Untitled - Oilwatch

Transcription

Untitled - Oilwatch

Between dream and memory
10 years of struggle
10 years of resistance
Between dream and memory
10 years of struggle. 10 years of resistance
EDITORS:
Elizabeth Bravo
Esperanza Martínez
Ivonne Yánez
Piet Boedt
Oilwatch
Alejandro de Valdez N24-33 y La Gasca
[email protected]
Casilla 17- 15-246C
Quito - Ecuador
Translation:
Lori Nordstrom
Graphic Design:
Manthra Editores
Illustrations:
Leonor Bravo - Manthra Editores
[email protected]
322 75 28 - 600 09 88
Printed by Génesis Ediciones
Quito - Ecuador
This publication was made possible by financial support from the IUCN Netherlands National Committee.
Dedicated to the memory of Ken Saro Wiwa, Ángel Shingre and all the women
and men who have fallen in the fight to defend the environment and life in the
face of the oil companies.
Index
Solidarity message on the 10th anniversary
of Oilwatch international.................................................................................................................... 9
Chapter 1
Trends: the oil industry in the last 10 years........................................................................................ 11
A brief history of oil............................................................................................................................. 15
Who promotes the oil dependency model....................................................................................... 23
The world bank and its relationship with the oil industry................................................................. 28
Regional trends, nationalism and integration.................................................................................. 28
Latin American regional integration.................................................................................................. 30
Regional integration in Africa............................................................................................................ 38
Hydrocarbon interconnection in Asia................................................................................................ 47
Chapter 2
Countertrends: facing the power, concentration
and impunity of the oil companies.................................................................................................... 55
Facing the power................................................................................................................................ 59
Lawsuits.............................................................................................................................................. 60
To confront the companies´ voluntary self-control
(community monitoring)..................................................................................................................... 77
To confront climatic changes: emmissions
reduction by populations that used resistance................................................................................ 79
Confronting isolation and abuse by the oil companies:
the resistance corridors...................................................................................................................... 84
Confronting the power of the oil companies: a resistance network................................................ 87
Chapter 3
Resistance: declarations made by the Oilwatch network................................................................ 89
1. Moratorium to the exploration of fosil fuels:
a proposal to all nations.................................................................................................................... 93
2. Fossil fuels and climate change.................................................................................................... 99
3. Oilwatch position paper on emissions trading............................................................................. 107
4. Joint statement on protected areas to the 7th
conference of the parties of the convention on biodiversity............................................................ 111
5. Oilwatch’s statement to the general assembly of opec.............................................................. 113
6. Oilwatch declaration to the social
forum of the Americas....................................................................................................................... 118
7. Position paper on racism
and fossil fuels.................................................................................................................................... 122
8. Declaration from the Latin American and Caribbean forum between oil workers
and environmental organizations..................................................................................................... 126
9. Confronting the meeting of the imf and wb................................................................................. 129
10. Oilwatch declaration to the fourth session of the united nations permanent
forum on indigenous issues.............................................................................................................. 134
11. An eco-logical call for conservation, climate and human rights................................................ 139
12. Global campaign against a civilization based on oil.................................................................. 143
Regional declarations........................................................................................................................ 148
1. Oilwatch against the southern gas pipeline.................................................................................. 148
2. To the political organizations and the organizations of civil society of the Caribbean............... 152
3 .Oilwatch south east asia statement.............................................................................................. 155
4. Communique from the conference on oil,
resource conflicts and livelihoods in Africa....................................................................................... 159
Chapter 4
Weaving our network......................................................................................................................... 161
What is the Oilwatch network?.......................................................................................................... 165
Our history ......................................................................................................................................... 166
Our internal functioning..................................................................................................................... 168
Our structure....................................................................................................................................... 172
Oilwatch principles............................................................................................................................. 173
Oilwatch publications......................................................................................................................... 174
Members of the network................................................................................................................... 182
Address Book..................................................................................................................................... 183
SOLIDARITY MESSAGE
ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY
OF OILWATCH INTERNATIONAL
between dream and memory
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A
A quantum leap in life is possible only by a continuous movement in the right direction. In
the light of this, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to every member of Oilwatch International for the relentless efforts, unparalleled drive and irrevocable commitment in the last
decade towards protecting our environment and standing in solidarity with our peoples.
The last decade has been a fight for survival. A fight against the voracity of oil hegemony; against abysmal underdevelopment in the midst of plenty; against environmental and
social degradation, against human greed and selfishness and against the vampires who
have sunk their teeth into the veins of our land, sucked up the blood (crude oil) and left open
sores for us and our children to crumble into.
With the discovery of oil, many populations and regions have been sacrificed on the altar of
greed, in the most unexpected ways. There is a long and terrible record of environmental
destruction and human rights violations in our oil producing regions. Our communities face
destruction of the quality of life and value of existence.
This 10th year anniversary is a salute to courage and rugged solidarity.
We can beat our chests and say that we have tried our utmost in very trying conditions. Our
strength has come from the determination of our peoples to stand firm in the fight for their
rights. We salute our people for this and will continue to stand with them to defend our environment and fight for the right to the cultural and territorial autonomy of our people.
We refuse to be slaves in our own land. It is a sad reality that people whose land produce
so much wealth are impoverished by the very process that has made so much wealth for
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the shareholders of the company, most of whom are insulated even from the generalized malaise
our people face.
How long will this reckless exploitation and rapacity continue?
As David Korten once said, “Whereas fear of the unknown may immobilize us, the truth empowers
us to act.”
“… we confront these deadly enemies with the only weapon which they lack: TRUTH…” said Ken
Saro Wiwa, activist/writer, from his detention cell in a Nigerian prison, one year before he was
hanged by a military court.
Together we will ensure that Oilwatch remains irrevocably committed to helping peoples in communities deprived of their birth rights and constitutional rights to life and safe environment.
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In spite of the constraints encountered over the decade, we have lost no steam and we will not.
We will brave all odds, defy all obstacles and discouragements.
The light we see at the end of the tunnel is not at the end of an oil pipeline. It is at the end of the
tunnel of hope and resistance.
In the spirit of our fight, I will like to submit that “our future is not a gift” but something to be
earned.
Solidarity!
Nnimmo Bassey
chapter
ONE
Vegetal
Trends
the oil industry
in the last 10 years
Cartulina
CREED
I won’t believe
in the right of the strongest
in the language of weapons
in the power of the powerful ones
I won’t believe
in the predominance of some races
in the privileges of wealth
in the pre-established order
I won’t believe
that I will be able to share oppression, there
if I can tolerate injustice, here
I want to believe
in the right of the human being
in the open hand
that the whole world is my home
that all and everyone can harvest
what they have sowed
I want to believe
that the right is the same
here and there
and that I’m not free
as long as one human being
is a slave
I dare to believe always
and in spite of everything
in a new society
I dare to believe
a new sky, a new land
inhabited by justice
From a publication of “el Comité de Derechos Humanos de Coca y de Shushufindi”
(Human Rights Committee of Coca and Shushufindi), Ecuador.
W
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF OIL
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When the historians of the future research the history of the 20th century, they will never cease to be amazed by how fully the economy, politics and culture of this era were so suddenly,
deeply and violently marked by oil.
When measured in terms of both quantity and monetary value, oil was the number one
commodity bought and sold throughout the 20th century. This is not only because no other
energy commodity has been linked to such massive levels of consumption, as well as the
development of such a wide range of energy products, associated materials, working instruments and means of survival of every kind. In addition to this, no other commodity has
generated such a high degree of surplus value, feeding the growth of the most powerful
economic groups in all of recorded history.
The definitive and irreversible reign of oil did not begin until after World War II, when the
world’s largest economies switched from coal to oil as the main source of their energy consumption. This situation prevails today, when 40% of the fuel consumed on the planet is oil,
25% gas and 25% coal. Meanwhile, 93% of the petroleum consumed is used for energy
purposes. And while it is a well-known fact that the world’s oil reserves are being rapidly and
irreversibly exhausted, leading to increased use of natural gas, coal and other conventional
and alternative energy sources, there is unfortunately every sign that the irrational reign of
oil will remain firmly intact for numerous decades to come, despite the catastrophic effects of
climate change already being felt around the planet, and the destruction suffered at the local
and national level in oil-producing countries.
