Hundreds of oil spill sites threaten Amazon Indigenous lands, protected areas

[Judi Lynn]

by Cristina Fernández Aguilar on 12 September 2023 | Translated by Hayley Smith

An investigation by Mongabay Latam found that at least 109 spill sites overlap with 15 protected natural areas in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. There are a further 561 environmental liabilities in areas belonging to 50 native communities.

More than 2,897 kilometers (1,800 miles) of oil pipelines cross 65 natural reserves and 140 Indigenous territories across these countries.

Contaminants close to water sources threaten both human and environmental health, as well as agricultural areas that communities depend on for their foods.

More than 2,800 kilometers (1,740 miles) of pipelines run through the Amazon and along the coasts of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia. These hundreds of pipelines transport millions of liters of crude oil from the most delicate ecosystems through to the cargo ships that will transport them to their final destination. Along the way, in this pipeline jungle, there have been more than 3,000 spills that have affected thousands of local and Indigenous communities, as reported in our special series Manchados por el Petróleo (Stained By Oil).

In an attempt to learn more about the environmental cost of these spills, we mapped the environmental liabilities reported by the countries’ environmental agencies between 2012 and 2022. The findings are alarming. As many as 4,284 contamination sites can be found scattered across Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. But that figure is almost doubled if we take into account the 3,994 instances of oil damage that are not classed as environmental liabilities but that are in many ways similar due to the damage they cause.

Where exactly are these spills located and who is most affected? To answer these questions, we plotted the area’s environmental liabilities and oil damage sites according to coordinates provided by the four national environment agencies. This showed that 109 spill sites overlap with 15 protected natural areas in Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, and that 561 environmental liabilities are located in 50 Indigenous communities.

If we also include the contamination sites located up to 1 km (0.6 mi) from these territories, the figure rises to 1,681 contamination and other oil damage sites in and around 20 natural reserves and 90 Indigenous communities.

More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/hundreds-of-oil-spill-sites-threaten-amazon-indigenous-lands-protected-areas/

[Stargazer99]

1. Who gives a damn about other's lives as long as a capitalist can profit

and make the common man pay for the damage clean up and destruction of the environment, right?

[Judi Lynn]

2. That's the way it has always gone, and it's a vast crime against humanity and beyond.

If you would ask one thin dime of them in taxes, however, you would become branded as a commie, a "Marxist" (while they can never define either term) or, even a "fascist!" It's possible you could even become a future target of violence from the Maggats!