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Tell Your Senators: The Peru Free Trade Agreement Would Encourage Destruction of the Amazon Rainforest
2007-11-08
For more information: Mitchell Anderson
415-487-9600
mitch(at)amazonwatch.org
Date: 08 November 2007
Act By: A.S.A.P - Senate voting in the coming weeks
The U.S. Congress is currently considering a bi-lateral "free trade" agreement with Peru, negotiated by the Bush Administration. On November 8 the U.S. House approved the bill by a vote of by a vote of 285 in favor, 132 against.
It is likely to be passed unless an outcry from concerned constituents requires members of the Senate to vote the agreement down.
Of the many reasons Amazon Watch opposes the Peru Free Trade Agreement the following are three of critical importance:
1) Investor rights trump the environment: Though environmental and labor amendments were added to the agreement, it still contains NAFTA-style provisions that would allow investors to challenge environmental laws in foreign tribunals. The agreement will effectively allow foreign logging, mining, and oil companies to avoid domestic laws and courts. In short, the agreement would limit the ability of Peruvians to protect their own environment, to the detriment of Peru and the rest of the world given the global significance of the Peruvian Amazon. For more information, read our letter to Congress linked at bottom.
2) Peru’s natural protected areas under attack: In violation of the terms of the FTA, the administration of Peruvian President Alan Garcia recently proposed to open up the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, located near on the Brazilian border in south-eastern Peru, to gas exploitation. The proposal would chop out 807 square miles – roughly one-fifth of the existing park – of rainforest wilderness, recognized internationally for its conservation importance and beauty. Peru’s protected areas should be expanded, not converted to free-extraction zones for international oil companies. For more information, read a press release linked at bottom.
3) Resource extraction at any cost: This agreement would reward the administration of President Garcia, which has demonstrated a clear preference for rampant resource extraction to the detriment of environmental protection and the rights of local communities. The above-mentioned proposal is just the latest move to convert the country’s nearly 300,000 square miles of Amazon rainforest into an unfettered playground for oil, gas, mining and logging interests. To date, Peru’s hydrocarbons policy has resulted in pollution, deforestation, and serious violations of the local population’s rights. The country’s tropical rainforests, which comprise some 11% of the total Amazon basin, are one of the last fronts in the fight against climate change.
For these and a whole host of reasons, environmental, labor, human rights, indigenous rights and social justice organizations, both within Peru and internationally, are opposing the U.S. / Peru Free Trade Agreement. Please add your voice today to thousands of others with the Peruvian and U.S. Congresses.
TAKE ACTION!
ONE – LEARN MORE: Educated yourself more on the issues at
http://www.citizenstrade.org/peru.php
TWO – PROTECT CANDAMO: Sign on-line petition for the Peruvian Congress to stop plans for oil exploitation in Candamo / Bahuaja-Sonene National Park [Visit {http://www.salvemoscandamo.com/} Click on link “For Foreign Voters” which allows you to sign a petition through the Care2 website.]
THREE – ALERT WASHINGTON, DC: Contact your Senator to register your opposition to the U.S. Peru Free Trade Agreement. The different options listed below require different amounts of time and effort. As a general rule, the more effort you put in, the greater in the impact.
A) Phone: Call your two to your Senators. Dial the Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for the afor-mentioned offices. Upon getting through to each office, you can either leave a message with the front desk or ask to speak with the staff person dealing with foreign affairs, trade, and environmental issues. Use the below letter text as talking points.
B) Letter: Use the draft text below or, better yet, compose a personal message to your two Senators. You can send by fax (find on each Member of Congress’ website, links below) or use the following mailing addresses:
Office of Senator (Name)
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
C) E-mail: Use the draft text below or, better yet, compose a personal message to your two Senators. You can find their e-mail contact information on their websites, available via the Senate website: www.senate.gov.
SAMPLE TEXT LETTER TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS:
Dear Senator (Name),
As a voting constituent, I’m writing to urge you to vote AGAINST the Peru Free Trade Agreement. While there are many reasons to oppose this and other pending free trade agreements, I would like to emphasize some of the negative environmental implications of the deal. The Peruvian Amazon, some 11% of the total Amazon basin, is at grave risk of deforestation and other destruction at the hands of oil, gas, mining, and timber companies. The Peruvian government is expanding natural resource extraction at break-neck speed, and does so to the detriment of their own environment and people’s rights. The recent governmental proposal to reduce the fragile Bahuaja-Sonene National Park is just one indication that the Peruvian authorities don’t have the will or capacity to adhere to their national and international environmental commitments, much less expand them. The FTA would exacerbate this situation by handing international investors and companies a package of rights that would allow them to side-step Peru’s already weak environmental protections.
I hope to receive news that you are voting against the Peru Free Trade Agreement.
Sincerely
(Your name)
(Your mailing address within the congressional district)
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