Patience Nabukalu: “We shouldn’t be sentenced to death for a crisis we didn’t cause”

The Annual General Meeting of Total Energies shareholders was held on Friday 26 May in Paris. Several associations were present, such as Greenpeace, Alternatiba Paris or Les Amis de la Terre, together with 700 activists determined to block access to the Salle Pleyel, to denounce the murderous role that TotalEnergies plays in the climate crisis. Among the climate initiatives carried out by the oil giant is the EACOP project, which aims to build the longest heated pipeline in the world in Uganda and Tanzania. to miss went to meet Patience Nabukalu, Ugandan activist, member of Friday’s for Future and Stop EACOP. Interview.

Interview with Patience Nabukalu, Ugandan climate justice activist.

To miss. Where does your ecological commitment come from?

Patience Nabukalu. I grew up near a swamp in Uganda that is being exploited for profit by Chinese investors. From an early age, I was confronted with the reality of climate change. Whenever it rained, there were severe floods. Some people died, others lost their homes, children could no longer go to school… I lived in permanent eco-anxiety, constantly wondering who would be the next victim. I remember when I was young I couldn’t go to school and had to save the water that had flooded my house. I see my mother losing all the groceries she used to sell in our small grocery store, because the rice or flour packets were soggy.

In high school I chose to study geography because I wanted to understand where these phenomena came from. I learned that wetlands play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of climate change and that what we experience is due to the degradation of these spaces. I then committed myself to their protection, organizing the cleaning of the swamps in the region, carrying out awareness campaigns in schools, fighting against plastic pollution. Both in the field and online…

You coordinate the Fridays for Future movement in Uganda. What is it about ?

It is a resistance movement founded by Greta Thunberg and led by young people from all over the world. Every Friday we go out to the streets, we challenge our leaders. Striking in Uganda is complicated, because it is perceived as a form of opposition to the regime. So we take pictures with marks as a form of resistance.

It is also a movement of empowerment and empowerment of women, the first to be affected by the climate crisis. They are the ones who are most confronted with this reality and who have no choice but to find concrete solutions so that their children can continue to go to school, to have to eat in the evening… And yet, they are excluded from the fight, they are silenced. We would have a lot to learn from them if we listened to them.

You are also fighting against the EACOP oil project led by TotalEnergies…

Total wants to build the longest heated pipeline in the world. 1443 meters that will cross Tanzania and Uganda. It’s a climate bomb in the making. This project is presented to us as an incredible development opportunity that will bring employment to our communities. It’s a lie. There are other ways to develop the local economy: fishing, agriculture, tourism…

More than 10,000 people have already been displaced from their homes, away from their homes, their land, their source of income, their school, while the pipeline has not yet been built. We are told who has been compensated, but this concerns only a very small fraction of the displaced and does not even measure up to what they have lost. This project is a violation of human rights, which also encroaches on several protected areas. Imagine that there is an oil leak: the ponds, the Indian Ocean, the soil… Everything would be polluted. And that’s not to mention carbon emissions. EACOP is 34 million tonnes of CO2 per year, more than the emissions of Uganda and Tanzania combined!

What role do Northern countries play in the climate crisis?

The privileges and comfort of life enjoyed by the north are based entirely on the terrible investments it has made in the south, especially in fossil fuels. It is your duty and responsibility to compensate the South for any loss or damage caused. We are all affected by the climate crisis. Even if you are not on the front lines of climate change, you can fight, take action, for example by funding NGOs working on the ground. We need financial means.

The scientists are clear: we must no longer use fossil fuels. The sub-Saharan region of Karamoja, in Uganda, is among the most exposed to the devastating consequences of climate change: famine, intense drought, poverty, water crisis… In Kenya, desertification is taking hold. People die because we don’t have the means to adapt. The north has been instrumental in the climate crisis, mistreating nature and our communities, in the name of profit. However, we are the ones who pay the costs. We shouldn’t be sentenced to death for a crisis we didn’t cause. Africa is responsible for less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The north tries to normalize this situation, but it’s not normal! The climate crisis has real effects, it is our daily life. We don’t want to lose any more lives.

What advice would you give to people who want to get involved in climate justice, but don’t know where to start?

It is not necessary to have a ” start “, From ” start ” somewhere. It doesn’t matter where you live, what you do for a living. The important thing is that the way we behave, what we say, how we spend our money, is in tune with an issue of climate justice. Without necessarily being on the battlefield, there are many ways to get climate involved.We cannot wait for our leaders to decide for us, since the future they are proposing is simply not achievable.

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