With the discovery of crude oil as an energy source and raw material for a diverse range of
petroleum-based products (agrochemicals, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, textiles, detergents,
cosmetics, explosives, toys, photographic film, etc.), 20th-century capitalists found not only
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the most “plastic” of useful substances in history, but one that was soon transformed from a
productive force to a destructive force for civilization. Oil has become one of the most powerful commodities in the world today. It has created the illusion in people’s minds of a natural
object with supernatural powers.
Its liquid, explosive and versatile qualities have resulted in its technical efficiency and economic success, which have in turn given rise to the most powerful social forces of all times.
The performance of oil on the world market, the rises and falls in prices and the shifts in
trade and geopolitical conditions that they generate, have ultimately created a dark social
force able to “give or take away life” in any place and at any time for people and countries
throughout the world.
Source: World Oil Atlas. Oilwatch. 2004.
16
PROVED RESERVES WORLDWIDE
End of 2005
SHARE OF WORLD
TOTAL
RESERVES-TO
PRODUCTION (R/P)
RATIO
45,8
3,8 %
12
116,6
9,7 %
40
140,5
11,7 %
22
742,7
61,9
81
Africa
114,3
9,5 %
31,8
Asia Pacific
40,2
3,4 %
13,8
REGION
North America
(not including
Mexico)
Mexico and
Central and
South America
Europe and
Eurasia
Middle East
PROVED RESERVES
Thousand million
barrels
Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2006
As can be seen in the table above, the majority of the world’s oil reserves are concentrated
in the Middle East. This is also the region with the highest R/P ratio, which means that its
reserves have not been exploited to an extent commensurate with their much larger size,
while North America has already extracted most of its reserves, and those of the Asia Pacific
region have also been heavily exploited.
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After the Middle East, Latin America has the largest amount of unexploited reserves, followed by Africa. In the case of Europe, the most significant untapped reserves are concentrated in the countries of the former Soviet Union.
In the meantime, the leading consumers of energy worldwide are the countries of the OECD.
An analysis of the evolution of worldwide oil consumption reveals that while other countries
and regions have increased their energy consumption in recent years, the OECD countries
continue to far outstrip the rest of the world.
Although the OECD countries accounted for 61.7% of total worldwide energy consumption in
1973 but only 51.5% in 2003, this does not mean that they now consume less,
but rather that other countries have come to make up a greater share of
total consumption.
Total worldwide energy consumption in 1973 was 4607 Mtoe (million tons of oil equivalent), of which the OECD countries consumed approximately 2855 Mtoe. In 2003, worldwide
consumption was 7287 Mtoe, of which
roughly 3750 Mtoe were consumed by the countries of
the OECD.
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REGION
Share of total consumption
(4607 Mtoe) 1973 (%)
OECD
61,7 %
Former Soviet Union
12,8
Share of total consumption
(7287 Mtoe) 2003 (%)
51,5 %
8,5 %
China
8,0
12,3
Asia (excluding China)
7,1
12,1
Latin America
3,8
5,0
Middle East
0,9
4,0
Africa
4,2
5,7
IEA Energy Statistics 2006
With regard to oil consumption specifically, the sector that consumes the greatest share is
transportation (57.8% in 2003), followed by industry (19.9% in 2003), then other sectors such
as agriculture, public services and residential use (for a combined total of 15.7%) and finally
non-energy use (in the petrochemical industry, for instance), which accounted for 6.6% of
total oil consumption in 2003 (IEA, 2006).
If these figures are compared with those from 1973, it can be seen that the transportation
sector’s share of total worldwide oil consumption has increased significantly since then,
when it was 43.2%, while industry accounted for 26.7% of oil consumption that same year.
The flow of exports, reserves and consumption is illustrated in the following diagram.
OIL INDUSTRY MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
The year 1998 marked the beginning of a wave of mergers and acquisitions of oil companies and concessions that continues today. During this time, some of the world’s biggest oil
companies have merged. The first major transaction was the absorption of Amoco by BP in
August 1998, followed almost immediately by the absorption of Mobil by Exxon in November of that same year. In March 1999, two major acquisitions took place, with Fina absorbed
by Total and Arco by BP/Amoco. In April of that year, YPF of Argentina was absorbed by
Repsol of Spain, and in July, Elf was absorbed by TotalFina. These mega-mergers involved a
movement of US$ 146 billion in capital.
In 2002, the German companies Veda and Aral became part of the BP group, which also
includes Burmah Castrol, the result of the merger of Burmah Oil Company Limited and CC
Wakefield & Company. Burma Castrol was bought by BP in 2000. In 2003, TNK together
with Sibneft acquired control of the Russian state company Slavneft, and also owns shares
in Sidanco.
The year 2000 saw the merger of Chevron and Texaco. Together they came to constitute the
world’s fifth largest oil company in terms of market share, but fourth largest in terms of reserves. Chevron had also previously bought Gula, while Texaco had purchased Getty Oil. In
2005, Chevron acquired Unocal, which gained the company a position in Southeast Asia.
Conoco Phillips is the result of another major mega-merger that took place in August 2002
and made it the third largest oil company in the United States and the fifth largest in the
world (excluding state-owned companies). In 2006, it acquired Burlington.
But these mergers have not been limited to big oil companies. During this period there have
been a total of some 4,700 oil industry transactions in 100 countries, including the purchase
of reserves and exploration permits and the acquisition and absorption of companies by
other companies.
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This process of mergers, mega-mergers and acquisitions has made the oil companies even
more powerful, because there are an ever smaller number of companies with an every
greater degree of power.
The world’s largest privately owned oil companies are ExxonMobil (USA), Shell (UK-Netherlands), BP (UK), ChevronTexaco (USA), Agip (Italy), TotalFinaElf (France), and Repsol
YPF(Spain).
These mega-mergers have meant that the resulting mega-companies need to invest less
fresh capital in their operations, while their profits from oil production have grown, leading
to increased returns on capital (by 2%).
HOW THE OIL SITUATION HAS CHANGED IN THE TROPICS
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Over the last 10 years, despite ample knowledge of the global and local impacts of oil, the
production and consumption of hydrocarbons have continued to rise.
We have witnessed an alarming expansion of the oil frontier. Entire countries have been
divided into lots for oil industry activities, as is the case in Bangladesh. In countries like Peru
and Ecuador, the entire Amazon region has been put up for bids, as have the entire coastlines of West African countries such as Angola, Nigeria and others.
Numerous new countries in the South have been incorporated into oil industry activities,
including Chad and several Central American nations.
At the same time, new technologies have been developed that now allow access to hydrocarbon reserves that was not possible in the past, such as the extraction of heavy crudes
and deep-sea drilling.
We have seen the aggressive opening of new deep-sea oil fields off the west coast of Africa.
In Latin America, Brazil has led the way in deep-sea oil exploration, and this technology has
now been exported to the Gulf of Mexico. New technologies have also made it possible to
reach the deeply embedded hydrocarbons in Bolivia. In Southeast Asia, oil companies are
vying for access to the deep-sea reserves off the coasts of Indonesia, China, Brunei and
Malaysia.
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Technological advances now allow for the extraction of heavy crudes, which was not feasible in the past. This has become a threat to vulnerable regions like the Orinoco delta, a
number of deposits in Guatemala, and important areas of the Ecuadorian Amazon region.
Orimulsion is the name coined for an extra heavy hydrocarbon fuel composed of 70% bitumen and 30% water. Venezuela’s bitumen reserves are found in the Orinoco delta and are
the world’s second largest. The environment impacts generated by the extraction of these
reserves have been extremely serious.
National conservation laws have been weakened to pave the way for oil industry activity.
As a result, oil exploration rights have been tendered in national parks and other protected
areas, as is the case of Yasuní National Park in Ecuador, Banc d’Arguin National Park in
Mauritania, Lorente National Park in Indonesia, the Maya Biosphere Reserve and Laguna
del Tigre National Park in Guatemala, the Pantanos de Centla and Laguna del Carmen
Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, the Tambopata-Tamdamo Reserve and Manú National Park
in Peru, and Port-Gentil and Gamba in Gabon, to name but a few.
