News

Oil and gas exploitation in the Albertine Rift

22.02.2017

The Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS) has issued the fourth edition of AREALA News, a newsletter of the Albertine Rift Environmental Assessment Alliance to promote sustainable development responsibility. This special edition focuses on oil and gas exploitation in key freshwater biodiversity areas of the Albertine Rift region, where the interest of international commercial companies has increased due to new oil and gas discoveries in the region.

The Albertine Rift is the western branch of the Great Rift Valley of Africa. It extends from the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Tanganyika and encompasses lands on both sides of the rift, straddling several countries: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The Albertine Rift contains a variety of ecosystems, including montane ecosystems, mid-altitude and lowland forests, savannahs and woodlands, and several streams and rivers that drain into numerous wetlands and lakes.

An editorial by Philbert Nsengiyumva, Editor of AREALA News, opens the newsletter by noting the potential of oil and gas exploitation to boost national economies but also the risks and impacts these activities could pose to terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. “There are many endemic International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List species that rely on aquatic environments [in the Albertine Rift] for their survival,” said Nsengiyumva. “Some tools are highly recommended to support the decision-making process. These include environmental and social impact assessment as well as well as strategic environmental assessment prior to the implementation of oil and gas projects.”

The newsletter also features articles about cases of oil and gas exploitation activities in the Albertine Rift region that are at various stages of implementation, civil society organizations advocating for sustainable decisions over oil exploitation in Lake Kivu, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo signing a deal for joint oil exploration in Lake Tanganyika, and questions regarding the effects of the Government of Uganda giving the green light to oil and gas extraction in the Greater Virunga landscape. Each article is both in English and French.

This newsletter along with other publications and reports related to Albertine Rift Development and Environmental Impact Assessment, African Mountains, Albertine Rift Biodiversity and African Great Lakes Freshwater Ecosystems are available for download on the ARCOS Biodiversity Information Management System platform.

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Photo: ARCOS