kabetkache. The women set out in clear terms that oil extraction in their communities brought no benefits and only decimated their livelihoods. They called for the cessation of extraction in their communities until the corporations could meet certain minimum standards and requirements. Among the points they raised:

• Oil pollution in the Niger Delta has crippled economic opportunities of women in the Delta. As a result the women cannot support their children’s education

• Oil spills severely impact the women who are traditionally engaged in fishing as well as fetching fresh/potable water

• The Government and Shell send the military to suppress the women who are demanding justice

• The government’s military men rape girls and women in the Niger Delta, preventing the young girls from marrying due to attendant stigma.

• Through the raping, women in the Delta give birth to children whose fathers are not known

• Chevron refused to honour agreements they signed with communities and women in the Niger Delta after some direct actions

• Women cannot take care of their children due to the disorganisation of social and economic activities brought about by the oil companies in the Niger Delta

Other presentations were by Niclas Hallestrom of What Next? He spoke on the solutions to climate change and argued that a feed-in tariff for renewable energy could do the trick as it would provide the basis for reduction in the cost of renewable energy projects as well as its spread. Thereafter Nnimmo Bassey discussed the idea of leaving the oil in the soil and why it is perhaps the most fundamental way of addressing the climate challenge. He saw the impunity in the oil fields as a deliberate action to oppress the local peoples and stultify local economies. He called the decoupling of corporations from political leaders to ensure that they don’t give the world a bad deal at COP17 in Durban.

Discussions and comments on the presentations

Participants agreed that leaving the oil in the soil is a common sense proposal that should be supported by all. They also agreed to join hands in campaigns to popularise and actualise the call. There will be a conference of polluters in South Africa November/December 2011. The question is what will people from South Africa do to stop polluters (from Europe and North America) from entering South Africa for the meeting? Oilwatch Africa will monitor and map struggles around Africa with the aim of linking with on-going struggles and mobilising them towards the Durban COP17. It was also resolved that Africa governments must be persuaded to stand with CSOs in support of the Cochabamba Peoples Agreement of April 2010.

Conclusion

• The participants endorsed the OWA campaign message ‘leave the oil in the soil’ and insisted that the campaign must be sustained and popularised beyond the bounds of Africa

• The campaign presents a big push for climate justice and struggle against corporate over-exploitation of natural resources

• Need to intensify mobilisation on the campaign towards the upcoming COP17 of the UNFCCC in SA.

• There is a strong relationship with the campaign and the Cochabamba agreement. Need for political education on the Cochabamba Agreement among African CSOs for their empowerment

Section 2 OWA meetings with other networks to build relationships on ClimateJustice

OWA took part/organised joint meetings with other networks to build relationships to move forward the pursuit of climate justice. The networks included FoEA, PACJA, Jubilee South, La Via Campesina, Africa Uranium Alliance, Climate Justice Movement from Durban, Indigenous People’s Movement. We also made contacts with groups working towards Social Movement Building and Social mobilisations from the USA, Namibia, Ghana , Nigeria, South Africa, Germany, Geneva, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Mozambique, What Next? forum of Sweden, ROPPA from Guinea Bissau, Brazil Farmers Movement , Peasant Farmers Network from Mali, and Women in climate Justice

Topics discussed in these meetings/ gatherings included:

• Cochabamba, Cancun to Durban; What Next after Cancun? • Climate Finance post Cancun- Strategies and alternatives; • Towards People’s Tribunal on Ecological Debt; • Towards Rio+20; • African CSOs COP17 Strategy Meeting ; • WFS Convergence meeting on climate justice

Key issues from the meetings/ relationship building above

• Clearly, no agreement happened in Cancun COP16 • Carbon offsetting is a false solution to climate change • The World bank and oil companies are using the CDM and REDD

to expand their profits while keeping the world in the fossil fuels trap.

• The days of easy oil are over. Fragile ecosystems are now targeted and more abuses will arise.

• REDD money is not clean money • REDD has nothing to do with CO2 mitigation • Donors are asking victim countries to use loan monies to address

climate change • Cancun COP16 isolated Bolivia, but the peoples stood by her • Peasant agric is better because it can contribute to environmental

health and combat climate change • Cancun only discussed markets but did not care about the people • Cancun was behaving like WTO • US is a major problem to addressing climate change globally.

With regard to mobilisation towards Durban, many issues were brought up. The process of CSOs mobilisation was on course and this covers planning to support outside and inside actions. An inclusive space needed to build a mass movement for for climate justice. But we are not sure whether the South African government will be sympathetic to CSOs. By that as it may, the local mobilising committees in SA hope to bring out the masses The need to coordinate local actions against energy production and the madness by the corporations was emphasised. The Peoples Agreement was accepted as a good mobilising and campaigning tool.

The big gap between African negotiators and the politicians was noted and the need to bridge it in favour of the people was noted. The World Bank must be prevented from playing a key role in climate finance. The World Bank has its own climate Investment fund but focuses on mitigation rather than adaptation which is the important issue for developing countries. Moreover the bank is sponsoring false solutions including carbon credits for criminal acts like gas flaring in Nigeria. A people’s tribunal will ask the question who is responsible for climate change, and demand the payment of ecological debt. It will bring a case against those who are responsible for ecocide. Can we hold a people’s tribunal in Durban as well as at Rio + 20 events? Mobilisation and nurturing grassroots actions is very paramount The principles for our work as CSOs on climate justice must aim to secure our lands, food, water, livelihoods and also secure the rights of Mother earth. We must reject REDD and ‘clean coal’ and demand prior informed consent in activities that impact peoples’ rights. Strategic Ideas from these meetings

• Push for wide acceptance of the Cochabamba People’s agreement • Resisting the oil industry in Africa and demand that oil be left in the soil • Plan a clear media strategy • Plan for a non-violent CSO action in COP 17 in Durban • Support the process in SA led by their national coordination committee

that will work with all CSO groups in Africa and globally • Promote community interest and empowerment towards COP 17

Major outputs of the meetings/workshops/activities in favour of OWA:

• New linkages promoted with networks • Existing OWA alliances with networks strengthened • OWA visibility in African continent promoted as a key network on oil

and gas extraction and climate justice • Campaign of ‘Leave the soil in the soil’ enhanced among Africa CSOs

networks and the international media. • CSOs adoption of Cochabamba agreement

Acknowledgement: The Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) supported Oilwatch Africa’s participation/activities.

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