However, Bolivian President Evo Morales revoked the concessions granted to Repsol YPF
and Brazil’s Petrobras for the exploitation of oil, natural gas, wood, gold and other natural
resources in Madidi National Park.
Another major development has been the introduction of natural gas as an energy resource, which has led to the opening of new gas exploration frontiers in Thailand, Indonesia,
Burma, Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela. This has given rise to the construction of gas pipelines,
many of which cross through more than one country had have generated numerous conflicts with local populations. Examples include the Mexico-Costa Rica, Bolivia-Brazil, Burma-
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Thailand, Malaysia-Thailand, Indonesia-Singapore, Chad-Cameroon and Argentina-Chile
gas pipelines, among others.
World oil prices rose from just over 20 dollars a barrel in 1996 to 70 dollars a barrel in 2006,
spurring national governments to promote new exploration campaigns in the hopes of finding new reserves. High oil prices turn even small deposits of poor quality crude into profitable endeavours. In recent years, the discovery of large reserves has become extremely
rare, which makes control over these resources even more important.
Today, the oil-dependent energy model is facing two problems: the climate change provoked by the burning of fossil fuels, and the limited supply of oil, given that roughly 50% of all
known reserves have already been exhausted.
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As a consequence, oil companies are “recycling” themselves by entering into the business
of renewable energy sources, like solar power, wind power and biomass. With regard to
biomass and biofuels, numerous oil companies, particularly those based in Europe, have
begun to diversify their operations in this direction, including Total, BP and Shell. In addition
to their high business profiles, they are also the biggest investors in the bioenergy field.
Worldwide, the first country to adopt the use of alcohol as a fuel was Brazil, with ethanol
produced from sugar cane. As of now, it is also the world’s largest producer of ethanol. Biodiesel is a biofuel derived from vegetable oils or animal fats that can be used as a total or
partial substitute for gasoil in conventional diesel engines. Biodiesel can be obtained from a
range of sources such as soybeans, rapeseed and oil palm, among others.
One of the dangers posed by the expansion of crops grown for energy production is that
they take over land previously used to produce food, thus threatening the peoples’ food
sovereignty, or replace forests and other natural ecosystems. According to a report from the
Earth Policy Institute, the grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV gas tank with ethanol could
feed one person for an entire year, while the grain needed to fill the tank every two weeks
over the course of a year would feed 26 people.
WHO PROMOTES THE OIL DEPENDENCY MODEL?
While the primary beneficiaries of the oil-dependent energy model are transnational corporations, it is promoted and sometimes imposed by international institutions that serve
the interests of these corporations. Chief among them is the World Bank, which finances
and imposes structural adjustment programmes. It provides financing to countries (thus
putting them even further in debt) in order for them to implement the fiscal reforms needed to comply with the impositions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and with
regard to energy issues, to fulfil the requirements of the WTO.
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The World Bank supports countries in the design of adjustment policies that include the
obligation to overexploit their oil resources. In an even more direct manner, the World
Bank finances projects for oil and gas industry development, the construction of oil and
gas pipelines, and so.
The IMF imposes macroeconomic policies geared to reducing the role and size of the
state and public expenditure, thereby weakening state companies. It obliges countries
to privatize the energy sector through the granting of concessions or the deregulation of
the oil sector. It promotes free competition between the public and private sectors in the
energy field by forcing countries to eliminate subsidies for electricity, household gas and
gasoline.
The IMF was created to offer its members loans to overcome short-term difficulties in their
balance of payments, but eventually took on the role of enforcer in debtor nations and
institutions.
The loans it provides go towards interest payments and political reforms. The United States controls 18% of the votes in the IMF, while just five countries account for 40% of the
control of its decisions.
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Thanks to the deregulation policies and dismantling of labour laws adopted as part of
the structural adjustment programmes imposed by the IMF, the oil companies have ready
access to low-cost labour in the countries of the South where they operate, with no responsibilities to the workers employed in their operations.
Oil companies take advantage of policies of privatization or covert privatization (concessions, outsourcing of services, etc.) to gain access to resources formerly under state control.
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CONSERVATION ORGANIZATIONS
Many non-governmental conservation organizations have come to serve the interests of
oil companies by entering into various types of partnership with these companies and thus
helping them to develop a “green” image. In some cases, they receive money from oil companies to purchase lands for conservation, while the companies continue to destroy other
areas with full impunity.
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One part of this strategy is the Energy and Biodiversity Initiative (EBI), a partnership formed
between the oil companies ChevronTexaco, BP, Shell and Statoil and the conservation organizations Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, the Smithsonian Institute,
Fauna & Flora International and the IUCN.
THE “HOLY ALLIANCE” BETWEEN THE TRANSNATIONALS AND THE UN
“Leaders of government and business continue to have choices. So let us choose to unite
the power of markets with the authority of universal ideals. Let us choose to reconcile
the creative forces of private entrepreneurship with the needs of the disadvantaged
and the requirements of future generations. Let us ensure that prosperity reaches the
poor. Let us choose an enlightened way forward towards our ultimate, shared goal: a
global marketplace that is open to all and benefits all.”
Address by Kofi Annan to the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland, 31 January 1998.
These comments by Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, sum up the new
profile of the UN and its international agencies with regard to their relations with transnational corporations. The mechanism created to channel these relations are the so-called
Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). These partnerships are becoming increasingly common
at the international level in various sectors, and involve both investments and international
cooperation. Within this tangled web of economic, political and ideological interests, private
corporations are taking on an increasingly important role, and thereby decreasing the role
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of the international organizations and UN agencies responsible for development, the environment, food security, education and children, without weighing the potential social and
environmental consequences of this shift.
Initiatives like these, carried out at the local, national, regional and international level, are
currently being established in various international forums, such as the World Food Summit,
the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Climate Change Convention, among others.
At the Johannesburg Summit in 2002, these partnerships were introduced to replace the
multilateral agreements and commitments previously established in international law with
bilateral agreements between governments.
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Through these initiatives, the private corporations will not only reap economic benefits, but
will also succeed in “greenwashing” their images – as well as “bluewashing” them, due to
their association with the United Nations – in addition to dismantling UN cooperation agreements by breaking with traditional multilateralism. In practice, these partnerships constitute
the privatization of international cooperation by provoking a shift from the public sector to
the private sector. In fact, thanks to these initiatives, the corporations will even be able to use
the UN logo in their advertising and official documents.
Transnational corporations are gaining greater power on the international stage through
these partnerships, and their growing economic and political influence allows them to evade legal and social controls. Today, there are a number of transnational corporations that
already have much larger budgets than the UN, which had a budget of 3,160 million dollars
for the 2004-2005 period. An unequal relationship is taking shape in which the UN will be
subjugated to the power of the transnational corporations.
These partnerships are proliferating in the UN despite the fact that no ethical guidelines or
standards for participation have been established, nor has there been any evaluation of
their political, economic, social and environmental impacts and the true distribution of costs
and benefits within these schemes. Hundreds of PPPs, surreptitiously established by international agencies, have escaped from any kind of monitoring or control by local, national
or international authorities.
PPPs between the private sector and UN agencies not only serve to generate new business
opportunities for the corporations involved, but are also distorting the objectives of the UN -founded on a public interest in promoting development and wellbeing, eradicating poverty
and defending the environment – since they place corporate interests above the interests
of the UN itself.
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The following table outlines a few examples of partnerships established by the UN:
AGENCY
APP
COMPANIES
STATUS
Global Compact
UNEP, ILO, High Commissioner on Human Rights
(OHCHR)
Nike, Novartis, Shell, Rio Tinto,
BP, DuPont, DaimlerChrysler,
ABB, ICC
Launched 1/99
UNDP
Private Sector Development
Programme
Chevron, BP
Implemented in
Kazakhstan and Angola
UNIDO
(United Nations Industrial
Development Organization)
Competitiveness Through
Public-Private Partnership
Fiat
Launched 12/98 in India’s
automotive industry
High Commissioner on
Human Rights
Business Humanitarian
Forum
Unocal
Several meetings have
been held
UNESCO
Licensing agreements
Boucheron, Mitsubishi, NKK
Ongoing
WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO,
UNDP, etc.
