Is Oil drilling in Lake Malawi sustainable development?

State of affairs in Lake Malawi oil deals as of Thursday ,3rd December,2015

Public Talk by :Godfrey Mfiti-Environmental Activist & Author of the book: “Lake Malawi: Virgin water and its people”

Venue: Four Seasons,Lilongwe,Malawi

Organized by: Wildlife Environmental Society of Malawi

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What is it all about Oil??

• Petroleum’ originates from two Latin words: ‘Petra’ meaning rock, and ‘elaion’ meaning oil. Hydrocarbons refer to chemical substances formed exclusively from carbon and hydrogen.

• Petroleum hydrocarbons are thus naturally occurring hydrocarbon substances and, depending on the length of the carbon chain, can occur in gas, liquid or solid form.

• Hydrocarbons are formed by the decay of organic substances trapped within sedimentary rocks. High temperatures and pressure convert the trapped matter into hydrocarbons. Liquid hydrocarbon found in nature is also referred to as crude oil.

• Crude oil consists of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights. In addition nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur occurs in small quantities. The hydrocarbons consist of alkanes (Paraffins) and cycloalkanes (Naphtalenes) that are saturated hydrocarbons with strait or branched chains of hydrocarbon molecules. Alkanes and cycloalkanes which normally constitute the dominating part of the oil, about 80%, have similar properties but cycloalkanes have higher boiling points.

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Four Major Components of the oil industry

The use of crude oil has created at least four major industrial groups:

(According to UNEP Report on Environmental Impact Assessment of Ogoniland in Nigeria ,2011)

• The exploration and production industry, which searches for, finds and then produces crude oil ( Where Malawi Oil industry is emerging!!!!)

• The oil and gas tanker industry, which transports crude oil and refined products around the world

• The refining sector, which breaks down crude oil into a number of products, including diesel, petrol and specialty oils

• The petrochemical industry, which takes crude oil-derived hydrocarbons as feedstock and converts them into a range of everyday products used in modern living.

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Possible Impact of :The exploration and production industry, which searches for, finds and then produces crude oil• Hydrocarbons can cause both physical and chemical effects in water; even

very small quantities of hydrocarbon can prevent oxygen transfer in the water column, thus affecting aquatic life-support systems.

• The presence of mere traces of a highly toxic hydrocarbon, such as benzene, may render water unfit for human consumption

• Dissolved or emulsified oil in the water column can contaminate plankton, algae, fish eggs and invertebrate larvae. This prevents multiplication of fish

• Petroleum hydrocarbons can enter people’s bodies when they breathe air, bathe, eat fish, drink water or accidentally eat or touch soil or sediment that is contaminated with oil

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Blocks earmarked for Oil exploration in Lake Malawi ,December,2015

The Fear of drilling oil in Lake Malawi

• Waste Water is often produced along with hydrocarbons. More often than not it is salty, the salt concentration often exceeding that of sea water.

• Disposal of produced waste water, even after removal of hydrocarbons, onto either land or water can cause adverse environmental impacts due to its high salinity.

• This is a point of concern on Lake Malawi oil and gas exploration. Does Malawi have the capacity to enforce regulations preventing disposal of waste treated water? It is a fear most Malawians and environmental experts share. This grip of fear arises from past experience.

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Lake Malawi in Africa Great Lakes Region

Lake Albert

Lake Eduard

Lake Kivu

Lake Tanganyika

Lake Malawi/Nyasa

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Why is Lake Malawi Unique???

• Scientific Studies show that Lake Malawi has a flushing ability of 750 years(Donda et al,2009).This means any spillages or pollution in the Lake will take this period of 750 years for the Lake to flush itself through natural processes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Lake Malawi has natural scenic beauty that distinguishes it from the rest of the Lakes all over the world. The Lake has over 300 types of fish only found in Malawi in this lake due to its special evolutionary processes endemic to the Lake. Scholars confirm that Lake Malawi makes about 15% of the world’s population of rare species of fish and indeed of the world’s fresh water lakes (Donda et al, 2009).

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Unaccounted Economic Importance of Lake Malawi :

• Source of drinking water for Blantyre and surrounding cities and Lakeshore districts of Malawi.

• Source of tourism worldwide-though not fully utilized

• Source of Livelihoods for over 2million people living along the Lakeshore

• Fisheries supporting the whole country (16million people) as a form of protein (draft fisheries policy 2012-2017)

• Water in Lake Malawi has huge potential for agriculture development (Planned green belt initiative)

• Only fresh water Lake with Outstanding Universal Values in the region (UNESCO,2014 Reactive Mission Report)

Should Malawi trade-off its Lake Malawi for Oil exploration?????Why not do an effective economic valuation of the Lake Malawi!!!!!!!11

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Oil drilling stages in all Africa Great Lakes,2015

Tullow Oil and Total

Soco International

The Government of Rwanda

Beach Energy and Woodside

Tullow Oil and Total

Soco International

The Government of Rwanda

Beach Energy and Woodside

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Different view points of Oil exploration

Oil exploitation will boost the national

income and the country's GDP will

increase

Oil exploration causes disruption of migratory pathways, degradation of

important animal habitats, and ecosystem services. It will exploit our

Lake .!!!!

Oil exploration requires us to shift from our mother lands with no

clear alternatives and we are hardly seeing benefits from them.

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Recommendations for Malawi

• Take appropriate action for the implementation of SDGs particularly the provisions in Goal 6 : sustainable management of water and sanitation for all;

•

• Promote valuation of Lake Malawi so as decisions which are made on its utilization is evidence-based and economically fool proof;

• Conduct transparent Environmental Impact Assessments for development projects and Strategic Environmental Assessments to guide the development strategies especially in a freshwater like Lake Malawi

• Promote good corporate social responsibility for the private sector which goes beyond government regulations; ( E.G ; Corporate social responsibility should not end at delivering school desks)

• Must realize the importance of water to all development sectors in terms of water provision for agriculture, energy, urban development, fisheries, etc.

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ZIKOMO!!!!

“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a

revolutionary act.”George Orwell.

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