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Camisea Pipeline Scars Primary Rainforest The Camisea project has devastated some of the most diverse and threatened biological complexes in the world. The remote and hitherto inaccessible Lower Urubamba is a roadless region of global ecological significance. The pipelines cut through the Vilcabamba region, an area considered by conservationists to be of almost unparalleled biological richness.
Yet, as with pipeline projects throughout the Amazon, the opening up of forest to build the Camisea pipelines has threatened to bring a wave of migrants, loggers and developers to the area resulting in deforestation, environmental degradation and social pressures on the vulnerable indigenous communities. The pipeline consortium would not close off the pipeline route after the piping had been laid and left responsibility for preventing colonization along the pipeline route in the hands of local communities, potentially placing them at the center of future conflicts over land and forest resources.
© 1998 Lilly/Amazon Watch.
Camisea is one of the most pristine and biologically diverse rainforests in the world. |
Camisea companies have habitually breached both modern industry standards and international environmental guidelines. Disregard for safety regulations by project workers has already led to the death of nine workers and one Machiguenga child, drowned in the wake of a speeding consortium boat. Technical experts have repeatedly documented irreparable impacts on critical natural habitat resulting from persistent multiple landslides and massive soil erosion and river sedimentation from the pipeline's extremely steep route. The companies' consistent disregard for erosion control during and after pipeline's construction has allowed heavy rains to wash thousands of tons of soil and vegetation into local rivers. In addition, 4 liquid gas spills, in the first 15 months of the pipeline's operation have fouled the rainforest environment.
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