UNAIDS Africa Partnership
Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol
Myers Squibb, Merck
Hoffman-LaRoche, Glaxo
Wellcome
Not available
OMS, UNICEF,
UNESCO, PNUD, etc.
UNAIDS Africa Partnership
Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol
Myers Squibb, Merck Hoffman-LaRoche, Glaxo Wellcom
Ongoing
Secretary General
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THE WORLD BANK AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE OIL INDUSTRY
The World Bank has also become involved in public-private initiatives. To promote the role
of the private sector and support the establishment of PPPs, in 1998 the World Bank created
Business Partners for Development (BPD), a network of companies and so-called civil society
organizations aimed at providing governments with the instruments needed for initiatives
like privatization programmes, above all.
One example of public-private partnerships in which the multilateral banking system has
been actively involved in Africa is NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development), an
initiative launched in July 2001 by five African presidents. This proposal emerged from a
political and economic elite in the region under the guidance of the World Bank.
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The new World Bank strategy of focussing on the Millennium Development Goals was presented as a “global partnership to confront poverty reduction” among different sectors, in
which companies have been given a leading role. Within this partnership, private companies are portrayed as benefactors, although in fact they are the true beneficiaries. A few
examples of alliances involving oil companies are: (See table next page)
REGIONAL TRENDS, NATIONALISM AND INTEGRATION
As the new century unfolds, the world shaped by the oil civilization is moving dangerously
close to reaching two major limits: the exhaustion of the world’s oil reserves, particularly
in small and medium producer countries, and the catastrophic exhaustion of the planet’s
environmental capacity to withstand the continued burning of hydrocarbons.
Within this scenario, different trends are taking root in the geopolitics of hydrocarbon resources. On the one hand, there is the enormous power of the transnational corporations
and their determination to gain access to these resources through regional integration processes, while on the other, there is the determination of numerous governments to conserve
these strategic resources and maintain sovereign control over them.
SECTOR
MAIN COMPANIES INVOLVED
State oil companies
ARAMCO (Saudi Arabia), Braspetro (Brazil), National
Iranian Oil Co., PdVSA (Venezuela), PEMEX (Mexico)
Private oil companies
BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, Chevron, AGIP, Repsol,
PhillipsConoco
Service companies
Baker Hughes Incorporated, FMC Corporation, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Weatherford International
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Petrochemicals
Refineries
Transport companies
(shipping)
Hyundai, Samsung (Korea), Tsuneishi, Mitsubishi (Japan), Denme (Netherlands) NSSCO (Alaska, USA), BP
StorageVopak, Simon Storage
ST Services
Vopak, Simon Storage
ST Services
Infrastructure construction
Aker McNulty and Amec Offshore Services (UK), Grootint (Netherlands), Aker Stord and ABB (Norway), Belleli
Offshore (Italy), Bluewater Belgium
Private banks
US Ex-Im Bank, FleetBoston Financial, Citigroup (USA)
BBVA and Caja Madrid (Spain)
WestLB and Dresdner Kleinwot Wasserstein (Germany)
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (Italy)
Barclays (UK)
Export credit agencies
MIGA (Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, a
World Bank Group member)
OTHER COMPANIES LINKED TO
THE OIL SECTOR
29
Oil sector accounting services
Information technology advisors
Strategy advisors
Electronic commerce advisors
Source: World Oil Atlas. Oilwatch. 2004.
1O years oilwatch
Nevertheless, in spite of these new realities, national oil companies and OPEC itself continue
to have an enormous influence on the international market and the control of the world’s
principal oil and gas deposits. But OPEC’s member countries are now facing another reality:
the environmental crisis and social discontent.
It is impossible to work towards the recovery of sovereignty and establish a policy of reinvestment and control of surpluses without creating the conditions for a new post-oil civilization, so as to protect the Earth, defend national sovereignty and ensure respect for the
world’s people. Monetary wealth cannot remain linked to social and environmental decay.
The hydrocarbon-dependent model has generated an enormous environmental and social
debt, an accumulation of social and environmental impacts for which the peoples of the
South must one day be compensated.
30
LATIN AMERICAN REGIONAL INTEGRATION
Over the last decade, the United States has lost political influence among a group of Latin
American countries and a new regional multilateralism is being fomented, spearheaded by
Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia.
In November 2005, during the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, the
member countries of the Mercosur trade bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay)
joined with Venezuela to defeat the US initiative to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas
(FTAA). However, this development has led the United States to speed up negotiations – still
ongoing – for bilateral free trade agreements with countries like Colombia, Peru, Paraguay
and Uruguay, along with the signing of the free trade agreement with the countries of Central America, CAFTA.
In recent years, numerous politicians and government leaders in the region – and not necessarily from the left – have demonstrated opposition to the United States’ expansionist
policies and the impositions of international financial institutions. As a means of curbing imperialist hegemony, they are backing new integration schemes as alternatives to the FTAA,
such as the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA)
and Plan Puebla Panama.
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Likewise, a number of countries that strictly followed the line of the Washington Consensus and structural adjustment programmes in the past are now redirecting their policies
towards the re-nationalization of their resources.
Among others, the most significant examples of this new direction are Venezuela and Bolivia, which have joined with the historical stance of Cuba by challenging neoliberalism and
beginning to work towards a new regional integration initiative called the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).
The objectives of South American integration have many positive aspects, from the point
of view of breaking with the region’s dependence on the United States, but unfortunately,
these governments are promoting an economic regional integration that is also based on
oil and gas, thus reproducing the hydrocarbon-dependent economic model. In addition to
the serious impacts entailed by these efforts, they also subject non-renewable resources
to the control of the transnationals and of national elites whose interests in no way reflect
those of the peoples.
A nationalist integration proposal cannot be based on the exploitation of oil and gas, because it is impossible to guarantee sovereign control over these resources, and such an
approach will simply reinforce our role of petroleum-exporting countries and keep us anchored to the oil civilization.
It is equally impossible to speak of the redistribution of wealth when oil mining generates
violations of the collective rights of the peoples, since its entails the occupation of the lands
of indigenous peoples and local communities and the destruction of water resources and
biodiversity, while endangering the food sovereignty of these communities.
31
1O years oilwatch
Moreover, the regional infrastructure integration projects will do more to guarantee the flow
of energy from the South to the North than to satisfy local needs in Latin America.
Despite their nationalist vision, the integration projects currently being promoted in Latin
America are in fact similar to the proposals backed by neoliberal globalization. The proposal for energy integration is nothing other than the merger of two major regional infrastructure projects: Plan Puebla Panama and the IIRSA.
The plans include a network of gas pipelines, which include:
• the Trans-Caribbean Gas Pipeline (as part of Plan Puebla Panama)
• the Mega Gas Pipeline of the South
32
These integration projects enjoy the backing and financing of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Andean Development Corporation and the National Development
Bank of Brazil (BNDE). There are plans for the investment of over 300,000 million dollars in
energy integration by the year 2030.
In Latin America, the distribution of gas has always been considered a public service. The
state has taken part in its extraction, refining and sale, and has established strict rules for
private companies. In recent years, reforms have been adopted in the natural gas industry
that pave the way to privatization, including:
• the deregulation of industry activities and opening up to new international actors, and
• structural disintegration, meaning the separation of the links in the chain of exploration,
extraction, transport, refining and distribution, and their subsequent privatization.
STEPS TOWARDS NATIONALIZATION
Following this process of structural reforms in the oil and gas sectors, the new governments
have taken steps towards regaining control over energy resources through a number of
mechanisms, outlined below:
Nationalization of companies
Review of contracts
New models for contracts
Creation of national companies
Cancellation of contracts
Creation of regional companies
New countries interested in joining or
rejoining OPEC
Bolivia
Venezuela, Ecuador, Perú
Colombia
Argentina, Bolivia
Ecuador
1O years oilwatch
Examples: Petroamerica, which would initially
comprise the following member companies:
PdVSA, Venezuela
Pemex, Mexico
Petrobras, Brasil
ENARSA, Argentina
Petroecuador, Ecuador
ANCAP, Uruguay
Bolivia and Ecuador (rejoining)
Sudan and Angola in Africa
33
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The United States entered the 21st century as a country dependent on foreign oil with an
urgent need to obtain energy resources from anywhere possible. This makes pan-American
integration one of its best bets, especially after the failure of its invasion of Iraq.
