The oil pipeline that runs from Chad through Cameroon in western Africa was supposed to contribute to poverty reduction in local villages. Instead, after six years of pumping oil to be exported abroad, the pipeline has only led to increased poverty, displacement, and environmental contamination.
Grassroots activists and local leaders are fighting for justice, transparency, and reparations for these small communities. Former Greengrants intern Brendan Schwartz has been working in Cameroon for a network of organizations that fights poverty and injustice in the region, and recently co-authored an exposé on the reality there, “A Humanitarian Disaster in the Making Along the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline — Who’s Watching?” He ends the piece with the same phrase used by our West Africa Advisor, Nnimmo Bassey, in Copenhagen last week: “Leave African oil in the soil,” and suggests how we can help prevent these injustices from happening elsewhere. Kudos to Brendan and his fellow activists for their hard work.
For an in-depth overview of the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project, visit this site from Bank Information Center, an advisor on the Greengrants International Financial Institutions Advisory Board. Read about the World Bank backing out of financing the pipeline here.
For a poignant audio slideshow and more information on the humanitarian situation along the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, visit this multi-platform documentary project, Pipe(line) Dreams, supported by the Pulitzer Center and Frontline World.