• @lyco
    Lyco
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    @cela
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    Botswana faces questions over licences for fracking companies in Kalahari
    ▻http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/18/botswana-accusations-fracking-kalahari

    #Botswana has been accused of sacrificing the Kalahari, one of the world’s most precious wildlife reserves, to commercial fracking while ignoring the concerns of environmentalists and communities who could lose access to scarce water.

    Yet for more than a decade, Botswana, lauded as one of Africa’s most stable democracies, has been quietly granting lucrative licences to international companies to carry out fracking in the fragile Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).

    Some observers believe this is the most likely reason for President Ian Khama’s government fighting court battles to prevent the Kalahari #Bushmen, also known as the San, from returning to their ancestral land. The government denies this and says the prospecting under way should not be defined as fracking.

    The Bushmen said they had no idea their areas had been earmarked for drilling until they were shown a map during the making of a new documentary film, The High Cost Of Cheap Gas , revealing that half the game reserve has been allocated to multinationals.

    #énergie #accaparement #fracturation_hydraulique #gaz #terres

    Lyco
    • @lyco
      Lyco

      ▻http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-botswana-fracking-20131202,0,4172564.story

      After initially denying the claim, Botswana’s government last week admitted that some hydraulic fracturing — known as fracking — had taken place during coal-bed methane exploration.

      [...] Government spokesman Jeff Ramsay said prospecting licenses had been granted in many parts of Botswana, including in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, but did not elaborate. He acknowledged that fracking had occurred in some areas in the past, but offered no details about when or where. He said authorities were adhering to environmental regulations.

      [...] Among the companies granted concessions are South African energy giant Sasol, whose spokesman told Barbee that the company was not required by Botswana to produce an environmental management plan, although it considers the practice worthwhile. Other companies include Anglo American, Tlou Energy, Exxaro, Kalahari Energy and Tamboran Resources.

      Lyco
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