Within the United States’ strategy of pan-American integration, natural gas and gas pipeline
networks play a key role. These pipeline projects respond to the needs of the United States,
not those of Latin America, as the following tables illustrate:
OIL: PROVED RESERVES - 2005
Thousand million
barrels
34
Share of world total
%
Reserves-to-production (R/P) ratio /
(years)
United States
29,3
2,44 %
11,8
Canada
Total North America
(excluding Mexico)
Argentina
16,5
1,37
14,8
45,8
3,81
13,3
2,3
0,19
8,7
11,8
0,98
18,8
Colombia
1,5
0,12
7,3
Ecuador
5,1
0,42
25,6
Mexico
13,7
1,14
10,0
1,1
0,09
27,1
0,8
0,07
13,0
Venezuela
79,7
6,64
72,6
Other South and
Central America and
Caribbean
117,2
0,11 %
24,8
TOTAL LATIN AMERICA
AND CARIBBEAN
117,2
9,76
23,1
Brazil
Peru
Trinidad and Tobago
Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2006
PROVED GAS RESERVES - 2005
Trillion cubic metres
Share of world total
(%)
Reserves-toproduction (R/P) ratio
(years)
United States
5,45
3,0 %
10,4
Canada
1,59
0,9
8,6
Total North America
(excluding Mexico)
7,04
3,9
9,5
Argentina
0,50
0,3
11,1
Brazil
0,74
0,4
71,1
Colombia
0,31
0,2
27,3
Ecuador
0,11
0,1
16,7
Mexico
0,41
0,2
10,4
Peru
0,33
0,22
Trinidad and Tobago
0,55
0,3
Venezuela
4,32
2,4
Other South and
Central America and
Caribbean
TOTAL LATIN AMERICA
AND CARIBBEAN
0,17
7,43
18,8
0,1
87,7
4,1
34,7
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35
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The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) includes an energy integration proposal. The basic idea is to integrate Mexico into the US energy strategy on the basis of the
principles of free trade and the free flow of energy across borders.
The Mexico in the Third Millennium Project involves the establishment of new energy centres where refineries, thermoelectric plants, petrochemical plants and associated industries
will be installed. As a result, Mexican territory would be occupied for all the “dirty” stages of energy transformation, and direct energy or processed products would be exploited
through numerous pipelines.
In Central America and the Caribbean there are plans for gas pipelines that would originate
in Mexico, interconnecting the seven countries of Central America with southern Mexico.
Behind these project there are multinational corporations like ChevronTexaco, Repsol YPF,
BP and TotalFinaElf. Another gas pipeline would come from Venezuela through Colombia.
36
The Trinidad and Tobago liquefied natural gas transport system carries the 4,000 million
cubic feet of natural gas extracted on the island. Studies are also underway for the interconnection of eastern Venezuela and Florida with a gas pipeline crossing through the
Caribbean islands.
Also being planned is the construction of an underwater pipeline that would link the Atlantic
coast of Colombia with that of Panama and with Costa Rica through an overland pipeline. In
addition, the Transguajiro gas pipeline is to be built between Venezuela and Colombia.
In South America, the most ambitious project is the Gas Pipeline of the South, a megaproject that will stretch from Venezuela to Argentina and Uruguay, with branches leading
off towards the west. This gas pipeline will be 9,749 km in length and cost 23,300 million
dollars. It will transport 150 million cubic metres of natural gas a day from the Venezuelan
city of Puerto Ordaz to Buenos Aires, after crossing through the Amazon jungle and nine
Brazilian states. This massive pipeline network is to be built over the next 10 years.
OTHER SOUTH AMERICAN PIPELINES PLANNED OR OPERATING
• Puerto Ordaz (Venezuela) - Manaus (Brazil)
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• La Cruz (Venezuela) – a port located between the cities of Fortaleza and Salvador (Brazil)
• Peru (North) - Ecuador (Guayaquil)
• Colombia (Bermeja) - Ecuador (Quito)
• Bolivia (Tarija) – Northern Argentina
• Bolivia (Santa Cruz) -Campo Durán (expansion)
• Yabog and Yabog II: Connects Bolivia and Argentina with Brazil
• Rio Grande - Sao Paulo (Brazil)
• Yacuiba - Sao Paulo (also passes through Argentina and Paraguay)
• Tarija (Bolivia) - the Campo Durán basin in Northwest Argentina
• Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline
• Reboré - Cuiabá (state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil).
• Santa Cruz (Bolivia) - Peru (Camisea)
• Bolivia (Tarija) - Ilo (Peru)
• Southern Cross pipeline between Buenos Aires and Montevideo, with the Uruguayaza
branch that will reach Porto Alegre in Brazil
• Argentine Coast - Uruguay
• Other pipelines in Argentina: Norandino, Atacama, GasAndes, Pacífico and Methanex
1 and 2. Through these pipelines, Argentina exports over 10 million cubic metres of gas
daily to Chile.
• Argentina-Paraguay.
37
1O years oilwatch
REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN AFRICA
Numerous countries in Africa are involved in hydrocarbon activities. The oil fields in the
countries north of the Sahara are the best known internationally, but the crude from the Gulf
of Guinea is of high quality, and the governments of the region offer companies legal and
economic facilities and incentives that have sparked the interest of investors.
Five countries dominate the African oil scene: Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Angola and Egypt,
in descending order, which together account for 85% of the oil extracted on the continent.
Other countries that play an important role in the hydrocarbon sector are Gabon, Congo,
Cameroon, Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire
and Sudan, among others.
38
Oil exploration has recently been undertaken in Mauritania, Namibia, South Africa and
other African countries.
OIL: PROVED RESERVES - 2005
Argelia
Angola
Chad
Congo (Brazzaville)
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Gabon
Libya
Nigeria
Sudan
Tunisia
Other countries in Africa
TOTAL AFRICA
Thousand
million
barrels
12,2
9,0
0,9
1,8
3,7
1,8
2,2
39,1
35,9
6,4
0,7
0,6
114,3
Share of
world total
1,0 %
0,8 %
0,1 %
0,1 %
0,3 %
0,1 %
0,2 %
3,3 %
3,0 %
0,5 %
0,1 %
9,5 %
(years)
16,6
19,9
14,3
19,3
14,6
13,6
25,8
63,0
38,1
46,3
25,2
12,0
25,7
When US President George Bush visited Africa in 2005, it confirmed the United States’ interest in boosting its presence on the continent to help meet its energy needs. Bush succeeded in obtaining agreements with a number of governments in the Gulf of Guinea region,
through which the United States will provide military support in exchange for a steady supply of hydrocarbons.
1O years oilwatch
As illustrated in the table above, Africa has significant energy resources relative to its consumption levels, which is why the oil companies have set their sights on the continent.
Back in March 2004, the top military chiefs of eight African countries met at the U.S. military
headquarters in Europe to discuss military cooperation in the global fight against terrorism
and to step up this fight in a buffer zone between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, which just happens to coincide precisely with the oil-producing regions of the Maghreb and the
Gulf of Guinea. The United States’ interest in this area has been demonstrated by repeated
visits to Africa by US officials over the last four years.
Over the next 10 years, Africa is expected to become the second largest source of hydrocarbon exports to the United States. The two principle means of transport will be the ChadCameroon oil pipeline in the west, and the Higleig-Port Sudan pipeline between Chad and
Sudan in the east.
In the meantime, little attention is paid to events like the July 2003 coup in Sao Tome and
Principe, where oil reserves were recently discovered. The United States immediately intervened, and three months after the coup, a number of US companies announced that they
would be investing in offshore oil exploration. The installation of a military base on one of
the islands was also announced.
Africa also has enormous reserves of natural gas – its main hydrocarbon resource – which
account for 8% of total worldwide reserves.
