EDITORIAL

Hope In A Collective Action

BY Rafael Armada | EDITOR

A crucial conference on climate change (Conference of Parties, COP26) has taken place in Glasgow, from 31 October to 12 November. Nearly 200 countries gathered to discuss global warming. It has already been proved and made evident that human behaviour has placed humanity on the verge of a climate catastrophe.

An urgent call to drastically reduce the warming rate, aiming to maintain global temperatures below 1.5ºC, compared to pre-industrial times, has been restated at this conference if we want to avert a disastrous situation for human lives and biodiversity on the planet.

Global warming is already felt in many parts of the world, creating havoc through many different climatic effects such as floods, drought, raising of sea levels and hurricanes, that particularly affect the most vulnerable on earth. A loss of biodiversity is also taking place at an alarming accelerated speed all over the world. If trends do not change, more and more people will sink into acute poverty and more flora and fauna will disappear forever.

“We have received an Eden, we cannot transform it into a desert for future generations”, said the Pope during the ‘Faith and Science’ gathering at the Vatican on 4 October. It is our responsibility to care for the planet and creation as an amazing gift given to us by God. As Pope Francis has reiterated, regarding climate change, urgent action needs to be taken.

The richer countries, mostly responsible for the damage caused, need to fulfil their promises on climate change, matching their always auspicious long-term pledges towards net zero-carbon emissions with their rather stingy short-term commitments. So far, there has been a clear discrepancy between the two.

However, the good news is that, at COP26, the nations have committed to come together and revise their National Determined Contributions (NDCs) annually, instead of every five years. That will clearly make visible their concrete steps taken and their accomplishments made against climate change. The developed nations have also re-committed, though with regrettable delay, to fulfil their promises made to developing countries to help them with their transition to green energy, adapting their economies and assisting them in repairing ongoing damages suffered due to climate change. All nations have to increase more generously their commitments for 2030; “even if the world meets its 2030 targets, it is still heading for a catastrophic 2.4ºC of warming this century,” says Climate Action Tracker.

The populations in the Global South, the least of the polluters, suffer the worst consequences of climate change, mainly caused by the developed regions of the world. The case of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project in Uganda, portrayed on the pages of this issue, if not averted, can be one of them.

A just transition, with an adaptation that looks to alternative renewable sources of energy—taking into consideration maintaining jobs for those now employed in the polluting sectors of the economy—is more than urgent.

When you read these lines, it will probably be the time of Advent. This is a season of hope. Its readings invite us to expect with confidence and joy the coming of the Lord, not waiting idly, but actively and in a constructive way. In the fight against climate change, we need a similar attitude, to live in hope that we can reverse the climate catastrophe that will affect millions of people on earth, especially the poor. The commitment needs to be decisive due to the urgency. The active presence of youth activists from the Global North and South in COP26, united and convinced of the importance of their collective actions, is a clear sign of a new mentality rising in humanity and a sign of hope for the world.

MISSION IS FUN

THE LICENCE’S PROMPTER

BY EFREM TRESOLDI MCCJ

HE HAD been working for more than thirty years in Uganda, in the northern part of the country. One day Fr Fulvio, that’s the name of the Italian Comboni Missionary, was travelling to visit one of the Christian communities of his parish, when armed men attacked him. The rebels opened fire on his car and wounded him gravely, with one bullet that went through his lung. He survived almost miraculously. After months of hospitalization and rehabilitation, Fr Fulvio was back on his feet full of zeal and ready to continue his ministry.

He gladly accepted the request by his superior to go to the United States for mission appeals. For two months he was expected to visit various parishes, preaching the word of God and making the Christian communities aware of the missionary work and needs of the Church in Uganda.

When he arrived in the USA, he was told that none of the driving licences he had, the Italian and the Ugandan, were recognized as valid there. There was no other way: he had to obtain the American licence. The places he had to go to were quite far apart and could only be reached by car, since the public transport was quite inadequate.

Therefore, he decided to take up the challenge and went to the designated venue to write the driving licence test. Lo and behold, he had to answer one hundred questions in two hours. For fifteen minutes he struggled to choose which one of the two answers to the first question was true or false.

He was discouraged as he thought that at his pace he would have completed the test not in two but in twenty hours! He was about to give up when he had an inspiration and turned to St Daniel Comboni. He said to him “if you want me to accomplish the missionary task I was given, you must help me now”. Confiding in his assistance, he began to answer the questions, quickly marking one or the other with the sign true or false. In less than two hours he had completed the test and handed it over to the examiner. It did not take long before the examiner called him to his office. “Sir—he said to him—congratulations for your excellent performance: you answered 99 questions correctly out of 100!”

Fr Fulvio was overwhelmed with astonishment and elation. He knew that the success was due to the intervention from above. The only wrong answer was his first one.

Thank you, St Daniel Comboni!

RADAR

FAITHS UNITED ON CLIMATE CHANGE

BY JONATHON BRADEN | LAUDATO SI’ MOVEMENT / GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

Faith leaders called for a bold action on climate change at COP26. A prophetic ‘Healthy Planet, Healthy People’ petition was presented to representatives of COP26 by more than 425 Catholic organisations—on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Catholics from six continents—and 120 000 Catholics. Prominent Catholic leaders, including Cardinal Peter Turkson and Bishop Victor Phalana of the Diocese of Klerksdorp, South Africa, signed the petition.

The presentation of the petition took place during a Faith in Action for Climate Justice event, an interfaith gathering held at St George’s Tron Church in Glasgow, that united faith groups across the world in prayer for God’s creation.The petition calls on governments to set ambitious targets that tackle the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis together; limit warming to 1.5ºC and promise no more biodiversity loss; ensure equitable global action; and protect and respect human rights, including the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in climate and biodiversity action. Participating organisations in the interfaith event included the Catholic Laudato Si’ Movement, Christian Aid, Act Alliance, Living Laudato Si’, Lutheran World Federation, Tearfund, Glasgow Interfaith Declaration, among others.

