Engagement for airborne geophysical survey within a transdisciplinary baseline programme in the Eastern Cape Karoo

Abstract

The biggest lesson from the recent shale gas boom in the USA – specifically in relation to monitoring and mitigating contamination of water, and community health impacts reported in receiving communities, such as the Marcellus shale regions of Pennsylvania – is the fundamental need for baseline studies prior to any proposed shale gas development.1(p.547) The USA is the largest (shale) gas producer and exporter to the European Union (EU) but it is generally accepted that, in most of the basins and shale plays in the USA in which unconventional oil and gas development has occurred, baseline studies have not been implemented.2(p.40) This phenomenon, along with its environmental monitoring and regulatory implications, led to the establishment of the Karoo Shale Gas Baseline Programme, undertaken by the Africa Earth Observation Network (AEON) – Earth Stewardship Science Research Institute (ESSRI), hereon refered to as AEON, in partnership with the Eastern Cape Provincial Government. The Programme was the first of its kind in South Africa, and produced a transdisciplinary baseline of the Karoo prior to any shale gas development in the Basin. A report by AEON summarises 4 years of baseline data collection and analyses, and shows that all aspects of life and natural systems in the Karoo could be affected by shale gas development. To provide this data, AEON research teams from Nelson Mandela University conducted groundwater hydrocensus and sampling for chemical analysis, surface water studies and ecosystems analysis, micro-seismicity measurements, and methane gas analysis, socio-economic research, and citizen science.3 As the great shale gas debate4 affects all inhabitants of the Karoo, including farmers, landowners and residents in Karoo towns, permission to conduct natural baseline research calls for meaningful consultation involving deliberate engagement with affected communities based on information sharing, and responsiveness to the specific issues raised by local stakeholders in the process. This process requires greater transparency and trust building than has been evident in the overall Karoo shale gas development process to date.3-6 Difficulties include the application and utilisation of new and/or relatively unfamiliar data gathering methods and technologies, including fixed-wing airborne and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) observations within an environment already experiencing considerable uncertainty and trust deficit amongst many stakeholders. The focus of this Commentary is stakeholder consultation as well as operational and logistical resilience, both in the field and behind the scenes, that have been necessary to conduct an airborne survey in the Karoo.