39
1O years oilwatch
NATURAL GAS – PROVED RESERVES – 2005
5,45
3,0 %
Reserves-toproduction (R/P)
ratio (years)
10,4
64,01
35,6 %
60,3
Algeria
4,58
2,5 %
52,2
Egypt
1,89
1,1 %
54,4
Libya
1,49
0,8 %
*
Nigeria
5,23
2,9 %
*
Other Africa
1,20
0,7 %
*
14,39
8,0 %
53,3
United States
Europe and Eurasia
40
TOTAL AFRICA
Trillion cubic metres
Share of world
total
PRIVATIZATION AND NATIONALISM IN AFRICA
As part of the plans to gain access to Africa’s resources, infrastructure integration programmes have been developed alongside measures for trade and legal integration.
This implies various institutional changes at the national level, such as the harmonization of
standards and rules regarding hydrocarbons, the environment, taxation, communities and
protected areas; the privatization of the energy sector; and the review of tax systems.
Privatization programmes in Africa have advanced significantly, particularly over the last
decade. A few examples are:
• In Equatorial Guinea, the distribution of hydrocarbons is under the private sector control
of Total.
• The privatization of Hydro-Congo has also been completed, with refining and distribution
in the hands of Elf and Shell.
1O years oilwatch
• In Cote d’Ivoire, refinery capacity will be expanded through private investment. Gestoci,
the hydrocarbon storage and supply company, is being restored and will possibly end up
in the hands of ENI/Agip, Elf, Mobil, Texaco, Total and Shell.
• The capacity of Ghana’s state refinery has also been expanded with private investment.
There are also plans for new investments in order to process gas that will come from
Nigeria.
• Benin’s state energy company Sonacop has also undergone privatization. Continentale
des Pétroles et D’Investissement purchased 55% of its shares, 10% were set aside for
employees, and the remainder are held by the state.
• The Nigerian state oil company has granted numerous concessions for the repair and
maintenance of its refineries. At present, the country imports petroleum derivatives.
• In Rwanda, the majority of shares in the state company PetroRwanda have been sold to
Shell.
• The Petroleum Commission of Malawi was completely privatized in March 1999.
• In South Africa, Metro Gas of Johannesburg has been privatized.
• In North Africa, the gradual privatization of the Samir refinery in Morocco began in 1996
with the sale of 30% of the company’s shares. Corral Petroleum (Corral) of Saudi Arabia
eventually ended up with 67% of the shares in 1999.
The privatization trend has been most marked in West Africa, but other governments, like
Angola, are moving towards a nationalist policy like that of Venezuela. In fact, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez recently visited Angola and signed energy agreements between the
two countries.
41
1O years oilwatch
Meanwhile, the president of Chad recently ordered Chevron and Petronas out of the country
for tax evasion, demonstrating the growing determination among some African leaders to
defend their nations’ oil interests.
THE NEPAD INITIATIVE
The major transnational oil companies operating in Africa, with the backing of African governments and the United Nations, have designed a trade and infrastructure integration
system to gain greater access to the continent’s natural gas and oil reserves, through the
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) initiative.
The African Development Bank has committed its support to numerous projects, providing a
total of over 370 million dollars. Other partners include the governments of the United States
and Europe, other international financial institutions, and transnational corporations.
42
In the more than five years since NEPAD was launched, the energy sector has received credits from the African Development Bank, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, and the
Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa.
The following table presents a few of the priority projects in the energy sector included in the
NEPAD Infrastructure Short-Term Action Plan:
SUB-REGION
EAST AFRICA COMMUNITY (EAC):
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF CENTRAL AFRICAN STATES (ECCAS):
Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Democratic Republic of
the Congo-DRC (Kinshasa), Rwanda and Sao
Tome and Principe
PROJECT
Kenya-Uganda Oil Pipeline
Capacity Building Project
1O years oilwatch
Grand INGA Integrator Study
Energy Facilitation Project
Institutional Support to Central African Power Pool
Master Plan for Sub-Regional Interconnection
Capacity Building Project
ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN
STATES (ECOWAS):
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote
d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau,
Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra
Leone and Togo
Energy Facilitation Project
Master Plan for Sub-Regional Interconnections (East,
West and Central)
West Africa Power Pool
West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) Project
SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY (SADC): Angola, Botswana, Lesotho,
Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia,
Democratic Republic of the Congo-DRC (Kinshasa), Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland,
Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Western Corridor Interconnection Project (formerly
known as DRC-Angola-Namibia Interconnection Study):
DRC, Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa
DRC-Grand INGA Integrator Study
Mepanda Uncua Hydropower Project
Mozambique-Malawi Interconnection Project
Southern Africa Power Pool
Algeria Gas-Fired Power Station and Algeria-Spain Interconnection Project
UNION OF THE ARAB MAGHREB (UMA):
Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and
Tunisia
Nigeria-Algeria Gas Pipeline Study
Strengthening of Algeria-Morocco-Spain Interconnection
Project
Tunisia-Libya Gas Pipeline Project
43
1O years oilwatch
ENERGY NETWORKS IN AFRICA
Energy infrastructure interconnection in Africa focuses on four major areas:
• West Africa: West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) between Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana
and the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline
• Southern Africa: Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP)
• East Africa: East African Master Power Plan (EAC)
• North Africa
There has been a significant increase in oil and gas pipeline construction projects over
the last few years. Many of these are designed to transport hydrocarbons out of Africa or
between African countries, from the areas where they are extracted to mining, industrial or
refining centres for their subsequent export as derivatives.
44
WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA
In addition to the WAGP and Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline, there are numerous other integration initiatives involving pipeline construction:
NIGERIA and CHAD: oil pipeline from Sedigi to the refinery in N’Djamena, Chad.
COTE D’IVOIRE and GHANA: gas pipeline from the natural gas fields in Kudu, Ibex and Eland
to the gold mines in Ashanti, Ghana.
SENEGAL and GUINEA-BISSAU: border production zone (Senegal receives 85% of the benefits and Guinea-Bissau 15%).
NIGERIA, BENIN, TOGO and GHANA: West Africa Gas Pipeline. The WAGP is some 990 kilometres in length, part of it offshore. Chevron has signed a 20-year agreement for the supply
of natural gas to the Tema plant in Ghana. The world bank is one of the main financers of
the project.
1O years oilwatch
CHAD-CAMEROON OIL PIPELINE: stretches 1070 km from the oilfields in southern Chad to
the Atlantic port of Kribi in Cameroon. The section that passes through Chad is 170 km long,
while the section that crosses Cameroonian territory is 880 km long.
Exxon, Shell and Elf will finance 97% of the project, 60% through direct investment funds and
37% as financing from the International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group)
and other export credit agencies and commercial banks. The World Bank is financing 3%
of the total.
The Chad-Cameroon pipeline has caused countless impacts in Cameroon, because it passes through native forests and the territories of numerous indigenous peoples.
EAST AFRICA
The main integration pipelines are:
• SUDAN – RED SEA: oil pipeline stretching 1,500 km to a terminal near Port Sudan on the
Red Sea
• KENYA - UGANDA: pipeline to transport petroleum derivatives from Eldoret in western
Kenya to Kampala, Uganda.
• UGANDA - TANZANIA: $400-million dollar pipeline from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza, Tanzania. This 1,104-km pipeline will also supply hydrocarbons to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• KENYA - TANZANIA: pipeline to transport crude oil from the port of Mombasa to the cities
of Nairobi and Eldoret.
45
1O years oilwatch
SOUTHERN AFRICA
• ZIMBABWE - MOZAMBIQUE: 800-km pipeline from Biera, Mozambique to Msasa (on the
outskirts of Harare), designed to help cover the growing energy demand in Zimbabwe.
• TAZAMA: 1,710-km pipeline between Tanzania and Zambia to transport crude oil from
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to the Indeni refinery in Indola, Zambia.
• NAMIBIA – SOUTH AFRICA: a 700-km pipeline will carry natural gas from Namibia’s Kudu
offshore gas field to the industrial steel works in Saldanha and the city of Cape Town,
South Africa.