RADAR

FAITH AND SCIENCE: COP26 AND BEYOND

An historical milestone on the care for the Earth took place in the Vatican, prior to the celebration of the Conference of Parties (COP26). In a fraternal spirit of dialogue and solidarity more than 40 faith leaders of world religions and several scientists from 20 countries, united their voices to plea for action against the disastrous effects of climate change that are destroying our common home and inflicting devastation upon humanity

BY FR RAFAEL ARMADA MCCJ | PRETORIA

As Benedict Mayaki SJ reported for Vatican news, Pope Francis, in his opening address spoke of interconnectedness. “Science, as well as our religious beliefs and spiritual traditions, highlight the connectedness between humanity and the rest of creation; no creatures are self-sufficient; they exist only in dependence on each other, complementing one another and in the service of one another,” the Pope said. Recognizing this interconnectedness, therefore, means not only realising the harmful effects of our actions, “but also identifying behaviours and solutions to be adopted, in an attitude of openness to sharing, that for Christians, springs from the very mystery of the Triune God.”

Pope Francis emphasized that the common commitment must be driven by the dynamism of love, for “in the depths of every heart, love creates bonds and expands existence, it draws people out of themselves and towards others. Love is the mirror of an intense spiritual life: a love that extends to all, transcending cultural, political and social boundaries; a love that is inclusive, concerned especially for the poor, who so often teach us how to overcome the barriers of selfishness and to break down the walls of our ego.”

The Pope reiterated the need to counter the ‘throwaway culture’, and the ‘seeds of conflict’ which cause serious wounds to the environment and lead to the breaking of “that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and towards whom we are journeying.”

Joint Appeal

At the end of the encounter, a document was signed by the participants and presented to Alok Sharma, the president-designate of the COP26 climate summit, and to Luigi di Maio, Italian minister for foreign affairs. In their joint appeal, the participants agreed on the urgency for preventing the average global temperature from rising beyond 1.5ºC, compared to preindustrial levels. They reiterated their plea to world governments and parties participating in COP26, to take the necessary measures to achieve global zero net carbon emission “as soon as possible, with wealthier countries taking the lead in reducing their own emissions and in financing emission reduction for poorer nations”.

In their document, they expressed their awareness that nature is not only a gift but “a life-giving force without which we cannot exist”. World religious traditions share, as integral part of their beliefs, the need to protect the human family and the environment, behaving as caretakers, and not as masters, of a beautiful garden that must not be handed over as a desert to future generations. They acknowledged that the damage inflicted on the environment comes as a result of predatory exploitative tendencies by human beings that, with greedy eyes, see nature as a means to satisfy their selfish ambitions. This attitude manifests a wider “crisis of values, ethical and spiritual”.

Faith and science, “as pillars of human civilization” complement each other, and their leaders now have joined hands to raise awareness and demand action from world political leaders. The planet is “warmer than any time in the last 200 000 years” they say, and if radical measures are not taken immediately, we are heading for catastrophic consequences that will affect all humanity, but particularly the poor and most vulnerable communities, the least responsible for the current environmental degradation.

A New Economic Narrative

Faiths leaders and scientists advocate for a “new narrative of development that places the human dignity at its centre, inclusive and caring for the environment”; a new culture of being in the world, in a sustainable way, not exploitative, but supporting life. Action is urgent at all levels, individually with behavioural changes in consumption and lifestyles and more eco-friendly attitudes—and on the level of government policies and world decision-making processes stopping the spiral of climate change deterioration.

According to the joint appeal, richer countries should fulfil their commitments expressed in the Paris Agreement and honour their promises to support developing countries towards adaptation to greening; helping them to combat the effects of climate change already felt in their own lands. The rights of indigenous peoples, caretakers of the Earth for millennia, and local communities, need also to be respected. A just transition to clean energy, to a sustainable use of the land—including preventing deforestation, restoration of forests and conserving biodiversity—conservation of water, ending of hunger and promoting sustainable lifestyles are all urgent and unavoidable commitments required from world leaders.

Educational challenge

In order to achieve these goals, all bodies of society—family, religious institutions, schools and universities, business and financial systems—need to get involved; ensuring that all voices, particularly their most vulnerable members, are valued and heard. An educational process is needed to abandon the consumeristic culture and “embrace a culture of care and co-operation.” Faiths leaders committed themselves to advancing transformation, promoting a change of heart among their congregants, in their way of treating the Earth and other people (ecological conversion). They recognised the signs of divine harmony present in the natural world. They encouraged educational and cultural institutions to pay attention to relevant scientific insights and to strengthen ecological education instilling moral values and virtues in students. They also pledged to participate in public discourse on environmental issues, sharing their spiritual, moral and religious perspectives and uplifting the voices of the weakest and most vulnerable.

Example from home

They committed to engaging their congregations in building sustainable, resilient and just communities, promoting small-scale agriculture and renewable energy initiatives.

Faiths, leaders, and scientists pledged for environmental initiatives within their institutions, reducing carbon emissions, preserving water, improving waste management, developing renewable energy and in general protecting the environment. They will also pursue full sustainability in their buildings, land, vehicles and other properties; embrace simple and sustainable lifestyles, align their financial investments with environmental standards—moving away from investments in fossil fuels—and purchase goods and services in line with the same ethical principles. They appealed to everyone to join in this journey with hope, courage, solidarity and good will “encouraging a prophetic vision, a creative, respectful and courageous action for the sake of the Earth.”

RADAR

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES FOR PEACE IN ETHIOPIA’S TIGRAY CONFLICT?

As the war in Ethiopia comes to a head, opponents of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed are forging an alliance for a “safe transition”

BY MARTINA SCHWIKOWSKI | MEDIA EXPERT IN AFRICA, DEUTSCHE WELLE (DW)

“The situation in Ethiopia is currently very perilous, probably the most dangerous moment in the country for decades,” said Murithi Mutiga, International Crisis Group Project Director for the Horn of Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. “The primary issue is that all sides have decided that they can settle this conflict militarily. The Tigrayan forces have gained strength. They seem determined to make a decisive move that could either lead to the end of the siege in Tigray or to the collapse of the Abiy government.”

For its part, the government of Abiy Ahmed has stepped up its war rhetoric. Facing a possible advance on the capital, Addis Ababa, he is calling for a general arming of the people, and all civilians to join the fight. According to observers, there have been busloads of forcibly recruited teenagers and clampdowns during which Tigrayans still staying in the capital were arrested.

