Syringa trees rise out of the Kalahari sand in the wild expanse of Kavango East, as the humid heat warns of afternoon showers. It's easy to imagine this place has looked the same for a hundred years.
The oilfield that ReconAfrica wants to harness is immense. The firm has leased more than 13,000 square miles, or some 30,000 square kilometers, of land in Namibia and neighboring Botswana.-- could be worth billions of dollars. And some experts believe the oil reserves here could be even bigger. Think of an empty swimming pool; over a very, very long period of time, the pool is filled with material -- leaves, sand, organic matter. Hang around long enough and you won't see the swimming pool -- just the stuff inside it.
"Southern Namibia already has twice the global rate of warming. In northern Namibia it is a staggering 3.6 degrees Celsius per century," said, a professor at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and a lead author on the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. But as the climate warms, those dry spells will become more frequent in the summer months, Engelbrecht said. The change in weather patterns and the corresponding increase in heat will create an even hotter and drier climate. It could destroy the way of life of the people who live here.
"The big risk is that the global North makes the transition, and that Africa becomes the dumping ground for the world's fossil fuel technologies -- the last place where this kind of energy is being pursued," said Engelbrecht. In a museum in Namibia's capital, Windhoek, where some of the country's diamond, uranium, and other mineral riches are on display, Tom Alweendo, the minister of mines and energy, makes the case for continued oil exploration.
Niall Kramer, a South African oil industry consultant and former oil executive, put it bluntly: "Someone who is sitting in Norway and has a very good quality of life because of the oil that was found in the North Sea is now telling the world that it should run on renewables. If you are sitting in Africa, your incentives are very different."
Last month, the company announced that it had found a workable oil system -- but said it still needed to dig two more wells to be sure.Scientists and environmental activists say ReconAfrica hasn't conducted sufficient environmental impact studies and that it could threaten one of the world's unique ecosystems if it goes ahead with its plans to exploit any reserves it finds in the Kavango Basin.
I havent bought gas in 11 years. Im eb all the way
Leaving oil in the ground and then producing lithium batteries to put into the ground isn’t a safe alternative. Lithium is very toxic waste and Tesla should be held liable for any toxic waste it produces with batteries it produces or uses to sell its vehicles !
A climate change, maybe a ravage, maybe a nothing. It a huge concern when we struck big. Are we in a position to demoralized the Canadian pride in our soil.
There you go climate change article of the day! Want to explain why we aren't under water yet and why it's still snowing
Sad. More exploitation of foreign lands, it’s people, and ecosystem. Oh my, Canada!
Weird. If only Canada had some oil, there wouldn’t be a need for a CANADIAN company to be searching the world for it.