• MOZAMBIQUE – SOUTH AFRICA: a 925-km gas pipeline from the Tamane gas fields in
Mozambique to the Gauteng industrial region in South Africa.
NORTH AFRICA
46
• EGYPT - LIBYA: a 600-km pipeline to transport oil from Tobruk, Libya to be refined in
Alexandria, Egypt.
• EGYPT - JORDAN: a gas pipeline that will cross through the Sinai and Gulf of Aqaba to
Amman, Jordan, carrying natural gas from the Nile delta.
• ALGERIA-TUNISIA-ITALY: the 1,067-km Transmed gas pipeline will connect the Hassi R’mel
natural gas fields in Algeria with Mazzaro del Vallo in Italy and Slovenia, crossing through
Algeria and Tunisia and beneath the Mediterranean Sea to Sicily.
• ALGERIA-MOROCCO-SPAIN-PORTUGAL: the Maghreb-Europe Gas (MEG) pipeline, stretching 1620 km from Hassi R’Mel, Morocco to the Iberian Peninsula.
• SUMED oil pipeline, 320 km long, from Ain Sukhna on the Gulf of Suez to Sidi Kerir on the
Mediterranean Sea. An extension will cross the Red Sea from Ain Sukhna to the Saudi
coast and Yanbu.
HYDROCARBON INTERCONNECTION IN ASIA
Asia, including Eurasia and the Middle East, contains the largest hydrocarbon reserves on
the planet. Saudi Arabia alone has 25% of the world’s oil reserves, followed by Iraq with
10.7%. Russia has the world’s largest natural gas reserves, while the Caspian Sea region is
home to the largest unexplored potential hydrocarbon reserves.
1O years oilwatch
At the same time, the world’s second and third largest consumers of energy are also in Asia:
China and Japan, respectively. This is what makes the geopolitics of hydrocarbons in Asia
such an explosive issue. In this context, interconnections for the transport of oil and natural
gas within and out of Asia are particularly important.
47
48
1O years oilwatch
OIL: ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Proved Reserves 2005
Azerbaijan
Russian Federation
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
TOTAL EUROPE AND EURASIA
Iran
Iraq
Kuwait
Omán
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Siria
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
Other Middle East
TOTAL MIDDLE EAST
Brunei
China
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
Thailand
Vietnam
Other Asia Pacific
TOTAL ASIA PACIFIC
Thousand million
barrels
Share of world
total
Reserves-toproduction (R/P)
ratio (years)
7,0
74,4
0,5
0,6
82,6
0,6 %
6,2 %
6,8 %
4,4
21,4
7,8
12,9
21,1
137,5
115,0
101,5
5,6
15,2
264,2
3,0
97,8
2,9
0,1
742,7
11,5 %
9,6 %
8,5 %
0,5 %
1,3 %
22,0 %
0,2 %
8,1 %
0,2 %
61,8 %
93,0
19,6
38,0
65,6
17,5
97,4
18,3
4,6
44,3
1,1
16,0
5,9
4,3
4,2
0,5
3,1
5,0
40,2
0,1 %
1,3 %
0,5 %
0,4 %
0,3 %
0,3 %
0,4 %
3,3 %
14,9
12,1
20,7
10,4
13,9
5,2
21,8
16,6
14,5
NATURAL GAS: PROVED RESERVES 2005
COUNTRY
Azerbaijan
Kazajstan
Russian Federation
Turkmenistán
Ucrania
Uzbekistan
Other Eurasia
TOTAL EURASIA
Trillion cubic
metres
Share of world
total
(years)
80,0
49,3
58,7
33,2
47,0
53,7
1,37
3,0
47,82
2,90
1,11
1,85
0,46
58,50
0,8 %
1,7 %
26,6 %
1,6 %
0,6 %
1,0 %
0,3 %
32,5 %
0,09
26,74
3,17
1,57
1,0
25,78
6,90
0,31
6,04
0,48
0,05
72,13
0,1 %
14,9 %
1,8 %
0,9 %
0,6 %
14,3 %
3,8 %
0,2 %
3,4 %
0,3 %
40,1 %
9,1
56,9
99,3
57,3
26,7
49,9
0,44
0,34
2,35
1,10
2,76
2,48
0,50
0,96
0,43
0,35
0,24
0,37
12,32
0,2 %
0,2 %
1,3 %
0,6 %
1,5 %
1,4 %
0,3 %
0,5 %
0,2 %
0,2 %
0,1 %
0,2 %
6,8 %
30,7
28,3
47,0
36,2
36,3
41,4
38,5
32,2
16,5
45,6
34,7
35,2
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Bahrein
Iran
Iraq
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Siria
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
Other Middle East
TOTAL MIDDLE EAST
Bangladesh
Brunei
China
India
Indonesia
Malasia
Myanmar (Burma)
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Thailand
Vietnam
Other Asia-Pacific
TOTAL ASIA-PACIFIC
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ASEAN
During much of the 1990s, numerous ASEAN member countries experienced an astronomical rise in their energy demands, and this growth is predicted to continue over the next
20 years.
The ASEAN region is a net importer of crude oil and a net exporter of natural gas. However,
the region’s energy demands have not been matched by an increase in hydrocarbon reserves, which is why serious questions have arisen with regard to the problem of energy security. One response to this problem has been the establishment of an energy cooperation
agreement, for the sharing of oil reserves among member countries in times of emergency
or when there are surpluses. The countries that are oil exporters (Brunei, Indonesia and
Malaysia) have pledged to supply oil to their fellow ASEAN members. If there are surpluses
on the world market, the oil-importing member countries have pledged to purchase oil from
the exporter countries in ASEAN.
The Agreement on ASEAN Energy Cooperation is a general framework for energy policies in
the region, and establishes cooperation in the planning of energy policies, the development
of energy sources, energy conservation, research and training. It now also includes such
issues as public-private partnerships, the intervention of private enterprise and NGOs in the
fulfilment of the agreement’s objectives, deregulation in the energy sector, and privatization
of services.
Another major aspect is the electric power and gas pipeline interconnection agreed upon
by the ASEAN member countries.
The ASEAN strategy additionally includes the signing of agreements with counterparts in
other parts of Asia, like China, Japan and South Korea. Under these agreements, the countries involved are taking the first steps towards the creation of an energy partnership that
will help them to confront the challenges posed to the energy sector in Asia by highly volatile
world oil prices.
THE TRANS-ASEAN GAS PIPELINE (TAGP)
The TAGP is projected to have a total length of over 9,000 km and will eventually transport
gas from Indonesia to China.
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TAGP is envisioned as the main means of natural gas provision for the region. In a short
time, Malaysia will become a net importer of natural gas unless a commercially viable deposit is discovered in the next few years. The regional demand will continue to rise due to
the growth in consumption in Malaysia and Thailand (where 60% of the energy consumed
comes from natural gas) for domestic, industrial or petrochemical use.
The current system of gas pipelines will be joined by the following:
• Extension of the Peninsula Gas Pipeline (across the entire Malay Peninsula, from Thailand
to Singapore)
• Malaysia – Singapore oil pipeline
• Burma (Yadana) - Thailand
• Burma (Yatagun) - Thailand
• Joint development area in Malaysia and Thailand
• Joint development area in Malaysia and Vietnam
• West Natuna - Singapore
• South Sumatra - Singapore
• South Sumatra - Java
• Malam Paya - Manila (Malam Paya might subsequently be connected to the Malaysian
natural gas fields in Sabah)
Other connections may be added as the demand for gas increases:
• Irian Jaya to Kalimantan for the demand in Indonesia
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• Malaysia (Sabah) to the Philippines
• Burma to Malaysia
• West Natuna to Malaysia
• Central Natuna to the Trans-ASEAN pipeline network
Existing interconnections:
• One of the first natural gas pipelines constructed stretches 640 km from the gas fields in
West Natuna, Indonesia to Singapore.
• Another pipeline carries natural gas from the gas fields of Sumatra to Singapore. The
high energy demand in Singapore stems from the fact that it is the country with the greatest capacity for hydrocarbon refining per unit of area in the world.
