Stop Funding for African Oil Pipeline

ACTION ALERT

***********************************************

WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

***********************************************

Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

7/21/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

Global Response asks for letters to the World Bank to stop their

planned loans for a pipeline to carry oil from southern Chad through

Cameroon's rainforests to the sea. There will always be economic

justifications to further diminish the already diminished African

rainforests. If this region is to possess continued ecological

functionality and future forest based development potential, the line

must be drawn. No loss of remaining ancient forests, and restoration

of buffers for community development activities and forest expansion.

This is the only way to avoid continued spiraling ecological and

economic decline.

g.b.

*******************************

RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: Stop World Bank Funding for Oil Pipeline / Chad-Cameroon

Source: Global Response Action #4/99

P.O. Box 7490

Boulder CO, USA 80306-7490

Phone: 303/444-0306

Fax: 303/449-9794

http://www.globalresponse.org

Date: July 1999

"Watersheds, protected forest areas and biodiversity are severely

threatened by the planned oil and pipeline. We are especially worried

about water pollution since the pipeline will cross several of our

largest rivers, which are used by local communities for their daily

needs." - Louis Djomo, African Forest Action Network (AFAN)

The World Bank's official mission is to alleviate poverty and promote

sustainable (environmentally sound) development. That's what the

world's citizens have a right to expect for the tax dollars we

contribute to this powerful international institution.

In October the World Bank is expected to award loans totaling at least

$225 million so that Exxon, Shell, and Elf oil companies can build a

pipeline to carry oil from southern Chad through Cameroon's

rainforests to the sea. The World Bank should reject this project on

the basis of its own two stated purposes:

(1) Poverty alleviation: The main beneficiaries of the Chad-Cameroon

oil pipeline are multinational oil companies and governments so

corrupt that there's little hope of adequate environmental protection

and "trickle-down" economic benefits for needy people.

Transparency International rates Cameroon the world's most corrupt

government. There is no guarantee that Chad and Cameroon will use

revenue from the oil development and pipeline to improve the health

and well being of the poor, who suffer high rates of malnutrition,

infectious disease and illiteracy. "What we need are small-scale

programs that respond to local aspirations," says Samuel Nguiffo,

director of the Center for the Environment and Development in Cameroon

and recipient of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize.

With limited funds available for each developing country, the World

Bank should finance projects that have direct, positive impacts on

nutrition, health, education, and environmentally sound development

for African people - not for Exxon (whose annual profits are 40 times

the budget of Chad).

(2) Sustainable development: Further exploitation of fossil fuels

contributes alarmingly to global warming and climate change. The

World Bank acknowledges that climate change is disastrous for poor

nations, and that energy efficiency and renewable resources such as

solar power are the best ways to serve the two billion rural poor

worldwide who have no electricity.

The 600-mile underground pipeline is to originate in Chad's

"breadbasket," the fertile region where most of the country's food

crops are grown. Inevitable oil spills and groundwater contamination

would threaten food security nationwide.

In Cameroon, the pipeline will pass through ecologically fragile

rainforests, including a region where indigenous nomadic Baka and

Bakola peoples (often referred to as Pygmies) rely on hunting and

gathering.

Existing seasonal roads will be upgraded and new roads built along the

pipeline route. On these roads, loggers and "bushmeat" hunters will

rush into previously inaccessible forests, accelerating the rate of

deforestation and imperiling the survival of endangered chimpanzees,

gorillas, forest elephants and black rhinos.

Environmental and human rights organizations in Central Africa ask

Global Response to help prevent the irreparable damage this pipeline

will cause.

In Chad, security forces have killed over 200 people and jailed the

single Parliamentarian who dared voice opposition to the pipeline (he

was released after 10 months thanks to international pressure.) World

citizens who face no such consequences must speak out against this

project.

Without World Bank funding, the Chad-Cameroon pipeline will almost

certainly fail to attract other investors. The World Bank is the

key.

