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In 2003, the Peruvian state granted the international oil industry carte blanche access to indigenous ancestral lands throughout almost the entire Peruvian Amazon. Indigenous titled territories and reserves including the last refuges of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation are now within the reach of the international oil industry. U.S. oil companies are leading the race to the furthest corners of the Peruvian Amazon and U.S. government funds are being used for financing. For indigenous peoples who depend on fishing, hunting and forest products, this loss of control over ancestral territories threatens to end of traditional ways of life. Yet, the Peruvian government has failed to consult or inform them.
Amazon Watch supports Peruvian indigenous organizations challenging oil and gas development projects imposed on their communities and territories without their prior consent in violation of their internationally recognized rights to defend their lands, determine their own development and live according to their own cultures. We seek to promote the national indigenous demand for an end to extractive industry operations within the lands of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation. Current priority areas are:
Active campaigns:
- Defending the Homeland of the Achuar of the Pastaza and Morona (current)
The Achuar indigenous people of the Pastaza and Morona rivers continue to enjoy a rainforest free from contamination, abundant in fish, wildlife, history and spiritual beings. They have been fighting planned oil development in their territory for 14 years, but now is more crucial than ever, as Talisman Energy has already cut seismic testing lines and drilled exploratory wells in a remote watershed which the Achuar rely on for hunting and fishing. Amazon Watch is supporting the Achuar to defend their Amazonian homeland against further destruction. more »
- Achuar Territory Threatened by Big Oil (current)
Achuar land - which contains some of the highest biodiversity on Earth - sits on top of some of the western Amazon's most lucrative oil reserves. Successive oil companies - first US-based Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) and now Argentina,s Pluspetrol - have been pumping oil in the concession known as Block 1AB since the early 1970s. Until very recently, flagrant pollution has been the norm. Oxy's legacy of harm continues to be felt: their reckless operations dumped approximately 9 billion barrels of "produced waters" - which contain highly toxic substances such as barium, boron and arsenic - throughout 30 years of operations (averaging 850,000 barrels per day). more »
- A Toxic Legacy of Oil in Block 1ab in Corrientes River (current)
30 years of oil operations in Block 1AB in the northern Peruvian Amazon by Los-Angles-based Occidental Petroleum and Argentina's Pluspetrol, have left indigenous peoples suffering the loss of fish and game supplies, sickness and social disruption. Now Pluspetrol is moving ahead with a new oil pipeline in the area, which will cause further disruption to local peoples. Amazon Watch supports local demands for environmental clean-up and reparations. more »
Mega project archive:
- Camisea Natural Gas Project ()
Texas-based Hunt Oil – a company with close White House connections – is at the head of this huge gas project operating in the homelands of uncontacted peoples. Our tax dollars are funding indigenous rights violations after the Inter-American Development Bank gave the green light to financing. Amazon Watch demands that the Project withdraw from the Nahua- Kugapakori Reserve for isolated indigenous peoples. more »
- Amazonian Indigenous Refuges Under Threat From Oil Development ()
The Camisea project is a launch pad for massive gas expansion in other areas of the Peruvian Amazon in the lands of isolated indigenous peoples. The Peruvian government and Camisea companies want to duplicate neighboring Bolivia’s gas discovery bonanza by turning vast tracts of inaccessible Amazon headwater regions into fossil fuel exploration zones. Amazon Watch joins local indigenous organizations in their opposition to all fossil fuel operations in the territories of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation. more »
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