Making Space for Dialogue on Just Transitions in Africa’s Oil and Gas Producing Regions

The oil and gas sector offers some of the greatest challenges and opportunities for global efforts to secure a just transition. Africa is a key oil and gas producing region, but it is also the part of the world that is most vulnerable to climate change, despite having the smallest historically-accumulated carbon footprint. As the world’s poorest region, Sub-Saharan Africa has the greatest need for revenue to meet the frustrated aspirations of its citizens, but oil and gas extraction currently fuels corruption and conflict rather than powering development. Building on previous research on civic space and the politics of energy policy in Africa and on strong partnerships with national and local organisations in Kenya, Nigeria and Mozambique, we will identify challenges, enabling conditions and entry points for ensuring inclusive deliberation on what a just transition would look like for the citizens of oil and gas producing regions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr Alex Shankland, Institute of Development Studies; Dr Salvador Forquilha, Institute for Social and Economic Studies; Miss Victoria Ihuoma Ohaeri, Spaces for Change, Nigeria; Mr Amos Wemanya, Power Shift Africa