Abiy ‘can flee and go into exile

The Ethiopian Army and troops from Tigray siding with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have been battling for the region in the north of the country for more than a year. Voluntary fighters have joined both sides. In the meantime, the TPLF has received reinforcement from the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and claims to have made territorial gains in the course of its advance on the capital.

TPLF and OLA have announced the formation of an alliance along with seven other opposition groups—with the aim of reversing “the harmful effects of the Abiy Ahmed rule” and precipitating a “safe transition” for the country.

Aby, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, declared a state of emergency. He labelled TPLF leaders as terrorists, “a cancer,” or “weeds.” The current fight was no military challenge for the troops of the Tigray regional government.

Willingness to win

Why has the TPLF campaign been so successful? According to Kjetil Tronvoll, Norwegian peace researcher, Abiy wronged the national army dominated by Tigrayans when he came to power. “He arrested 17 000 soldiers and officers in the chain of command and incapacitated his own army. [As he is] from the Oromo ethnic group, he could not trust them,” he said

“The troops from Tigray have a stronger fighting morale and the will to win. The TPLF are disciplined and highly educated people, not peasants, as in the resistance war. They are recruiting doctors and high school graduates, and they believe in their cause,” he said.

“In addition, the survival of their families is at stake. In the face of a situation like this, international efforts came too late and, worse still, most diplomats are unfamiliar with the complexity of Ethiopia, with the people, with the sentiment of the parties,” said Tronvoll.

Bayisa Wak-Woya, a former UN employee from Ethiopia, also blames the poor diplomacy for the setback. Many diplomats, he said, do not know enough about the different traditions and cultures of the country and were, therefore, failing in their mediation efforts. “It is very difficult to know what is happening at the warfront in Ethiopia now—transparency is a rare commodity in that country. One thing, however, is certain: civil wars are different from wars of aggression. In the former, maintaining the state’s sovereignty is a non-argument. What are human rights violations for some is maintaining law and order for others. This makes it difficult to design a dignified exit [from the fighting] for the parties involved,” he said.

Need of dialogue

“External powers […] should refrain from taking sides and putting pressure on the parties in the conflict. So far, the diplomatic talks failed to bear fruit, because the international community started to condemn parties. Not a good start,” said Wak-Woya, who, nonetheless, is still hopeful that peace can be brought to the region.

According to Wolbert Smidt, ethnohistorian and expert on Ethiopia, the only formula for peace is a national dialogue involving all ethnic and regional political groups. “No reform, no matter how idealistic, can work if you don’t integrate stakeholders of central importance—and that political process collapsed years ago. That means that in the short term, we only have the option of stopping the war, so that a transitional government can be established. It is only on that basis that a longer civil process can be set in motion,” he said.

RADAR

CLIMATE FINANCE ISN’T REACHING SOUTHERN AFRICA’S MOST VULNERABLE

The region desperately needs climate adaptation funds, but loses out to countries with strong institutional capacity and competitive markets

BY AIMÉE-NOËL MBIYOZO* & OTTILIA ANNA MAUNGANIDZE

DESPITE CONTRIBUTING less than other areas to climate change, Southern Africa is among the worst-affected regions globally and those bearing the brunt are the ones with the least resources to adapt.

The region’s governments have not prioritised adaptation measures such as early warning systems, climate-resilient infrastructure, dryland agriculture, mangrove protection, and resilient water sources.

Hard-hit weather region

The World Food Programme has called southern Africa the ‘epitome’ of the link between climate and the water-energyfood nexus. The 16 countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have recorded 36% of all weather-related disasters in Africa in the past four decades. These affected 177 million people, left 2.7 million homeless and inflicted damage in excess of $14 billion. Climate change will continue to increase the frequency, intensity, duration and locations of these slow and sudden-onset impacts.

Many communities in SADC depend on natural resources and their exposure to repeated and extreme hazards such as floods, droughts, storms and wildfiresrender them extremely vulnerable.

Tropical cyclones and severe thunderstorms tend to be the most destructive in southern Africa, posing the greatest threat to infrastructure and displacing the most people. Water is the region’s Achilles heel, with 90% of people requiring emergency assistance due to either too much or too little water. Since 1980, there have been 314 floods and 102 droughts in the region.

Malawi and Mozambique were most affected, with Zimbabwe and South Africa in third and four places respectively. Mauritius, Seychelles and Comoros had the fewest incidents. South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar and Zimbabwe recorded the largest economic losses, whereas Lesotho, Tanzania and Seychelles recorded the least.

Globally, the least-developed countries have the fewest resources to plan, finance and implement adaptation measures, yet they incur the highest costs relative to their economies. In 2019, Cyclone Idai cost Zimbabwe $274 million and Mozambique $3 billion, 1.6% and 19.6% of their respective GDPs that year.

Climate funding is unequally distributed worldwide. Africa received only 26% of available financing between 2016 and 2019. Three-quarters of that were in the form of loans and other non-grant instruments that must be repaid. Most has been directed towards cutting emissions (mitigation), with adaptation assigned only 21% of global climate funding in 2018.

Meagre funds for adaptation

South Africa received the most multilateral climate financing on the continent and is placed sixth-highest internationally, but only 2% for adaptation, with the rest for mitigation. Zambia, Tanzania and Comoros received relatively high amounts of adaptation financing relative to their climate vulnerabilities, yet the sums are still inadequate to meet their needs.

While climate financiers regularly speak about prioritising the most vulnerable countries, vulnerability is not a key factor in determining where funds go Germanwatch’s Global Climate Risk Index 2021 ranked Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi the 1st, 2nd and 5th most affected countries in the world in 2019. Yet, they were placed 32nd, 108th and 75th respectively in climate financing received.

Many countries with the highest risks are left behind. Finance tends to flow to places where donors have a presence and to countries with strong institutional capacity to implement projects. Investors seek predictable environments to generate returns and are reluctant to invest in countries with poor institutional and market settings and records of corruption.

