Fwd: CSO communique calling on NEMA to respect stakeholder views on Tilenga ESIA

[Mumbere mbabazi peter]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: afiego info <afi...@afiego.org>
Date: Fri, Nov 23, 2018 at 12:19 PM
Subject: CSO communique calling on NEMA to respect stakeholder views on Tilenga ESIA
To: dkamugisha <dkamu...@afiego.org>
Cc: <st...@afiego.org>

Dear partners and friends,

Warm greetings from AFIEGO. We hope you have had a good week.

Last week, the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) in consultation with NEMA held public hearings to gather public views on the Tilenga oil project's Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report.

The hearings, which were held in Buliisa and Nwoya districts on November 12 and 15 respectively, were participated in by over 2,000 stakeholders.

The stakeholders included local and affected communities, district, cultural and religious leaders,  PAU, UWA and NEMA officials, oil companies' officials, Members of Parliament (MPs) and the Minister of State for Minerals.

CSOs working to promote biodiversity conservation amidst oil developments also attended and made several observations before and during the public hearings. The observations are captured in the attached communique.

Among these observations was the fact that PAU and NEMA violated the laws that govern public hearings. The violations included:

• Appointment of a presiding officer with a bias to the oil sector contrary to the Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines of 1999;
  
• Failing to give the public notice of 21 days before the public hearings as is stipulated by the above guidelines and;
  
•  Denying youth groups to make submissions at the public hearing in Nwoya despite the youth having applied to do so as required by the law among others.
  

During the hearings, MPs, cultural leaders, CSOs and communities also expressed dissatisfaction with and highlighted a number of critical gaps in the Tilenga ESIA report; speakers called on NEMA not to approve the report.

In the attached communique, the CSOs working to promote biodiversity conservation amidst oil developments call on NEMA to respect stakeholder voices on the Tilenga ESIA and make recommendations to enable compliance to environmental laws.

Kindly download, read and share the communique with your networks and audiences.

Thank you,

Diana Nabiruma

Senior Communications Officer, AFIEGO

+256 414 571 597