A sustainable petroleum practice around the SKA protected areas

Three thousands advanced radio telescopes are currently being built and/or converted in eight African partner countries, which will ultimately host the SKA telescope stations under an international enterprise to build the largest and most sensitive radio telescope in the world. To ensure that the geographic areas that are suitable for Astronomy and related scientific activities are protected and preserved, different Astronomy Advantages Areas (AAAs) with definitions and management regulations are being identified, and in some cases, established such as in South Africa. While still providing protection for radio astronomy, there is a need to facilitate the continued development and viability of oil and gas activities in these areas. AAAs for the SKA African partner countries are presented briefly in this paper.