When vulnerable countries receive adaptation finance, it doesn’t always reach the communities most at risk. Adaptation funding, driven internationally and directed nationally, has little input from the local level, where expertise is often lacking and, in many cases, funds are lost to corruption before they reach their beneficiaries.

Despite these challenges, climate adaptation will hopefully progress. Nevertheless, Southern African countries need adaptation policies and projects across all sectors. The economic, social and environmental costs of not adapting are enormous

INSIGHTS • ENERGY TRANSITION

THE SLOW MOVE TO CLEANER POWER

BY MIKE POTHIER | PROGRAMME MANAGER, SACBC PARLIAMENTARY LIAISON OFFICE

WHEN IT comes to climate change, South Africa has a really mixed record; this reflects a long-standing problem with our government’s inability to settle on clear policies and make sure that they are consistently implemented.

Some years ago, there was a big push in favour of sustainable energy sources. It was reported that South Africa was adding solar and wind power capacity faster than any other country. This made a lot of sense, since we are blessed with abundant sunshine, plenty of wind, and lots of relatively empty land on which to build solar and wind installations. We also have an extensive national electricity grid to which such installations can quite easily be linked.

Conflicting views on coal

However, things seem to have slowed down. Although new solar plants and wind farms are still being built, there doesn’t seem to be the sense of urgency that we need. The Minister of Minerals and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, keeps talking about the importance of coal, which he thinks should remain the bedrock of electricity generation for decades to come. He also favours nuclear power, despite the enormous cost of this option.

Mr Mantashe’s approach is very different to that of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who wrote as follows in one of his weekly newsletters in October 2021: “We will be decommissioning and repurposing coal-fired power stations, and investing in new low-carbon generation capacity, such as renewables. We will also pursue ‘green’ industrialisation, such as manufacturing—using green technology and a shift to the production of electric vehicles.”

Mr Ramaphosa also announced recently that licences would be given to private power producers to generate up to 100 megawatts of electricity. This amount is a very significant improvement on the previous ceiling of one megawatt—an indication that the government has finally woken up to the crisis of electricity generation, and that it realises that there is a role for the private sector. It is safe to say that the great majority of privately generated electricity will come from renewable sources, and little if any from coal.

The transition to cleaner power needs to be a just one, in which alternative jobs or sources of income are found for these workers

In another move away from coal, and despite Mr Mantashe’s hesitations, ESKOM, the national electricity supplier, is in the process of converting a coalfired power station at Komati in Mpumalanga into a centre for renewable energy technologies. Some of the land around the power station will be used for solar (photo-voltaic) panels, while the buildings and warehouses will be used to house battery storage and for the assembly of ‘micro-grids’ (small-scale, self-contained, electricity generating and distributing systems).

If this project is successful, it will most likely be repeated at many places in Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces, where the existing fleet of coal power stations, most of which have reached the end of their design lives, will need to be shut down in the near future. But when power stations close, what happens to the thousands of people who depend on them—the people who run them, their families, the workers in the coal mining and transporting industries, and the many businesses that supply services to the people who live and work in the ‘coal towns’?

As the Environment Minister, Barbara Creecy has said, when a power station is decommissioned, “there should not be a situation where communities dependent on the power stations and workers who work in the power stations, are thrown on the street with nothing.” The transition to cleaner power needs to be a just one, in which alternative jobs or sources of income are found for these workers. This is going to be one of the great challenges of the coming decades, and it will require a lot of creative and innovative thinking—again, not something that our government has consistently demonstrated.

And all the time, as older power stations are closed, and work proceeds on solar and wind plants, there are two giant elephants in the room—the still unfinished Kusile and Medupi coal power stations that, between them, will generate one-sixth of our electricity. Given the billions of Rands that these massive facilities cost, there is no way they can be taken out of the system—they will probably be burning coal until at least the second half of this century.

FOCUS • ENVIRONMENT

A CRUDE OIL PIPELINE IN THE HEART OF EAST AFRICA

A massive oil project in western Uganda is putting at risk the sustainability of the region’s rich diversity and the wellbeing of its inhabitants

BY NADINE ATUGONZA | HOIMA, UGANDA

UGANDA IS described as the Pearl of Africa. Its plains, gently rolling hills and mountains that are all dotted with the greenest green make this country so spectacularly beautiful that it is described as a pearl. While all of Uganda is beautiful, the western part is particularly so; with its rift valley, blue lakes and majestic mountains, that part of the country bedazzles. It looks like the stuff of which beautiful movies are made.

Biodiverse Albertine Rift

Uganda is also a biodiverse country. Western Uganda and particularly the Albertine Rift are not only beautiful, but important to humanity in their outstanding biodiversity. The rift is home to eight out of the 15 nationally and internationally recognised forests present in Uganda, 70% of Uganda’s national parks, 12 wildlife reserves, 13 wildlife sanctuaries and five wildlife community areas.

In addition, the Albertine Graben, which extends to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is an important biodiversity hotspot. It is home to 39% of Africa’s mammal species, 51% of Africa’s bird species and 19% of Africa’s amphibian species. The graben is also home to 79 threatened vertebrate species, according to the Red Data List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Oil activities

Uganda’s oil and gas activities are ongoing in this biodiverse and ecologically sensitive place. Uganda discovered commercial oil deposits in the eco-sensitive Albertine Rift in 2006. Currently, the country has confirmed oil deposits of 6.5 billion barrels. Of these barrels, between 1.4 and 1.7 billion can be extracted from the ground. The rest cannot be taken out due to limitations in technology, among others.

Currently, the Ugandan government, alongside the oil companies operating in Uganda, Total-Energies (U) B.V. and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), have set 2025 as the year in which oil production in Uganda will commence. The oil in Uganda is to be produced under two upstream projects, namely, the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil projects.

Under the above-mentioned projects, oil will be drilled from Murchison Falls National Park, one of Uganda’s largest and oldest national parks, as well as from Lake Albert, which is shared between Uganda and the DRC. Part of the drilled oil will be transported to export markets via a planned 1 443 km pipeline called the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The EACOP, which is expected to transport 216 000 barrels of crude oil per day at peak production, is set to be constructed from Hoima District in the Albertine region to the port of Tanga in Tanzania.

