Ghana, ranked as the 72nd most climate-vulnerable country by the World Bank, confronts a host of climate-related challenges. Soaring sea levels, drought, increased temperatures, unpredictable rainfall, and an unreliable power supply have all taken a toll on infrastructure, food security, and the livelihoods of coastal communities. Compounding these challenges, the government’s aggressive pursuit of fossil fuel development, including gas and pipeline expansion, has led to mounting debt and environmental degradation. In many cases, foreign investors have reaped profits from these projects, often at the expense of local communities.

In response to these pressing issues, GreenFaith, in partnership with the Strategic Network for Youth Development, officially launched the “Keep Oil in The Ground Campaign” in Ghana on October 6, 2023. This initiative followed a one-day workshop held the previous day. The campaign’s primary objective is to oppose oil drilling and champion the transition to renewable energy sources. Furthermore, it aims to galvanize multi-religious, multi stakeholder participation within Ghana’s civil society movement for climate justice. The partnership also seeks to raise broad awareness within religious communities across Ghana, including those with limited prior exposure to these critical environmental issues.

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Students from several Kenyan universities joined Muslim, Christian, Hindu, and tribal leaders in a march in Machako, demanding that COP27 deliver commitments for universal access to clean, affordable energy for Africa. They also called for an end to persecution of Ugandan students opposing the massive proposed East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

“African governments choose to believe that fossil fuel projects will deliver wealth and energy access for Africans,” said Meryne Warah, the Global Organizing Co-Director for GreenFaith. “In reality, fossil fuel projects displace communities, destroy local livelihoods, spew deadly pollution, and enrich corrupt elites.  Women-owned, community-led clean energy solutions deliver far more equitable outcomes. Africa’s leaders should stop salivating over oil and gas and become serious about our continent’s clean energy future.” 

During the march, dubbed “Kick Fossil Fuels Out of Africa,” people of diverse faiths joined Kenyan students in expressing solidarity with Ugandan students recently arrested for peacefully opposing EACOP. “Our fellow students were expressing legitimate concerns in a peaceful manner,” said Philbert Aganyo, a Seventh Day Adventist and GreenFaith member. “They want a sustainable future for themselves and their communities. They know this requires a just transition to renewable energy and green jobs – not a huge new pipeline.”

Samora Leone Mureithi, a student at the Machakos Institute of Technology, said the untamed appetite for fossil fuels profits threatened efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of a 1.5 degree Celsius warming, to protect against devastating effects of climate change.

“The pain of watching a fellow Kenyan lose their life to hunger because of drought or unpredictable rainfall caused by climate change is unbearable. I take this as a challenge to lead the way in locally-led climate action and demand that if anyone invests in Africa, it must be through renewable energy,” he said.

Faith Mueni Mutuku, a student at Machakos University called for sustainability for the next generation and advocacy for clean energy to ensure sustainable development. “We shall not grow by destroying God’s creations to make money,” she said.

Diana Rose, a youth climate activist, encouraged participants to “use your phone and your knowledge to encourage a just transition to renewable energy. We cannot continue to live like this. We Africans are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. And now whenever we oppose fossil fuels projects, we are also arrested,” she said.

Also actively participating in the event was Pastor Sam Kaloki of Gospel Confirmation Centre, who called upon the Kenyan government to lead by example in shunning new fossil fuels projects.

“I am saddened that EACOP is being forced down the throats of East Africans because several large corporations and government officials are seeking profits. EACOP is immoral. Our faiths teach us to be stewards of God’s creation, and this is not the way to do it. We cannot increase our carbon footprint from EACOP. The effects it will have on the ecosystem and people’s social fabrics and livelihood will not be contained in Uganda and Tanzania, but will affect even the most innocent Kenyan,” he said.

He called upon Kenya’s President William Ruto to make true his promise to lead the country to a fast but just transition to renewable energy for sustainable economic development.

According to Lynet Otieno, the Interim Communications Manager at GreenFaith, research has shown that at least 100,000 people risk displacement due to the EACOP project. She said respected international scientific bodies and the International Energy Agency had declared “enough times that new fossil fuel projects will derail achievement of the Paris Agreement goals.”

Ms. Warah said the climate and human rights concerns of grassroots people of faith along the EACOP 1,445km route in Tanzania and Uganda were genuine, and must not be ignored. “The oil transported by the proposed pipeline would create greenhouse gas emissions many times greater than the combined total of Tanzania and Uganda, while almost all this oil would be exported,” said Ms Warah, adding: “This project will worsen the lives of everyday East Africans, line the pockets of a few elites, and degrade the wellbeing of God’s people and planet. It is wrong.” 

The EACOP’s stakeholders are TotalEnergies (with 62 percent), Uganda National Oil (15 percent), Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp (15 percent), and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (8 per cent). Ms Warah urged them to stop the project and instead invest in universal access to affordable, renewable energy for all Ugandans and Tanzanians, and protect biodiversity along the proposed route of what would be the world’s longest heated oil pipeline project.  

Efforts by GreenFaith and other religious partners in East Africa and France to block EACOP have included educating people of diverse faiths about the dangers posed by the project, organizing peaceful public demonstrations, and highlighting the intimidation of EACOP opponents.

