TotalEnergies Promises “Net Gain Biodiversity” as it Drills inside Uganda’s Largest National Park

August 23, 2026 Investigations

In the middle of the savannah grasslands, a herd of elephants graze by the roadside inside Uganda’s largest national park, Murchison Falls Park MFNP. Giraffes, elephants, bushbucks, and buffalo strut across the vast expanses of this savannah. A few meters away, the noise of bulldozers clearing an oil drilling site jars the calm of a sunny June day, as French oil giant TotalEnergies’ long-delayed Tilenga crude oil project roars to life.

Ugandan Indigenous Communities Say Total’s Oil Project Is More of a Land Grab than a Development Opportunity

July 31, 2026 Energy & Extractives

When Jealousy Mugisa Mulimba, a 52-year-old father of nine in Uganda’s oil-rich Buliisa district, was informed he would need to move his family from his ancestral home because French oil giant TotalEnergies needed his three acres to build their central processing facility, he was reasonable. He didn’t put up a fight.He asked that the company give him three acres nearby; somewhere out of the way of the facility, but still near the place he’d always called home, the health facilities he and his family rely upon, and his kids’ schools.

Africa's Atlantic Natural Gas Pipeline Raises Questions About the Continent's Energy Future

July 22, 2026 Energy & Extractives

KAMPALA, Uganda —Last week(July19),West African leaders of the Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS signed an intergovernmental agreement in Freetown, Sierra Leone, formally backing Africa's most ambitious fossil fuel project, the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline AAGP also previously known as the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline. The agreement moves the project from years of planning towards implementation by creating the legal framework for participating countries to cooperate. The proposed offshore natural gas pipeline will stretch between 5,600 and 6,800 kilometers along the Atlantic coast, connecting Nigeria with Morocco through 13 West African countries.

Ugandan farmers sue UK-registered EACOP company in landmark climate case

July 7, 2026 Energy & Extractives

Ugandan farmers have filed a lawsuit in the High Court of England against a UK-registered company building the 900-mile oil pipeline to the Indian Ocean port city of Tanga, in what lawyers describe as a first-of-its-kind attempt to apply Ugandan climate, environmental, and constitutional law in a foreign court.

Why Did Verra Reinstate the Northern Kenya Rangelands Soil Carbon Project Despite Human Rights and Legal Concerns?

June 30, 2026 Land & Livelihoods

Following Verra's decision to re-certify the Northern Kenya Rangelands soil Carbon Project despite an Isiolo court ruling raising questions over the legal basis of some participating conservancies. I revisited an interview I conducted with climate justice and carbon markets expert Adrien Tofighi-Niaki www.aniaki.work in March. In this conversation, he explains what the case means for carbon markets, rights of Indigenous peoples and the future of carbon offsetting in Africa.

New Report: Oil and Gas Fail to Deliver Development in Africa

May 11, 2026 Investigations

As global energy markets are rocked by conflict and geopolitical instability, a new report by Oil Change International and Power Shift Africa finds that oil and gas production has failed to deliver economic development in Africa’s producing countries and is instead deepening vulnerability, inequality, and dependence.

Uganda’s Crude Oil Pipeline Faces Fresh Hurdles from Campaigners

October 3, 2025 Climate & Environment

For more than a year, activists successfully pressured dozens of large banks and insurers to pull their support of the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, or EACOP. In March, the project finally secured long-delayed financing from syndicate banks to fund the development of a 900-mile crude oil pipeline from Ugandan oil fields to the Tanzanian port city of Tanga. Now activists are trying to stall the project in a new way: in local and regional courts.It is the latest indication that the $5 billion project will continue to face challenges.

Oil Dreams Sour as Communities Count the Cost of EACOP

September 25, 2025 Climate & Environment

Hoima, Uganda – When Uganda discovered commercially viable oil reserves nearly two decades ago, Hoima district became the center of attention. Hotels sprang up almost overnight, land prices skyrocketed, and residents believed that prosperity was finally within reach. “People thought oil would transform our lives,” recalls John Mugisa, a hotel owner in Hoima town. “We were preparing for the boom.”

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