In June 2000, in spite of a three years global opposition campaign, led by local population and International NGOs, the World Bank financed the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline, a 1,100 km (685 mile) pipeline for crude oil from southern Chad, through tropical forest, to Cameroon’s Atlantic coast. The project also included the construction of 300 oil wells in Chad. The Cameroonian rainforest covers an area of about 20 million hectares, some 40 percent of the national territory. Besides posing a serious threat upon the biodiversity and the ecosystem of the country, the construction of the oil pipeline and the subsequent deforestation generated serious social conflicts, and deprived local indigenous communities of territorial resources and traditional livelihoods, especially the Bakola Pygmy people, who rely on hunting and gathering. Bantou villagers claimed Pygmies’ lands as theirs and received the compensations which were due to the Pygmies. In 2002, a project by Forest Peoples Programme helped resolve some of the long-standing rivalries between the Bantou and the pygmies. Overall the compensation plan by Cameroon Oil Transportation Company (COCTO) is insufficient. And so was the “Indigenous Peoples Programme”, implemented by the FEDEC, which was not adequate to the Pygmies’ needs. |
The Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline has had negative impacts on local population livelihood and is a meager source of income for alleviating poverty.
| Name of conflict: | Oil Pipeline Doba-Kribi, Chad-Cameroon |
| Country: | Chad |
| Location of conflict: | Doba (Chad) to Kribi (Cameroon) |
| Accuracy of location | LOW (Country level) |
| Project details | The Chad-Cameroon Oil and Pipeline project was created to transport oil extracted in southern Chad - a country without access to the sea- to the Gulf of Guinea and from there to European and North American ports. The Chad-Cameroon project involved the opening of 300 oil wells in southern Chad and the construction of a huge 1,100 km (685 mile) pipeline. The project was led by the World Bank together with the three big oils company consortium: Exxon, Chevron and Petronas and COCTO, the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company. Since June 2014, Chevron is no longer part of the consortium. The oil multinational "sold its 25 percent non-operated interest in a producing oil concession in southern Chad and the related export pipeline interests to the Republic of Chad for approximately $1.3 billion" [1]. |
| Project area: | pipeline: 1100 kms |
| Level of Investment for the conflictive project | USD 4,2 bil. (World Bank: USD 370 mil.) |
| Type of population | Rural |
| Affected Population: | 22,000 |
| Start of the conflict: | 1997 |
| Company names or state enterprises: | ExxonMobil Corporation (Exxon) from United States of America Texaco Petroleum Co. from United States of America Tchad Oil Transportation Company Chevron Polska Energy Resources Sp. z o.o. from United States of America Cameroon Oil Transportation Company (COTCO) PETRONAS from Malaysia Société Camerounaise des Dépôts Pétrôliers (SCDP) from Cameroon |
| Relevant government actors: | Government of Chad, Government of Cameroon, Committee for the Advancement of the Bagyeli people of Bipindi and Kribi (CODEBABIK) |
| International and Finance Institutions | The World Bank (WB) from United States of America European Investment Bank (EIB) Compagnie Française d'Assurance pour le Commerce Extérieur (COFACE) from France ABN Amro Bank (ABN AMRO) from Netherlands Calyon from Thailand Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im US) from United States of America |
| Environmental justice organizations (and other supporters) and their websites, if available: | Indigenous Bakola Pygmies of Cameroon, Yaounde Peoples Tribunal, Foundation for Environment and Development in Cameroon (FEDEV), Fondation camerounaise d'actions rationalisées et de formation sur l'environnement (FOCARFE), Bantu Communities (Cameroon), ACDE (Cameroon), Fondation Camerounaise d'Actions Rationalisées et de formation sur l'Environnement: FOCARFE (Cameroon), Survival International, Center for the Environment and Development (CED), Friends of the Earth (Cameroon), Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), Planet Survey Sustainable Environment Development (PSEDD), Civil Society Challenge Fund (UK), EDF (USA), Both Ends (Netherlands) |
| Intensity | MEDIUM (street protests, visible mobilization) |
| Reaction stage | In REACTION to the implementation (during construction or operation) |
| Groups mobilizing: | Indigenous groups or traditional communities International ejos Local ejos Ethnically/racially discriminated groups |
| Forms of mobilization: | Community-based participative research (popular epidemiology studies, etc..) Creation of alternative reports/knowledge Development of a network/collective action Public campaigns |
| Environmental Impacts | Visible: Biodiversity loss (wildlife, agro-diversity), Loss of landscape/aesthetic degradation, Oil spills, Deforestation and loss of vegetation cover, Surface water pollution / Decreasing water (physico-chemical, biological) quality, Groundwater pollution or depletion |
| Health Impacts | Visible: Health problems related to alcoholism, prostitution, Infectious diseases |
| Other Health impacts | Water sources were contaminated, exposing residents to various health problems (skin diseases, diarrhoea, etc.) |
| Socio-economical Impacts | Visible: Displacement, Loss of livelihood, Loss of traditional knowledge/practices/cultures, Violations of human rights, Land dispossession, Loss of landscape/sense of place, Social problems (alcoholism, prostitution, etc..), Lack of work security, labour absenteeism, firings, unemployment, Specific impacts on women |
| Project Status | In operation |
| Conflict outcome / response: | Corruption Migration/displacement Application of existing regulations The World Bank announced on September 9, 2008 that it was ending its support for the controversial Chad-Cameroon pipeline which was already bult. The announcement came after the Chadian government repaid $65.7 million in outstanding loans to close out its debt to the Bank for the project. |
| Do you consider this an environmental justice success? Was environmental justice served?: | No |
| Briefly explain: | September 2008: The decision of the World Bank to stop financing the pipeline project results in irresolvable disagreements with the NDjamena Government in Chad, and ends with the financial institution demanding repayment of a US$ 140 million loan in advance. The Government also breaks its commitments made with Washington bankers to divert part of the oil revenue to a special fund for combating poverty in the country. So, the pipeline was builts and it operates. The idea of Chad constituting an untouchable interest yielding fund for futures generations, with the revenues (which the WB promoted) failed. |
| References to published books, academic articles, movies or published documentaries |
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| Other comments: | The project was presented as a potential success in managing the revenues of extraction to the benefit of local people and future generation. This failed. |
| Contributor: | Lucie Greyl |
| Last update | 18/08/2019 |
| Conflict ID: | 488 |