In this event, we will hear testimonies and discuss scientific findings to understand how resistance to oil and gas extraction arises in South Africa. We will document the claims of vulnerable communities affected by extractive projects and discuss how such claims are verbalised in terms of contestation of existing legal and governance structure, which lead to litigation in the case Sustaining the Wild Coast NPC and others v. Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy and Others. In Sustaining the Wild Coast, South African courts stopped Royal Dutch Shell’s developments for oil and gas exploration in the area of Xholobeni, in the Eastern Cape.

The event will consist of a keynote by Sinegugu Zukulu, co-founder and director of Sustaining the Wild Coast, who will address the questions why and how indigenous people fight to protect their territories, and how the rights of indigenous people are being trampled in their own land. After the keynote, a roundtable will follow with Sinegugu Zukulu and Janina Herzog-Hawelka. They will discuss existing scientific findings on the governance of offshore oil and gas exploration in South Africa and its implications for the global imperative to leave fossil fuels in the ground. Moreover, they will discuss how competing narratives and social movements shape the context for the development of fossil fuel resources in South Africa. Moderation: Matteo Fermeglia.