If constructed, the EACOP will be the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world. The EACOP has to be heated up to a temperature of 50ºC because Uganda’s oil is waxy. It needs to be liquefied through heating, in order for it to be transported. Oil production in the ecosensitive and biodiverse Albertine Graben, particularly in Murchison Falls National Park and the transboundary Lake Albert, have raised controversy—so have plans to build the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world, the EACOP.

EACOP project developers

Why is the EACOP project controversial? What risks does it pose? Before we answer these questions, let’s first speak about the EACOP project developers.

The EACOP is set to be developed by France’s Total Energies, who have 62% shares in the project. The Ugandan as well as Tanzanian governments are also shareholders. They each have a 15% share in the project. China’s CNOOC is the other shareholder with 8% shares in the project. The financial advisers to the project include South Africa’s Standard Bank, Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) as well as the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China.

EACOP project risks

The EACOP project poses environmental, biodiversity, social, climate change and economic risks. These are briefly discussed in this article.

Environmental risks: the oil that will be transported by the EACOP will be mostly extracted from protected eco-sensitive areas, namely Murchison Falls National Park and Lake Albert. These protected areas, which are of great biodiversity and social and economic importance to Uganda, stand to be degraded due to the oil extraction projects. As was earlier indicated, Murchison Falls National Park is not only one of Uganda’s oldest national parks but is also its second largest. According to information from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the park is home to 76 mammals as well as 451 bird species. In addition, the park is also home to the UNESCO-designated Ramsar Site, the Murchison Falls-Albert Delta Wetland System. Extraction of oil from the park to be transported via the EACOP is controversial. Further, WWF says that the EACOP itself will affect nearly 2 000 km2 of the protected area including zones in Tanzania.

Biodiversity risks: environmental destruction puts biodiversity at risk since habitats, breeding grounds, food sources, and others that biodiversity needs to survive will be destroyed. The environmental risks posed by the EACOP make the project concerning. Even more concerning is the fact that the EACOP is going to impact four forests in Uganda; particularly of concern is Wambabya Forest which is a migratory corridor for chimpanzees. The animals use the forest to cross into various surrounding forests in order to breed, access food and others. With the EACOP affecting the forest, there are fears that the forest connectivity needed for the chimpanzees’ survival will be broken. Chimpanzees are listed as one of the endangered species by the IUCN. Every effort must therefore be made to protect them.

Water access risks: Lake Victoria is a magnificent lake on which an estimated up to 40 million people in East Africa rely to access water. The lake, which is shared by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, is the second biggest freshwater lake in the world. The lake has been affected by the EACOP as nearly a third of the pipeline will be constructed in the Lake Victoria basin. There are fears that in case an oil spill occurs, the lake which serves millions could be contaminated. The EACOP is also set to affect various wetlands that are Ramsar sites in Uganda.

Climate change risks: the EACOP is being developed at a time when scientists have said that in order to meet the Paris Climate Change Agreement goal, no more new oil and gas projects should be initiated. However, the EACOP is set to be developed and at peak production, the oil transported by the EACOP will result in the production of over 34.3 million metric tonnes of carbon per year. These are more emissions than Tanzania and Uganda produce at the moment.

Social risks: over 14 000 households in Tanzania and Uganda have been affected by the EACOP. Their land has been compulsorily acquired for the project. The householders were stopped from growing perennial food and cash crops on their land in 2018 and 2019. They were also stopped from setting up new developments on their land, including those who reside in towns. As a result, the affected families suffered food scarcity. Men in towns also abandoned their families and stopped providing for them. Family incomes were also reduced as families could not grow and sell perennial cash crops. Today, the EACOP-affected householders are yet to be compensated.

Economic risks: Tanzania and Uganda are relatively poor countries. To invest in the EACOP, the countries alongside Total-Energies and CNOOC need to invest $5 billion. Most of this money will be borrowed. Already, Uganda has borrowed heavily to invest in the oil and gas sector. Uganda’s 2020 Debt Sustainability Analysis Report indicated that Uganda’s debt to GDP ratio would rise to nearly 50% by June 2021 and to 54.1% by 2022/23 due to borrowing for the oil, gas and transport investments. While money is being borrowed, the revenue collected by the Ugandan government keeps declining, especially because of the economic constraints caused by COVID-19. With Uganda borrowing for the oil sector amidst declining revenues and energy transition efforts to clean energy by various countries, the risk that Uganda will not be able to pay back its debt is heightened.

Repressed civic space

Civil society organisations (CSOs) and campaigners have vigorously campaigned against the project because of its risks. Because of these campaigns, they have been targeted and have been arrested, detained or had their organisations closed. On 20 August 2021 for instance, the Ugandan government halted the activities of 54 organisations, many of which are critical of oil projects. It has become hard for CSOs and communities to speak up because of the repressed civic space.

In conclusion, it can be said that God created a beautiful world. He charged man with looking after this world. All people of faith, and our secular brothers and sisters, therefore ought to speak up and convince those who are intent on destroying nature for their own profit to stop doing so. Profits can be made and there are several opportunities for making these profits such as investment in clean energy which can save both the planet and help those who are seeking a livelihood.

WORLD REPORT • WILDLIFE

VETERINARY MEDICINE DRIVES CONSERVATION OF NATURE PRESERVING AN INHERITED EDEN

Building fences that limit space, in both South Africa’s national parks and private reserves, has resulted in an artificial control of nature to maintain a balance in which a greater awareness of the care for animals and the preservation of the environment is needed

BY CARLA FIBLA | JOURNALIST, REPORTING FROM LIMPOPO

A GROUP of ten young people who have recently graduated or are in the last years of the Veterinary Medicine course, originally from various locations in Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, Romania and the United States, have just completed the first part of their trip to South Africa. Together with the Spanish-South African organization Wild Spirit, they are checking difficulties on the ground and the changes that animals experience in their natural habitat. They arrived at O.R. Tambo Airport, Johannesburg from Port Elizabeth with their fresh memories of helping to cut the horns of rhinos in a responsible way and as a measure to avoid poaching—in a reserve in the semi-desert area of the Karoo.

