“Tilenga” is the name of a new oil field planned for northern Uganda, with more than 400 wells. Further south, a Chinese company wants to open another field, named “Kingfisher.” For export, plans are underway to build what would be the world’s largest heated crude oil pipeline: “EACOP” (East African Crude Oil Pipeline), a 1,443 km pipeline connecting the port of Tanga, Tanzania. These projects are primarily led by the French multinational TotalÉnergies.

Thousands of believers in France, Uganda, and Tanzania are denouncing these projects because they are fundamentally contrary to our values ​​and beliefs: they are climate injustice projects that violate human rights and harm biodiversity and living beings.

• Tilenga and EACOP would cause the emission of up to 34 million tons of carbon per year—a veritable “climate bomb”—while the IPCC and the International Energy Agency clearly state that, in order to comply with the Paris Agreement, no new oil fields should be developed after 2021;
• They would lead to the expropriation of more than 100,000 people, totally or partially, with a litany of economic and social consequences, naturally affecting the poorest; this has already begun, for example, with expropriations before compensation is paid, leaving small farmers without means of subsistence;
• Tilenga would drill 132 wells within the Murchison Falls Natural Protected Area, on the shores of Lake Albert, and EACOP would pass through natural areas rich in biodiversity, particularly along the Lake Victoria basin, increasing pressure and posing significant risks to biodiversity.

These impacts represent the opposite of what our religious and spiritual traditions, in their diversity, promote: justice, peace, well-being for all, compassion, security for families and future generations, harmony and respect for God’s precious creation, nature and all beings.