Oil Exploitation and its Impact on Logone Oriental Communities' Modes and Conditions of Living

Oil is an important resource for many Third World countries, which derive much of their budget from its revenues. Most of these countries are very poor, and the advent of petrodollars has raised hopes for development, economic growth and improvement of living conditions. However, following experiences in other oil exporting countries of the Third World, the achievements that have been reached have almost never met the previous expectations of the population. Indeed, earlier African oil producers such as Nigeria, Angola, Congo Brazzaville, Cameroon, and Gabon have been unable to use their oil wealth for fighting poverty. Still, the oil-based economy started a process of change at different levels of the society. Some aspects of change have been depicted by the notions of oil’s curse, the ‘Dutch Disease’, or the paradox of plenty. Chad has been producing oil for the last 5 years and this project asks: What is happening in Chad after 5 years of oil-based economy?

As a factor of change oil normally comes along with new technologies and new ways of living and it provides a pull-factor to people from various backgrounds. In the specific case of the Chadian oil producing region of Logone Oriental in southern Chad, the project seeks to understand what changes oil has brought to patterns of living of the local communities.

The project aims to understand the effects on the social system of the affected communities and onlocal actors’ strategies to survive. The study will address emerging changes in:

• The patterns of production and the practice of basic economic activities including agriculture
• The access to and management of natural and financial resources
• Social structures of leadership, power relations, and social interrelations
• Social institutions like marriage and family

References

MADJIGOTO (Robert)
2007 Evolutions socioéconomiques et environnementales de la région pétrolière du Logone Oriental, PhD thesis, Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, 404 p.

MAGRIN (Géraud)
2001 Le sud du Tchad en mutation : des champs de coton aux sirènes de l’or noir, Paris, CIRAD-PRASAC-SEPIA, 427 p.

PETRY (Martin) and BAMBE (Naygotimti)
2005 Le pétrole du Tchad : rêve ou cauchemar pour les populations? Paris, Karthala, 415 p.