[Green Anglicans] Bishop Luke Pato of Namibia has alerted the Anglican Communion that exploratory drilling for oil has commenced in the Kavango Basin, Namibia, by Canadian company ReConAfrica, and called for a petition to halt the drilling.

“The process has not been an open one, with Namibians waking up to a mining venture that has already been signed and settled. There are many questions to be answered,” Pato said.

Thirty-four bishops and four archbishops from around the world  have signed a petition calling on the immediate halt to the drilling. These include the archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Rev. Thabo Cecil Makgoba; the archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Most Rev. Linda Nicholls; Archbishop Julio Murray, chair of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network; Archbishop Mark MacDonald, national Indigenous archbishop in the Anglican Church of Canada; Bishop Kito Pikaahu, chair of the Anglican Indigenous Network; and the bishop of Salisbury, the Rt. Rev. Nicholas Holtam, lead bishop for the environment in the Church of England.