It is a professional theoretical-practical course, created a decade ago by Fabiola Quesada and Brendan Tindall, veterinarians specialized in wildlife, which more than 250 people have already attended. Twice a year, they organize a trip in which they go through real wildlife and captivity animal care situations. Thanks to the economic contribution by the students, the work of professionals in the field is paid for, making possible the necessary examinations of the animals. “It is a system in which everyone wins: my clients, because my time and my work to treat the animals in the reserve is paid for by the students, and at the same time, they have access to a unique and authentic experience. Sometimes we have to change the programme. They adapt to what I should do, and if there is an emergency, they come with me”, says Tindall.

In the following days they will experience the annual elephant sterilization campaign, the operation on wild lionesses to limit the number of cubs that they will have, and the total castration of lionesses brought from the zoos in Europe—since they must not have cubs after having recovered from extreme physical conditions. In addition, they will do a complete examination of some cheetahs in captivity, drawing blood to record their DNA, weighing them, measuring them and checking the condition of their skin, information that later will be used to breed them and make sure that the new cubs born in captivity will eventually be able to survive in the wild.

Veterinary medicine

“The application of medicine can be approached in different ways, as a doctor or as a veterinarian. It does not mean that you dedicate yourself only to supply medicines, but you analyse an animal from the medical perspective, its physiognomy, its anatomy, nutrition, and give advice or diagnosis, keeping those medical principles in mind. We start from our medical and environmental knowledge, and apply them to conservation, to help in the preservation of the animal species and the decisions that are made to benefit them”, continues Tindall.

It is team work, between owners of nature reserves—private extensions in which the owners must take care of the fauna who live there—and the people who observe possible changes in the animals´ behaviour every day, and professionals, veterinarians and conservationists, who must maintain the natural balance in the habitat.

One of the concepts that are analysed from different perspectives during the course is the respect for each animal: “None is more important than another, and neither are we more important than them, even if we believe it. Each patient must be treated with the respect it deserves, and that should happen when you physically immobilize the animal to inspect or practise any intervention or surgery, and also when you give a recommendation about the conditions of life in which the animal should live”, explains the vet.

Currently, the limitations in the movements of the wild fauna are a reality. There is hardly any place on the African continent in which animals are not surrounded by fences. In recent decades, man´s actions to prevent wildlife from destroying crops or attacking cattle have grown.

The objective is to achieve “an equilibrium between conserving diversity biologically, promoting economic development and maintaining the associated cultural values”

“In the big reserves we see the tendency to reduce the extent of the areas for a higher control and exploitation of its resources. The effect of this action, aimed at maintaining biodiversity, is the impossibility for animals to move freely and, finally, the need to intervene for the good of the flora and other animal species. You cannot concentrate on one species because, for example, if you let the elephant population grow, they will destroy the habitat, and that affects other animals and the vegetation. We have seen it in northern Botswana, where the number of elephants has grown so much that the trees are gone”.

Shared habitat

“We do not sterilize to have less animals and allow more space for humans. It’s the other way around, we pretend to create more space for wildlife. If we look back, 20 or 30 years ago, we had less space dedicated to wildlife and conservation than the current one. People are aware, since this is about improving our understanding of how to manage those wild areas”, says Tindall.

Human intervention in wild animals combines speed with precise action because the time of the anaesthesia is limited and you have to make sure that when the animal wakes up, it will not have any side effects that could affect its life; these are factors that generate tension and require absolute concentration.

Partial sterilization practice on lionesses in the Welgevonden Reserve aims to have two instead of five cubs, so the litters are easier to handle and they continue to meet the objective of attracting tourists interested in the behaviour of animals that, in a way, maintain the place.

“The days when animals could wander about and freely reproduce are running out, and if a reserve wants to survive and justify its existence, it needs the visits of the customers. Even in Kenya or the Serengeti (northern Tanzania), in open spaces, they have to intervene. There are remote areas in Zambia with wildlife, but the tourists’ support for conservation is needed increasingly”, explains Tindall. He addresses the always controversial hunting issue, necessary when it’s done ethically and under control, but still a form of exploitation of the continent. “The reserves would not exist if it weren’t for hunting. In 90% of the cases there would have been no equilibrium of wildlife in a reserve if it weren’t for the hunt that takes place inside, because the owner of the land generates income from that activity”, he concludes.

The way of nature

One of the differences between animals that live in natural parks, managed by the government, and private reserves, is that the intervention in national parks is more limited. They do not intervene when animals are injured accidentally, or when their lives are in danger because of their physical condition. They only do it to preserve an endangered species, such as happened with cheetah or wild dogs in South Africa, when they needed to be protected as a group.

Sam Davidson-Phillips is the conservation director of Welgevonden Reserve, located in the Waterberg district in Limpopo, in the northeast of the country. It is 37 000 hectares in extent with 50 mammal species, including the Big Five, i.e., lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhinoceros.

In the early morning he shares with Wild Spirit students, the preparation, under Peter Caldwell’s supervision—one of the most experienced and recognised vets in South Africa—of the mixture in the syringes that will be shot from the helicopter. “We carry out the contraception in elephants because in extensive reserves, such as Welgevonden, we have a fairly large population, about 115 animals, and we need to monitor their growth to preserve their impact on vegetation, in the destruction of trees,” he explains while assuring that the objective is to achieve “an equilibrium between conserving diversity biologically, promoting economic development and maintaining the associated cultural values”.

“It is interesting that, to preserve these wild animals, we must manipulate their existence, but they also need space to exist”, remarks Caldwell, after mentioning the responsibility of humans when they also decide to procreate. “It is the same with lions and elephants, why not in humans? We are talking about growth of the population, what people eat, what impact does agriculture and wildlife have, and how are they connected”.

The world has to understand the need to protect wildlife at all levels

Alongside Davidson-Phillips there is a team exclusively dedicated to the biomonitoring of the reserve. Carmen Warmenhove is the co-ordinator. Sitting on the front of an open transport in which students spend hours observing nature, she ensures that the monitoring of black and white rhinos, as well as predators, prey species and vegetation, allow the students to provide information to the managers of the nature reserve. “This is how the balance is maintained, especially in fenced reserves, because if a population exceeds a certain size, it could have a harmful cascade effect on other species of animals and plants”, she adds.

