Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
In Peru, the Law for the Protection of Isolated Peoples in Voluntary Isolation (Law
28736) was passed in May of 2006, and implementing Regulations were issued by
Presidential Decree in October, 2007. The “untouchable” character of protective re-
serves for peoples in voluntary isolation may be broken for the exploitation of natural
resources deemed by the state to be in the public interest, a loophole that allows ex-
traction of oil and gas. Another major issue in Peru concerns hydrocarbon activities in
areas formally proposed to be reserves for peoples in voluntary isolation. At least 15
blocks overlap such proposed reserves.
In May, 2006, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted pre-
cautionary measures in favor of the two known groups in voluntary isolation in the
Ecuadorian Amazon, the Tagaeri and Taromenane, due to threats they face from oil
activities and illegal logging. These measures call for the government to prohibit the
entry of “third persons”—which would include oil companies—into their territory. In
March, 2007, the Inter-American Commission urged the Peruvian government, again
through precautionary measures, to protect the indigenous peoples in voluntary isola-
tion in the Madre de Dios region from threats posed by illegal logging. In 2007, indig-
enous organizations made three more requests to the Inter-American Commission for
precautionary measures needed to stem the threats to uncontacted peoples posed by
oil and gas projects in Peru.
Strategic Environmental Assessments
Nations of the region require project-specific EIS prior to oil and gas exploration or
exploitation projects. The oil companies contract the firms to conduct the studies, a
system that clearly lacks independent analysis. Moreover, there are typically no com-
prehensive analyses of the long-term, cumulative, and synergistic impacts of multiple
oil and gas projects across a wider region, generally referred to as a Strategic Environ-
mental Assessment (SEA) [62].
In Peru, hydrocarbon blocks now overlap 20 protected areas. Thirteen of these pro-
tected areas preceded creation of the oil blocks and lack compatibility studies required
by the Protected Areas Law [63]. An SEA could deal with these types of issues.
For example, in the Napo Moist Forest ecoregion of northern Peru, 28 blocks form
a nearly continuous oil zone. There has been almost no regional planning, no analysis
of the cumulative and long-term impacts, and no strategic planning for long-term pro-
tections of biodiversity and indigenous peoples. No national parks exist in the region,
so there are no areas strictly off-limits to oil development. Indeed, the mass of oil
blocks overlap two lower-level protected areas, several proposed protected areas, nu-
merous titled indigenous territories, and a proposed Territorial Reserve to protect the
indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation living in the core of the region. The develop-
ment of proper SEAs would potentially reduce the negative impacts across the wider
region of the western Amazon.
Role of International Community
In 2006, over half of Ecuador's total oil production went to the US, including nearly
90% of the heavy crude coming out of the controversial OCP pipeline [64, 65]. Much
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