The discovery of oil and gas deposits in Uganda have sparked great excitement in the industry and the Ugandan government, but it could spell disaster for the country’s wildlife.

We have recently seen the damage that mismanagement of oil resources can do to the government. Lessons have been learnt from the Gulf of Mexico disaster, with possibly the most important being that the oil industry cannot go on putting profit above all else.

While public scrutiny is focussed upon the shores of the US at the moment, Uganda could be the next flashpoint for clashes between the oil industry and its critics.

The majority of oil and gas discoveries made so far are in the Albertine Rift, which is Africa’s most ecologically diverse and protected area, with two of the promising wells within the country’s largest conservation area, Murchison National Park.

Murchison National Park is home to the elephants, lions, giraffes, buffaloes and varieties of antelopes. The Rubongo forest within the park is home to chimpanzees and other rainforest creatures. The park is bisected by the Nile River that is host to hippos, crocodiles and a host of water birds including the rare shoebill.

Generally, the Albertine Rift is the home of 52 per cent of all African birds; Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, for instance, has hundreds of endemic bird species. Africa’s 39 per cent share of all mammals are to be found in the area, including chimpanzees and gorillas. It is also home of 14 per cent of all African reptiles, 35 per cent of all butterflies and 19 per cent of all amphibians.

The biodiversity in the Albertine Rift is the backbone of the tourism industry that contributes about $600 million a year, but with a potential to grow. Though the figure is much smaller compared with what is projected from oil, preserving the biodiversity presents a lifetime benefit to the people and the environment.

At every stage of oil and gas development, however, there is an environmental risk.

The drilling involves a liquid phase which is modified with various chemical additives, both liquid and solid, to align the performance for drilling conditions underneath the earth.

The drill cuttings, which are pieces of rock particles displaced from the earth crust to create the hole and waste fluid, are sometimes contaminated with crude oil, salt toxicity, corrosive elements, high electro-conductivity and other chemicals spilt from the drill sites.

“If handled wrongly the cuttings can cause serious impact on the environment, wildlife, human beings and plants,” said Robert Ddamulira, Oil and Gas Project Manager at WWF Uganda. WWF Uganda is part of the global network of WWF International, a leading independent conservation organisation.

“It is probable that impurities can be found in some drilling chemicals such as Barite, a key drilling chemical, which is known to exist with impurities of mercury in the natural; such impurities can be the likely sources of heavy metal contamination,” he added.

For example, when the chemical mixture is very salty owing to the various chemical salts used in drilling, since animals, birds and plants are not used to these kinds of conditions, the chemical can kill animals, birds and plants when they come into contact with them.

Given the revenue projections accruing from oil, the government is likely to exploit all the wells.

“I suspect the government will insist on getting all the oil available. Can you imagine the day the donors will stop telling us do this and that?” said Senior Presidential Advisor on Media and Public Relations John Nagenda.

Tullow Oil, the company that is doing exploration of oil in the Albertine Rift, projects that the country can produce 2 billion barrels of oil a year, which in turn will raise $2 billion each year for the next 25 years.

So the country of Uganda stands at a crossroads. With such riches promised, it will be all too easy for the government to ignore the riches the country already possesses in its huge amount of biodiversity.

Conservationists will hope that a balance can be struck and either concessions can be made to designate some areas as off-limits, or legislation be brought in that guarantees a certain proportion of money generated is pushed back into furthering the conservation effort. The former is obviously the preferable option, as whatever projects extra resources could bring in, they would be doubtless be unable to redress the damage caused by industrial development.

Unfortunately, the most likely outcome will be that some promises will be made when lucrative contracts are signed, but they will quickly be forgotten or ignored and irreversible damage will be done to the country’s wildlife.