UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre analysis highlights priority areas of biodiversity importance across Africa requiring efforts to mitigate potential threats from oil and gas developments

A new analysis (http://wcmc.io/AfricaOilGas) by UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre highlights where current and future oil and gas developments pose a potential threat to areas of biodiversity importance in Africa. This will enable governments, donors, civil society, businesses and investors to prioritise efforts to manage biodiversity, and provides insight into potential risks and opportunities associated with certain developments. Substantial oil discoveries in Africa have attracted high levels of interest from investors. These economic opportunities can also lead to challenges in safeguarding the environment and the communities that depend on it, particularly for countries with insufficient resources to understand and manage environmental impacts of the oil and gas sector.

Across Africa 20% of oil and gas contract blocks overlap with protected areas and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). Of particular concern are the large proportion of Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) sites overlapping with existing contract blocks, as these areas represent the last refuge for species threatened with global extinction. Future oil and gas developments may create further potential tensions with an additional 85 KBAs and 266 protected areas, including a number designated under international conventions and agreements.

Single country companies and very large national companies tended to overlap to a greater extent with protected areas and KBAs than privately-owned multinational companies. This highlights the need to influence a wider array of company types than is currently occurring to ensure appropriate safeguarding.

This analysis builds on recent UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre collaborations with extractive sector industries and governments in Africa. In particular, recent work which assessed the environmental governance challenges for the oil and gas sector in Uganda and Kenya (http://wcmc.io/StrengtheningGovernance), and UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre’s ongoing partnership with oil, gas and mining companies (http://www.proteuspartners.org/). Lead author Katie Leach, said:

“There are over 500 different oil and gas companies operating across Africa. We have assessed the degree to which contract blocks managed by different company types and sizes overlap with areas of biodiversity importance. There is an urgent need for the donor and conservation community to address these challenges and to support businesses of all types to work more closely with governments in Africa.”