REQUESTED ACTION: Write to the president of the World Bank. He needs

to hear from thousands of tax-payers to stop the Chad-Cameroon

pipeline!

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Logging and the "Bushmeat" Trade

Wild animal meat has been part of the traditional diet of many forest-

dwelling African people. As Africa has urbanized, however, the

bushmeat trade has accelerated out of control. Primates are main

targets, especially chimpanzees and gorillas. The World Society for

the Protection of Animals (WSPA) estimates that several thousand

lowland gorillas are killed annually, about 800 in eastern Cameroon

alone. Half of all primate species are threatened with extinction.

Forest elephants, giant pangolins, duikers (small antelopes),

leopards, dwarf crocodiles, crown monkeys and golden cats are also

killed for the bushmeat trade.

Logging is largely responsible for the boom in the bushmeat trade.

Commercial bushmeat hunters use logging roads to gain access to the

deep forest and to transport the bushmeat out to markets, often in

logging trucks. Hunters also sell huge quantities of bushmeat at

logging settlements that can have up to 4,000 residents.

--Adapted from HSUS News, Summer 1998, p. 7-10.

Chimpanzees and a cure for AIDS

AIDS researchers have joined the fight to save Central African

rainforests, convinced that a cure for AIDS depends on the survival of

chimpanzees and their habitat. In February, scientists discovered the

source of the HIV-1 virus in chimps who live in Cameroon's old growth

rainforests. They believe HIV-1 was introduced into the human

population through exposure to blood during hunting and field-dressing

of these animals. Chimpanzees are identical to humans in 98 percent of

their genetic makeup, yet appear to be resistant to the damaging

effects of the AIDS virus. Scientists hope to obtain important clues

to develop cures and treatments for AIDS by studying the native

populations of chimpanzees in their rainforest homes.

REQUESTED ACTIONS

1) All GR Members:

Please write to the president of the World Bank. Urge him to withhold

financing for the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline because:

ú the project will further impoverish Central African people by

contaminating their agricultural land, destroying forest resources,

and diverting funds desperately needed for nutrition, health,

education and small-scale economic development

ú chimpanzees in Cameroon's forests are believed to hold the key to a

cure for AIDS; the pipeline project threatens them and their habitat

by opening access to loggers and bushmeat hunters

ú further fossil fuel consumption will accelerate global warming and

climate change, endangering all life

ú the World Bank must live up to its mission and be accountable to

tax-paying citizens

Address:

Mr. James D. Wolfensohn, President

The World Bank

1818 H. Street, NW

Washington DC 20433

FAX: Int'l code+202/522-1677

Email: cunit3@worldbank.org

2) US Citizens Only:

Also write to the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Urge him to oppose

World Bank financing of the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline.

Address:

Mr. Lawrence H. Summers, Secretary

U.S. Department of the Treasury

1500 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

Washington DC 20220

FAX: Int'l code+202/622-0073

This Global Response Action was issued in support of and with

information provided by the Center for the Environment and Development

(Cameroon), Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human

Rights, Rainforest Action Network, and Environmental Defense Fund.

For more information, see these websites:

Chad-Cameroon pipeline project: www.exxon.com/essochad/

www.edf.org/pubs/Reports/c_chadcam.html

The World Bank: www.worldbank.org

www.foe.org/international/finance/worldbank/

www.50years.org African Forests:

www.ran.org/ran/ran_campaigns/africa/index.html Oil and Climate

Change: www.moles.org/Projectunderground/index1.html Chimpanzees and

AIDS: www.iapac.org/gabon.html

###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###

This document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational, personal and non-

commercial use only. Recipients should seek permission from the

source for reprinting. All efforts are made to provide accurate,

timely pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all

information rests with the reader. Check out our Gaia Forest

Conservation Archives at URL= http://forests.org/

Networked by Ecological Enterprises, gbarry@forests.org