One Health

Peter Caldwell, who combines his interventions to wildlife in South Africa, Tanzania, Somalia and other eastern countries of the continent with his animal clinic, Old Chapel in Pretoria, says, “humans have intervened to such a point that they have destroyed every part of the natural habitat, and now wildlife must be controlled and interfered within more than half of the cases, to make it work again”

Caldwell, like the founders of Wild Spirit, is an absolute defender of the One Health concept, in which communities are educated, for example, in the vaccination of their dogs, so that they do not transmit diseases to wildlife that ends up affecting humans when they eat it.

“The world has to understand the need to protect wildlife at all levels. We are trying to create an infrastructure for the vets to do their job. Unfortunately, in universities they don’t teach about wildlife yet. There are some congresses, but they are aligned towards zoos, with a European or Western mentality—and there is not even one congress about Africa and wildlife”, explains Quesada, who considers that today’s slow and long term measures are insufficient.

“Climate change is created by human beings, and the extermination of species affects climate change. We know that there are several elements involved, among them, poaching, the increase of population, consumption of wild animals, which is likely the origin of the current pandemics—and of many that are still to come. Moreover, the indiscriminate consumption of wildlife in the last twenty years and the ever-increasing demand for protein from wild animals by humans. Furthermore, there is an elite group of people that spends a lot of money and wants exclusive things, and either alive or dead wildlife is one of them”, said Quesada.

SPECIAL REPORT • COP26

THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES (COP26) AND THE PERILS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

BY FR SEAN MCDONAGH, SOCIETY OF ST COLUMBAN (SCC)* | ECO-THEOLOGIAN AND WRITER, COUNTY MEATH, IRELAND
SUMMARY BY FR RAFAEL ARMADA

IN DECEMBER 2015 the COP21 on climate change (CC) took place in Paris. In a legally binding international treaty, 109 countries present there agreed to keep the average global warming of the Earth to 2ºC or preferably 1.5ºC, above preindustrial levels. In order to achieve this goal, countries had to cut emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) globally by 50% by 2030 and to be carbon dioxide neutral by 2050.The Paris Agreement set in motion a five-year cycle of increasingly ambitious climate actions. All signatories agreed to reduce, by 2020, their GHG emissions and report their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) annually.

Though climate changes are inevitable and irreversible, there is much that humans can do to stop global warming from intensifying.

The Paris Agreement also provided a framework for financial, technical and capacity support for developing nations to help them reach their targets of reducing GHG emissions and deal with the adverse changes that CC is bringing. In the past years, investment has been focused on reducing CO2 in the areas of transport and renewable energy. This has created jobs in the wind and solar energy sectors. Many countries, regions, cities and companies have established carbon neutral goals.

However, a lot more needs to be done since not dealing with global warming will be much more costly than doing it. As of mid-2021, the average global temperature was 1.1ºC, above pre-industrial levels. Many rich countries still find it difficult, if not impossible, to meet their GHG emission targets and to help economically poorer countries cope with CC.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report

On 9 August 2021, the Sixth IPCC Assessment was published. The findings of more than 200 scientists, based on 14 000 studies, gave the clearest and most comprehensive account of the science on CC. Dr Tamsin Edwards, one of its main authors, pointed out that climate science improved significantly since the previous 2013 IPCC report. In that account, human influence on CC was stated as “clear” whereas in the last report it is affirmed as “unequivocal.”

As Cormac McQuinn refers, Antonino Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, stated that the 2021 IPCC Report is a ‘code red for humanity’. The evidence of CC is irrefutable. GHG emissions from both burning fossil fuels, deforestation and agriculture are choking our planet and putting millions of lives of humans and other creatures at risk. He alerted that more than 30 million people were displaced by climate change in 2020.

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased from 280 parts million to over 416 parts per million today. Humans, especially those in rich and industrialised countries, are burning fossil fuels profusely, such as coal, oil and gas to heat their homes, power their industrial and transport sectors and increase agricultural production considerably.

While the IPCC report is certain that major climate changes are inevitable and irreversible, there is much that humans can do to stop global warming from intensifying them in the coming decades. Truth and honesty are absolutely necessary requirements to find a just solution to CC (Ed.). For instance, oil companies are claiming that they are promoting renewable energy, while, at the same time they are lobbying for favourable treatment and for weakening environmental legislation, as Christ McGreal pointed out.

Leading economies

The reality is that every country needs to transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy as quickly as possible. China, which has the largest carbon footprint in the world, has pledged not to build coal-fired plants in other countries and to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2060. At present, its factories and industries are experiencing a serious shortage of electricity and Chinese political leaders are encouraging their industries—with tax incentives for coal-fired power plants—to mine and burn coal, despite their commitments to lower their CO2 emissions because of CC, as Keith Bradsher, explains. Regulators have encouraged Chinese banks to lend money to the coal sector of the economy even when they breach GHG levels which were introduced in response to CC concerns. In October 2021, the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang emphasized the importance of a regular supply of electricity after various areas in China have been plunged into darkness, as explained in, Blow to COP26 as China pushes coal and gas plan, by Rob Davies. In the context of the CC debate, Beijing’s renewed embrace of coal is causing alarm. Moreover, the absence of President Xi Jinping at the COP26, has not been a good sign, being China the world’s absolute CO2 emitter.

Xie Zhenhua, China’s envoy on CC pointed out that China has agreed to strengthen its commitment to promoting renewable energy in the country in the next 10 years and to scale back on the use of coal. China and India have not agreed to include the sentence ‘phase out coal’, in the COP26 final document, but only to ‘phase it down’ (Ed.).

60% of the planet’s oil and natural gas reserves and 90% of its coal should remain in the ground by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5ºC

The United States, the largest per capita carbon footprint in the world, at 16 tons per person, experienced severe weather in many areas of the country in 2021. June was the hottest month ever recorded in some areas of the country and in the West drought set a 122-year record. Farmers, ranchers and indigenous people all suffered extensively from the drought with little end in sight. The wildfires in California were the worst ever, destroying vast areas of forest and many properties.

