Project Title: Extractives project
Project Description
Promoting Oil, gas and Mining Industry Compliance to Social and Environmental Safe guards in Uganda. Project Funded by Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI) and Open Society Institute For East Africa (OSIEA).
Project Funder(s)
This project is being funded by Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI) and Open Society Institute for East Africa (OSIEA). The main objective of the project is to promote social and environmental safeguards amidst oil and mineral development in Uganda for the common good. The two year project is implemented in the districts of Hoima ,Moroto and Mubende.
Project Context
Government of Uganda has put in place new policies and enacted new laws to govern the petroleum industry and is in the process of amending the mining policies and laws. It is also revising the regulations governing these policies and laws to make them complaint to the demands and challenges of the industries. Both the oil and mining industry are at different stages of development and are having various social and environmental impacts, yet little is known about whether the industries are complying with existing social and environmental policy, legal and regulatory safeguards. It is therefore important to know whether the emerging policies and legislation are the best/ effective and also to know which safeguards/standards the industries are actually complying with during the interim period as government amends its oil and mining legislation. In addition, there are reports of oil and mining companies causing environmental pollution and degradation that is not monitored and prevented by government agencies.
Aims of the Project
- To analyze the contents and implications of draft mining legislation that is currently under review by government with a of identifying gaps and implementation challenges that remain persistent; their relationships with the country’s new laws and regulations (safeguards) for petroleum, water, land, the environment and social protection and make proposals for amendments going forward.
- Conduct investigations on how the safeguards are complied with by the oil and mining companies in Uganda.
- Investigate the impact of compensation and involuntary displacement of oil and mining industry projects on project-affected people.
- Conduct stakeholder engagements/dialogues on oil and mining industry compliance to social and environmental safeguards;
Target Audiences of the Project
The project target audiences include the following: local communities, Oil companies,local governments, parliament, ministry of energy, ministry of water and environment,), Uganda Wild Life Authority (UWA), National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), Petroleum Exploration and Production Department (PEPD) , the youth, women and others.