Prince Harry has spoken out against drilling by an oil and gas company in the Okavango River basin in a co-authored article for The Washington Post. The Duke of Sussex penned a piece with Namibian environmental activist Reinhold Mangundu calling for the defence of the area from ReconAfrica, which has been granted exploratory drilling licences.
The region averages 2.5 trillion gallons of water flow during flooding season
The pair wrote that the ‘Okavango watershed is a natural beating heart that has nourished humans and wildlife in southern Africa for generations – and it’s at risk’. Beginning in Angola, the Okavango River flows through the Kavango region of Namibia to a delta in Botswana, described by Harry in 2019 as a ‘magnificent last Eden’. But it is under threat from ReconAfrica, a Canadian company that has licences to explore drilling in an area of Namibia and Botswana ‘larger than some European countries’.
The Okavango provides the main source of water for nearly 1 million Indigenous and local people
The duke, who is president of non-governmental organisation African Parks, wrote about the ‘sanctuary and inspiration’ he found in the Okavango area. He took his then girlfriend Meghan Markle to Botswana shortly after they met, and the larger diamond of the Duchess of Sussex’s engagement ring is sourced from the country. Mangundu and Harry expressed concern for the fragile ecosystem of the region and those who depend on it for survival, saying ‘drilling is an outdated gamble that reaps disastrous consequences for many and incredible riches for a powerful few’.
The Okavango is home to some of the planet’s most majestic wildlife, including critically endangered species
They wrote: ‘Now, the choice is simple: Either we honour our natural and life-sustaining ecosystems, preserving them for generations to come, or we exploit them on a path to permanent destruction.’
