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South Africa: communities and activists mobilize against a TotalEnergies gas project
TotalEnergies is hotly contested in South Africa for an underwater exploitation project.
REUTERS - SARAH MEYSSONNIER
Text by: Charlotte Cosset Follow
5 mins
After the #STOPEACOP campaign in Uganda, it is in South Africa that environmental activists are mobilizing against TotalEnergies projects.
The major has applied for a production license for two gas blocks off the South African coast.
An investment that could amount to 3 billion dollars for reserves estimated at more than one billion barrels.
But this project is far from unanimous.
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This new fossil energy extraction project
is mobilizing players on the ground
in France, such as the association for the defense of marine environments Bloom, but also in
South Africa.
Among these activists, Christian Adams, who represents the 4th generation of fishermen in his family.
He has two sons to whom he would like to pass the torch, but the development of oil and gas projects on the coast risks jeopardizing these prospects.
"
I'm very afraid of that,"
he explains.
In fact, I am already starting to tell them that by the time they are adults, they will probably not be able to become fishermen
”.
He tries to convince them to move on to other careers but without success so far.
"
The only thing they want is to have that connection to the ocean and to continue supporting our family, just like a long line of doctors or lawyers would," he says
.
My family has been fishing for decades and now the amplification of the climate crisis because of companies like Total or governments like the one in South Africa means that my practice of fishing, my job, may be affecting its end with my generation
”.
This is why Christian Adams, as well as various South African activists, made the trip to Europe last week to alert leaders and public opinion on this subject.
Among them, Liziwe McDaid,
Goldman Prize - nicknamed the Nobel Prize for the environment -,
and strategic manager of the South African organization Green Connection.
“
It's a big step at stake because for the first time in South Africa, Total is trying to obtain a production license, which would mean wells and potentially leaks.
Today, if we all oppose it, we believe that we can stop Total”,
hopes the activist.
And to add: “
We can fight on the environmental authorizations
”.
Today, two winners of the @goldmanprize, @ClaireNouvian @Bloom_FR & Liziwe McDaid @TheGreenConnect, are mobilizing to reveal this new climate-killing project by @TotalEnergies pic.twitter.com/sQ9eHwSHrL
— Swann Bommier (@swannbom) October 17, 2022
► To read also: Conference in Vancouver: TotalEnergies and the defenders of the environment of South Africa
Need for energy diversification
But South Africa's electricity production today depends mainly on coal.
The authorities are therefore seeking to diversify their supply.
Gwede Mantashe, the Minister of Energy, explained the needs on a South African television channel: “
Our transition will be sustainable if we access the oil and gas that are on our coasts.
Nobody complains when we import gas from Mozambique but when we announce that Shell, for example, is doing business, everyone jumps up
”.
The Minister also spoke on another occasion from a TotalEnergies exploration platform.
“
I have to work with environmentalists, but what I resist is destabilization, the fact that we cannot think about development.
We are a developing economy and we have a long way to go
,” he said.
An argument that environmentalists refute.
Nevill van Rooy, in charge of community links at Green Connection, explains that as environmentalists, “
we are perceived as being against development
”.
"
This is not the case,
he agrees,
what we are saying is that development must be driven from the base so that all can benefit from it
".
Moreover, for Liziwe McDaid an energy transition via fossil fuels is a waste of time.
It also highlights the concrete environmental risks of leaks and other accidents.
Especially since there have already been difficulties in these deep waters during the exploration phases, she recalls.
"
When Total arrived to try to drill in this area, they were unable to carry out their operations and had to stop because the ocean currents there are among the fastest in the world, and this is amplified because of climate change
, details the South African activist.
It was too violent.
So for us, it's really madness.
»
► To read also: TotalEnergies releases the best profit in its history, the French government embarrassed
Environmental risks and cultural impacts
The two gas blocks are located in Mossel Bay, in the south of the country, on the east coast.
An area of great biodiversity and, moreover, of whale migration.
They attract thousands of tourists every year.
But the organizations also highlight that the marine environment and in particular contact with whales is an integral part of the culture of coastal communities.
“
We even have a cultural tradition.
Someone blows the horn to announce the arrival of the whales,
says Nevill van Rooy of Green Connection
.
You know, the whales have a very important meaning because they come there to give birth and raise their young.
It echoes reproduction and the cycle of life
.”
Communities and activists in South Africa are therefore very active and do not hesitate to take cases to court.
For example, they obtained the cancellation of a large-scale seismic exploration program by Shell.
The South African justice justified its decision by the lack of consultation with the local communities, in particular the fishermen.
In response to the campaign launched by the NGO for the protection of the oceans Bloom and Greenconnection last October, TotalEnergies assured in a press release that an environmental and societal impact study will make it possible to specify the economic, social and environmental impacts of the project. and “
the accompanying measures envisaged
”.
The major also specifies that it has already "
voluntarily
" reduced the scope of the license application to exclude the protected maritime area.
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