Monsieur Bruno Oberlé ,

IUCN Directeur général, 

Dear Dr. Bruno Oberlé, 

We are respectfully writing to you to call your attention to a grave situation that requires urgent action in order to avoid further preventable damage to our Common Home. 

We are seeking your support to help stop the massive Lake Albert oil project in Uganda and Tanzania and safeguard the promise of a sustainable future in the heart of Africa.

At this moment, humanity is at a crossroads. Our actions or inaction today will have lasting effects for centuries to come. United in solidarity with the most vulnerable, we Catholics and other people of faith in solidarity with secular international and local organisations and overall civil society observing the arbitrariness of TotalEnergies and its partners, especially in a year when the UN dedicated the next decade for ecosystem restoration, we implore you to take urgent action in line with the science for all of Creation.

We call on you to help stop the Tilenga/Kingfisher/EACOP project and safeguard the promise of a sustainable future in the heart of Africa. To this end, we ask you to:

1. Adopt and publicly declare as soon as possible an IUCN position to oppose the Tilenga/Kingfisher/EACOP project and in support of biodiversity protection in Uganda and Tanzania.

2. Engage with the governments of Uganda and of Tanzania to promote a biodiversity protection policy, to replace the current destructive policy.

3. Create an ad hoc working group to follow through on the above.

4. Invite the Stop EACOP coalition representatives to brief the ad hoc group on an ongoing basis. 

Please find more details in the letter attached.