Project Title: Promoting East African Crude Oil Pipeline’s Compliance to Social and Environmental Safe guards in Uganda and Tanzania
Project Funder
Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI) and Open Society Institute For East Africa (OSIEA).
Project Overall Objective
EACOP compliance to social and environmental safeguards enforced in Uganda and Tanzania.
Specific Objectives
- Opinions of government officials, Oil Company representatives and Project Affected Persons (PAPs) in Uganda and Tanzania sought on the adequacy of compensation and resettlement.
- Monitor EACOP’s compliance to set standards in its Social and Environment Management Plans (ESMPs) as well as measure it against national and international standards, conventions, treaties, protocols and industry best practice.
- Engage stakeholder in dialogues on the EACOP compliance to social, economic and environmental safeguards in Uganda and Tanzania.
Project Context
The Uganda–Tanzania Crude Oil Pipeline (UTCOP), also known as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is a pipeline project being developed by Uganda ,Tanzania and Oil Companies. It will transport crude oil from Uganda’s oil fields in the Albertine Graben to the Port of Tanga, Tanzania on the Indian Ocean. The pipeline will start in Buseruka sub-county, Hoima District and traverse 8 districts and 24 sub-counties in Uganda through Bukoba in Tanzania, loop around the southern shores of Lake Victoria, and continue through Shinyanga and Siginda and end-up in Tanga, a distance of approximately 1,445kilometres. Of this distance, 296kilometres will be in Uganda and 1,149kilometres (79% of the project) will be in Tanzania. It will traverse many villages and critical biodiversity areas and has the potential to trigger positive and negative impacts along the pipeline route. Some of the negative impacts likely to occur include oil spills, involuntary displacement of persons affected by the project, violation of social and environmental safeguards, dwindling water resources, damaging coastal reefs, triggering conflicts with host communities, and economic and political disruptions. The negative effects/impact of the pipeline project are the concern of this project and form a basis for the project design.
Targeted Stakeholders of the Project
The project target audiences include the following: local affected 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.he 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.