Natural resources extraction by oil and gas majors within protected areas aggravates the ongoing “sixth mass extinction”. The rapid disappearance of a multitude of living species is inseparable from the climate crisis, which is mainly caused by fossil fuel combustion.
Fueling Ecocide, an investigation led by Environmental Investigative Forum (EIF) and European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) reveals that despite existing legislation and commitments regarding protected areas across the globe, oil and gas majors, including well known european actors, operate within such natural sanctuaries on a global and systemic extent.
Despite calls and recommendations from international conservation institutions such as the IUCN and the UNESCO to ban oil and gas activities in their protected areas, this investigation reveals that hundreds of oil and gas companies, including well known actors such as Shell, ENI or TotalEnergies, operate in over 7,000 protected areas worldwide.
For one year, EIF and EIC joined forces with journalists from 13 media in 18 countries in Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East to reveal the company names hiding behind these statistics and figures.
The project was supported by JournalismFund Europe and Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU).
Contact us at ecocide@eic.network
EIF
The Environmental Investigative Forum (EIF) is a global network of environmental investigative journalism established in France in 2020 as a non-profit. EIF leads global investigations, offers data, training and mentoring services and supports a network of over 100 members worldwide.
EIC
European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) is a network of 12 media partners who jointly report and publish investigative journalistic projects. EIC has a focus on European topics publishing stories that expose how power structures affect communities in Europe.
