As Lima prepares to receive over 60 heads of state for the EU/LAC Summit to discuss poverty, sustainable development, climate change and energy, a grand drama of indigenous people versus oil is playing out in Peru’s vast Amazon region, 70% of which is now concessioned to oil companies. Here at the Escuela Senen Soi in … Read More
indigenous rights
Another tribe who face extinction ..
Olav Mathias-Eira is a reindeer-herder. He is a member of the Sami community, one of the largest indigenous groups remaining in Europe, and his family have been herding reindeer in the same stretch of the Norwegian Arctic since the 1400s. But, because of climate change, their lifestyle, unchanged for centuries, is now at risk. So … Read More
Land Deal Could Open Alaskan Refuge to Drilling
A controversial land swap proposal could open portions of an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, but the scheme is already dividing native Alaskans. Supporters of the plan to exchange land in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, which lies just south of the more-famous ANWR, want the plan approved before the pro-oil Bush Administration … Read More
Nigeria: Oil Companies Should Pay Compensation
Finally, some fifty years too late. Nigeria has said that oil companies should be obliged to pay compensation for degradation resulting from their exploration and production activities particularly in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. “The companies have an obligation beyond their exploration and production to restore degraded land to its original state,” junior petroleum minister … Read More
Suit Seeks to Block Alaskan Oil Search
A coalition of environmental organizations and Inupiaq native groups filed suit in a US federal court in Anchorage yesterday to force the Interior Department to do a new analysis of the environmental consequences of oil and gas exploration in the Chukchi Sea, off northwestern Alaska. The groups hope to stop plans to develop 29 million … Read More
A Threat to a Way of Life
Great article in yesterday’s New York Times about the battle in the Arctic over oil and the threat to the way of life of the Inupiat. As the Times says: “The culture and traditions of the Inupiat revolve around whaling and seasonal hunting, which could be disrupted by a Prudhoe Bay-style oil development … The … Read More
Lake Teshekpuk at Risk From Bush’s Drilling Plan
The Wilderness Society is urging people to oppose the Bush Administration’s plans to sacrifice one of the world’s most important ecosystems in Alaska. Although nearly ninety percent of this region is already open to oil and gas drilling, the ecologically fragile area around Teshekpuk Lake is so important to Native communities and wildlife that it … Read More
Ecuador Does Deal With Communities
Ecuador has reached a deal with protesters in the oil-rich Amazon region to end a three-day protest that cost the country $2 million in revenue. Earlier this week dozens of villagers in the Shushufindi region in the Sucumbios province blocked roads leading to key oil fields operated by Petroecuador. The company said the blockage prevented … Read More
Ecaudor Bans Drilling in Yasuni
The Reuters news agency is reporting that Ecuador has confirmed it will not allow oil drilling inside part of the Yasuni rainforest. The move could hurt the operations of China’s Andes Petroleum, Spain’s Repsol, and Brazil’s Petrobras who manage oil fields partially inside the area. “We are not going to allow oil exploitation in this … Read More
CGI Highlights Yasuni Proposal to Leave Oil Alone
Some good news for a change. Yesterday the Clinton Global Initiative highlighted the Ecuadorian proposal about “Leaving Ecuador’s Oil in the Ground” which seeks to avoid carbon emissions and save the Yasuni Rainforest. The “Yasuni Proposal” as it is known was selected from among close to a thousand other proposals, and was highlighted in the … Read More