During the march in Kenya, participants chanted: “What do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now! Now!”

The walk was part of GreenFaith’s international month of action dubbed Faiths for Climate Justice, which runs from October 2 to November 6, before the COP27 climate negotiations in Egypt. 

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In the face of growing threats to the safety of peaceful protestors, this week grassroots people of diverse religious backgrounds marched to demand an end to the heated crude oil pipeline project that would stretch 1,443km from Uganda’s Tilenga to Tanzania’s Tanga Port.

During public actions organized by GreenFaith Circles in Uganda and Tanzania, local people of faith who live along the route of the proposed pipeline condemned the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and rallied faith communities in demanding an immediate end to the project.

The march in Uganda was themed “Responding to Climate Change in Uganda” while that in Tanzania was  “Planet Over Profit”. The marches were part of Faiths for Climate Justice (F4CJ), a global, multi-religious month of climate actions.  In addition to calling for the end to the project, Ugandan and Tanzanian faithful demanded justice for affected communities and protection for the biodiversity whose habitats would be polluted by EACOP.

In the face of government intimidation which had led to youth activists being detained in recent days, 16 religious leaders from diverse faiths joined more than 150 members of GreenFaith Circles in Uganda on Tuesday from Pentecostal, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and other religious backgrounds. Participants marched from the Kabaale Church of Uganda to the nearby oil refinery in the Hoima District.

The location of the Ugandan protests was key because it is in the area of a refinery and central holding place for oil before it would be piped to Port Tanga. The refinery would produce toxic air pollution that causes respiratory disease.

Religious communities oppose the project because it would generate more greenhouse gas emissions than the combined national emissions of Tanzania and Uganda, the two climate-vulnerable African countries through which the pipeline would pass. EACOP would also displace thousands of poor farmers, threaten income and livelihoods, disproportionately impact women, endanger water supplies, degrade habitat and diminish biodiversity.  Experts estimate that more than 100,000 people would be negatively affected.

Oketh Patrick, a Uganda based Seventh Day Adventist church elder whose land was seized to pave way for the pipeline, described the injustice that EACOP and its backers are inflicting on local communities. “My land was undervalued and payment delayed. It is now impossible for me to buy another parcel, because land has appreciated three-fold due to the oil discovery in Hoima. How do I get a home for my family? EACOP is destroying communities,” he said.

Emmanuel Okur, a Catholic Catechist, said: “The government of Uganda should opt for a project that will not destroy our environment. In my village trees and vegetation have been cut to create space for oil roads to Hoima International, and this has negatively affected our lives. We face harsh climate impacts and we have done nothing to create the problem. It is deeply unfair.” 

Sheikh Uzelle Hassan from Kabaale Mosque said: “It is worrying that more community members will be vulnerable to effects of climate change. This threatens the way we worship and it is already negatively affecting our lives.” 

Julius Iwgonza, a lay leader at Kigaage Church of Uganda, said the project had disrupted the livelihoods of community members. “The standards of living within our community have already been diminished and the church has also been negatively affected. Our church used to have access roads connecting to the main road but when the road heading to the Hoima International Airport was constructed, we lost it,” he said. “Why should we suffer when companies that are richer than God profit?”

Community members also note that TotalEnergies and national governments have failed to provide accurate information about the true impacts of the project. Wandera JohnBosco, a pastor at Kabaale Full Gospel Church said: “Very little information about the impacts of the project, on our community and on the environment is being translated into local languages for the people to understand”.

On Sunday in Tanzania, GreenFaith Circles held peaceful protests in areas where preparations for the crude oil pipeline project have disrupted local communities’ lives. Participants called on the Tanzanian, TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil Corporation and insurance companies contracted for the project.

Baraka Lenga, GreenFaith organizer in Tanzania, noted that growing numbers of local religious leaders were joining the campaign. “These leaders see that EACOP will cause people and biodiversity to suffer severe negative effects of climate change. The floods, drought, hunger and cyclones affect people of all religions,” said Mr Lenga.

The Tanzanian GreenFaith Circle members called on governments and financial institutions to finance renewable energy development, not oil and gas projects.  “Our communities need energy for education, healthcare, and livelihoods,” said Simon Kimario, a youth leader at Mongoroma village Catholic Church. “Oil and gas will create suffering now and in the future.  EACOP needs to stop.”

The procession in Mongoroma village, through which the pipeline would pass, was followed by a meeting with some persons affected by the project. Over 50 people participated in the walk, with more than 80 joining the capacity building meeting.

Mwajùma Bakari said: “My land was assessed and valued in 2018 at TSh500,000 (214.4 USD) per acre. I have received TSh500,000Tzs this year when the price of land has increased by more than 150 per cent. That means I cannot afford an equal size of the land I have been displaced from. There is nothing fair about this.”

Mr Lenga called on the Ugandan and Tanzanian governments to follow through climate change commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement. “The two governments committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, and should not invest in projects that will increase their carbon footprint. They must invest in renewable energy for the sake of our planet and our people,” he said.

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