In response to these events, President Joe Biden has vowed to increase the United States ability to respond to extreme weather by lowering carbon emissions significantly and to replace most of the US’s gas and coal-fired power plants with wind, solar and nuclear power over the next decade.

South Africa and the Global South (Ed.)

In an effort to maintain warming below 1.5°C and to set out its ambitions ahead of COP26, South Africa updated its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), reducing its carbon emission targets to align them with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The country’s revised emission targets range between 350 to 420 metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent, and it brought forward its net-zero goals from 2050 to 2030. While the country’s ambitious targets set it ahead of the curve, South Africa still lags behind in transitioning from coal to cleaner renewable energy.

The country has touted non-renewable resources such as gas and nuclear energy as a solution to its energy needs, which are about 80% reliant on coal. Just before the commencing of COP26,South Africa has been offered a loan of R131 billion by Western countries to make her transition to green energy but, it is still necessary to see if this amount of credit meets the interests of the country. South Africa has not shown a clear position in the matter. Apart from the objections of the Minerals and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, to abandon coal investments, the country has not signed a pledge to phase out coal during COP26. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union (EU), referring to the loan for greening the country declared: “The idea is that the countries support South Africa to phase out coal faster, and to go earlier and faster into developing renewables—a Just Transition Partnership, in unison with the US, UK, Germany, EU and France, that could become a template on how to support just transitions around the globe” as Onke Ngcuka, COP26 Daily Maverick commentator recalls.

According to Ayakha Melithafa, a 19-year-old Capetonian Environmental activist and member of the Presidential Climate Commission of South African, interviewed telephonically by Worldwide, “COP26 has been very frustrating and disappointing. No clear facts from the Global North to save the planet have been achieved, only promises, just a continuation of the language of COP24 and COP25, without firm commitments,” explains the activist. “The Global North looks only to their own interests. They have even pushed their pledge—which was done in 2009—to 2023, of contributing $100 billion to assist developing countries to make the transition to green energy, starting in 2020,” says Ayakha. However, outside the formal meetings, the world youth have united their voices asking for more commitment by the wealthy nations—contrary to the image of division the Media have tried to portray. “Only in the discussions, the Global North has tried to marginalise and exclude the South, but not in the protests outside. There we have been united”, says the young South African. “We have to be more united, empowering each country in the South of the World and create partnership with the North,” concludes Ayakha.

Christian Churches and CC

Many Churches from the World Council of Churches (WCC) became increasingly focused on environmental concerns sincetheir Assembly in Vancouver, celebrated in 1983. They adopted a process focused on “Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation” (JPIC), working together on these inter-related themes and initiating education and advocacy activities.

WCC has given courageous leadership on CC and other ecological issues through its teaching in Sign of peril, test of Faith; accelerated climate change, published in 1994. It presented theological and ethical reflections on CC and made it very clear that dealing with CC would require profound changes in every aspect of human life—transport, accommodation, industry and agriculture.

In Solidarity with victims of climate change, published in 2002, the WCC argued that the ecological, economic and political aspects of CC ought to be assessed from a justice perspective, especially in the light of the growing gap between the rich and poor globally.

In the Catholic Church, the message for the 1990 WORLD DAY OF PEACE (WDP): Peace with God the Creator, peace with all creation”, by Pope St John Paul II, was one of the first places where CC was discussed.
“The greenhouse effect has now reached crisis proportions as a consequence of industrial growth, massive urban concentrations and vastly increased energy needs.” (WDP 5)

South Africa still lags behind in transitioning from coal to cleaner renewable energy

On 11 May 2011, the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences published the document Fate of mountain glaciers in the Anthropocene. It was a huge breakthrough in the Vatican’s approach to CC. It stated that the warming of the Earth was a fact beyond doubt. The working party which produced the report included glaciologists, climatologists, scientists, meteorologists, hydrologists, physicists, chemists, mountaineers and lawyers. It affirmed that “Human-caused changes in the composition of the air and its quality result in more than two million premature deaths worldwide every year and threatens water and food security—especially among the three billion poorest people.” It stressed that bold action was needed immediately. “We appeal to all nations to develop and implement, without delay, effective and fair policies to reduce the causes and impact of CC on communities and ecosystems including mountain glaciers and their watersheds, aware that we all live in the same home.” Everyone on the planet has some responsibility to deal with CC, but those who caused the problem in the first place, particularly people in the developed world must act first and help developing countries to cope with CC.

Laudato Si’

Until the COP21 in Paris, the Catholic Church played a very minimal role in the various annual COPs. That year, in 2015, Pope Francis published the encyclical Laudato Si’ (LS)—On care for our common home, and now, CC is seen by the Catholic Church as one of the greatest challenges to both humans and the planet.

It states clearly: “there is a very solid scientific consensus indicating that presently, we are witnessing a disturbing warming of the climate system” (LS 23). In the same paragraph, Pope Francis affirms that human beings need to change their lifestyle as well as their production and consumption patterns in order to combat CC. He points out that the poor who did little to cause CC will be most affected by it. “Many of the poor live in areas particularly affected by phenomena related to warming and their means of subsistence are largely dependent on natural reserves and ecosystem services such as agriculture, fishing and forestry. They have no other financial activities or resources which can enable them to adapt to CC or to face natural disasters and their access to social services and protection is very limited.” (LS 25).

In 2019, Pope Francis endorsed the 1.5ºC increase above pre-industrial levels recommended by COP21 in Paris. That same year he declared a ‘climate emergency,’ because he believed that “future generations stand to inherit a greatly spoiled world. Our children and grandchildren should not have to pay the cost of our generation’s irresponsibility”, as Fiona Harvey and Jillian Ambrose recalled.

In September 2021, a report from the United Nations warned us that fossil fuel emissions have reached their pre-pandemic levels. Among the findings are that the power and industry were almost at the same level as in January 2019. UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres affirmed: “This is an alarming appraisal of just how far off course we are”, as Paul Hosford and Emily Beament stated.

The tragedy is that we have so little time to change our ways and failure to do so will be a disaster for humanity and planet earth for ages to come. Future generations will not forgive us.