Youth climate activists urge president to save Okavango Delta
29 March 2021 | Environment
To date, nearly 150 000 people have signed a petition by Rainforest Rescue supporting their mission to save the Okavango Delta.
Now, Fridays For Future Windhoek is urging people to send direct messages to the Namibian presidency by visiting www.Vuma.earth.
The youth climate activists are urging the public to send an email to Namibian President Hage Geingob to save the Okavango Delta from the threat of oil exploration in the environmentally sensitive area after months of protests and campaigning.
Last year, news that a Canadian oil and gas exploration company, ReconAfrica, planned the go-ahead with “conventional” and “non-conventional” drilling (i.e. fracking) in some of Africa’s most sensitive environmental areas,sent shockwaves all over the world.
The gas giant indicated that it planned to begin oil exploration in the Namibian headwaters of the Okavango Delta and the Tsodilo Hills, a World Heritage Site in Botswana.
International outcry
Youth climate activists in Windhoek along with several other environmental and human rights groups, reacted with international calls from all fronts to prevent the impending environmental catastrophe that not only impacts the area’s biodiversity, which includes a number of endangered species, but also communities who depend on the Kavango Basin to sustain their livelihoods.
“The oil needs to stay in the ground. The exploitation would be a catastrophe – not only for the global climate, but also for wildlife, water resources and the livelihoods of local people,” said Ina-Maria Shikongo, a Fridays for Future (FFF) activist.
The ecological impacts of the projects are likely to be devastating. It would not only threaten bodies of water in the dry savannas of Namibia, but also Botswana’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Okavango Delta, with its unique biodiversity and huge populations of elephants, hippos, rhinos and birds.
Tourism in danger
Tourism, an important source of income, is in danger while other livelihood strategies of indigenous San and local people also hang in the balance.
The project has already left a number of communities in the northeast of Namibia displaced, and those affected are afraid to speak up against corrupt politicians involved in the deal.
Fridays For Future Windhoek leveraged on last week’s global climate strike to challenge their leadership to address the unjust occupation of land.
“Maybe he needs to see for himself how many people this affects. Maybe then he will understand why we are desperately trying to stop fracking in the Okavango Delta,” said Shikongo.
“They call anyone who stands up to their plan a hooligan. They’ve even called me a white environmentalist with an agenda - as if we, black people, do not care about ourselves or our environment,” she said. “We have to prove them wrong. All Africans must take a stand and tell the Namibian president to do what is best for us and not these industries that use us.”
Established in 2019, Friday’s For Future Windhoek seeks to raise awareness among Namibians of the Climate and Ecological Emergency. The locally led youth organisation has rallied behind calls to stop oil and gas drilling in Namibia’s treasured Kavango region to avert a true planetary disaster in our own backyard.
Now, Fridays For Future Windhoek is urging people to send direct messages to the Namibian presidency by visiting www.Vuma.earth.
The youth climate activists are urging the public to send an email to Namibian President Hage Geingob to save the Okavango Delta from the threat of oil exploration in the environmentally sensitive area after months of protests and campaigning.
Last year, news that a Canadian oil and gas exploration company, ReconAfrica, planned the go-ahead with “conventional” and “non-conventional” drilling (i.e. fracking) in some of Africa’s most sensitive environmental areas,sent shockwaves all over the world.
The gas giant indicated that it planned to begin oil exploration in the Namibian headwaters of the Okavango Delta and the Tsodilo Hills, a World Heritage Site in Botswana.
International outcry
Youth climate activists in Windhoek along with several other environmental and human rights groups, reacted with international calls from all fronts to prevent the impending environmental catastrophe that not only impacts the area’s biodiversity, which includes a number of endangered species, but also communities who depend on the Kavango Basin to sustain their livelihoods.
“The oil needs to stay in the ground. The exploitation would be a catastrophe – not only for the global climate, but also for wildlife, water resources and the livelihoods of local people,” said Ina-Maria Shikongo, a Fridays for Future (FFF) activist.
The ecological impacts of the projects are likely to be devastating. It would not only threaten bodies of water in the dry savannas of Namibia, but also Botswana’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Okavango Delta, with its unique biodiversity and huge populations of elephants, hippos, rhinos and birds.
Tourism in danger
Tourism, an important source of income, is in danger while other livelihood strategies of indigenous San and local people also hang in the balance.
The project has already left a number of communities in the northeast of Namibia displaced, and those affected are afraid to speak up against corrupt politicians involved in the deal.
Fridays For Future Windhoek leveraged on last week’s global climate strike to challenge their leadership to address the unjust occupation of land.
“Maybe he needs to see for himself how many people this affects. Maybe then he will understand why we are desperately trying to stop fracking in the Okavango Delta,” said Shikongo.
“They call anyone who stands up to their plan a hooligan. They’ve even called me a white environmentalist with an agenda - as if we, black people, do not care about ourselves or our environment,” she said. “We have to prove them wrong. All Africans must take a stand and tell the Namibian president to do what is best for us and not these industries that use us.”
Established in 2019, Friday’s For Future Windhoek seeks to raise awareness among Namibians of the Climate and Ecological Emergency. The locally led youth organisation has rallied behind calls to stop oil and gas drilling in Namibia’s treasured Kavango region to avert a true planetary disaster in our own backyard.
Classifieds