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• The cross-border gas pipeline from Malaysia to Singapore carries 150 million standard
cubic feet a day (scf/d)
• The Yadana (Burma)-Ratchaburi (Thailand) oil pipeline, completed in 1999
• The Yetagun (Burma)-Ratchaburi (Thailand) oil pipeline, completed in December 2000
• Numerous other gas pipelines have been planned, are under construction or have already been completed.
Cross-border interconnections require the harmonization of legal and regulatory frameworks, prices, technical standards for design and construction, operation and maintenance,
security, etc.
CHINA AND EAST ASIA
It is not possible to undertake an analysis of energy integration in Asia – and the world
– without taking into account the role of China. In the past, China was an oil exporter. Today,
however, it imports 60% of the oil it consumes, with an average annual growth of 7.5% over
the past few years. It is believed that within 20 years, China’s consumption of oil and gas will
match the current consumption of the United States.
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To cover its demand, China imports crude oil from the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Russia. The oil is primarily shipped through the Strait of Malacca. Four out of every five barrels
of oil imported by China passes through this shipping lane, making the risk of a blockade
by the United States or Taiwan a serious concern. In the face of this threat, plans have been
developed for the construction of pipelines: from the southwestern province of Yunnan to
Burma; from the northwestern region of the province of Xinjiang to Pakistan; or from Tibet to
Bangladesh (subsequently ruled out).
The West-East Project encompasses 4,000 km of gas pipelines and an annual transport
capacity of 12,000 million cubic meters of natural gas.
The Hang-Yong Natural Gas Pipeline from Hangzhou to Ningbo and the Chinese oil pipeline
connect China to Kazakhstan and are over 3,000 km in length.
For its part, South Korea’s energy demand doubles every 10 years. The country’s dependence on imported energy has reached 97%, and it is heavily dependent on oil from the Middle
East. In order to break this dependence, Korea is investing in hydrocarbon exploration in
Burma and Latin America.
India plans to meet its growing energy demand with pipelines that will bring natural gas
from Iran to the west and from Burma to the east. A 1,350-km pipeline is also being constructed to transport natural gas from Bangladesh.
RUSSIA, THE CASPIAN SEA AND CENTRAL ASIA
Russia has played a major role in the oil geopolitics of the states of Central Asia and Eastern
Europe. In the past, all of the hydrocarbons transported in the region passed through Russia, including the region of Chechnya.
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Anxious to end this dependency, the United States and Europe searched for different routes
to transport oil out of the Caspian Sea region. For decades, the United States has supported
Turkey and Azerbaijan to divert Caspian oil exports away from Russia.
But transport through Turkey has turned into a bottleneck for Russian exporters, which is
why two alternative routes have emerged:
• The Turkish route: Kiyikoy (on the Black Sea) to Ibrahaba (on the Aegean Sea)
• The Bulgarian-Greek route: Burga to Alexandropolis.
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The European Union has been promoting alternative oil shipping plans in the Balkans, which
would involve Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Macedonia, Greece and Croatia. Another alternative route is the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline, which crosses through Ukraine. A consortium
of 11 European and US companies headed up by BP is constructing the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline (which passes through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey).
None of the oil-producing Caspian countries has maritime coasts, which makes it indispensable to build oil and natural gas pipelines, and these must inevitably pass through at
least one of the numerous conflict zones in the region (separatist groups in the Caucasus,
guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran, armed conflicts in Georgia, etc.).
Other possible routes for transporting oil out of the Caspian region are through Afghanistan
or Iran.
Negotiations are also moving forward for the construction of another pipeline that will stretch from Turkmenistan to Pakistan, crossing through Afghanistan. In addition, Pakistan and
Azerbaijan have agreed to promote and expand cooperation in the oil and gas sector.
A 1,510-km pipeline will transport oil from the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan to the world market.
chapter
TWO
Vegetal
Countertrends
facing the power, concentration
and impunity of the oil companies
Cartulina
NOTES FOR THE BOOK ON DETERIORATION
We are a thick-skinned people
With empty souls.
We spend our days practicing witchraft,
Playing chess and sleeping.
Are we the ‘Nation by which God blessed mankind’?
Our desert oil could have become
Daggers of flame and fire.
We’re a disgrace to our noble ancestors:
We let our oil flow through the toes of whores.
Arab children,
Corn ears of the future,
You will break our chains,
Kill the opium in our heads,
Kill the illusions.
Nizar Qabbani
facing the power
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In several countries, people and organisations of areas affected by oil activities are fighting
against the impunity of oil companies who commit crimes.
The oil companies have developed a series of voluntary mechanisms consisting in self control and international arbitration, in order not to be subject to the application of national
laws. The countertrend develops proposals that impose mandatory responsibility, in accordance with civil and penal legislation.
In several parts of the world, legal procedures have been started because of violations of
indigenous people’s rights, violations of human rights or environmental crimes.
The lawsuits imply the use of national and international legal instruments, by means of
which the impacts committed by the companies are demonstrated, and they allow to start
a fundamental discussion on rights. This is an important issue, as the actions of the companies are ignored because the affected people generally belong to the poorest groups of
society.
The development of the lawsuits made it possible to build a series of evidences and ways
of demonstrating the pollution and violation of rights. In this way, one case benefits from
another.
In some countries, environmental crime is a legal concept, in other countries collective rights
are recognised and in all countries civil rights are acknowledged. Exercising the rights has
had a direct effect on the communities that recognise their right to complain and the states
that, although they are almost always in favour of the companies, include aspects in their
legislation in order to protect the environment and rights of the communities.
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Nevertheless, these are some of the difficulties we are facing in this context:
• The lawsuit costs (lawyers, evidences, inspections)
• The capacity of the companies of influencing the decisions, based on their influence,
power and capacity of promoting corruption
• The possible loss of control of the struggle, as all energy is put into the legal procedure
• Pressure on the plaintiffs
The majority of the lawsuits taken to court are complaints of violation of human rights. The
most famous ones took place in Nigeria, Indonesia, Colombia, Burma and Sudan. Nevertheless, there are also lawsuits for the defence of indigenous rights in e.g. Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Alaska. There are also lawsuits for environmental crimes, e.g. the case
of Ecuador, which is famous.
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Below we give some examples of lawsuits against oil companies, although not all of them
have been filed by members of Oilwatch.
LAWSUITS
1. LAWSUIT: SHUAR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AGAINST ARCO
PLAINTIFF: Shuar People and FIPSE
DEFENDANT: ARCO (now part of the BP group)
KIND OF ACTION: Protection by the Constitution
COURT: Constitutional Court of Ecuador
In 1998 the Ecuadorian government signed a joint participation agreement with the company ARCO ORIENTE Inc., for hydrocarbon exploration in Block 24, located in the Provinces
of Morona Santiago and Pastaza, within lands the Shuar communities consider as theirs
because of traditional occupation, over a surface that covers approximately 70% of the total
area of Block 24.
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The Independent Federation of Shuar People (Federación Independiente del Pueblo Shuar
del Ecuador - FIPSE) filed an action for protection of constitutional rights against the company
Arco Oriente Inc., demanding the cessation of the unlawful acts of the company that were
seriously and directly affecting the collective interest of their members and could cause serious and imminent damage to the integrity of the Shuar people.
The FIPSE appealed to the obligation of the State to protect the collective rights of indigenous
people against violations by private entities like the company Arco Oriente Inc., as these
rights are recognised by the Constitution of Ecuador.
In September 1999, the FIPSE won the appeal for protection of constitutional rights before
a Court in Macas, and in March 2000, they also won the appeal filed by Arco before the
Constitutional Court in Quito.
2. LAWSUIT: U’WA INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AGAINST ECOPETROL AND THE STATE OF COLOMBIA
PLAINTIFF: U’wa Communities of Colombia
DEFENDANT: The State of Columbia
COURT: Constitutional Court / Inter American Human Rights Committee of the Organisation
of American States (OAS)
In August 1991, Ecopetrol (a Colombian company) and Copeco signed the Samor partnership agreement, for oil extraction over a 185,688 ha surface, to which 23,246 ha were added
later on.
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In April 1992, Occidental (OXY) joins the partnership and takes on the role of operator.
The U’wa people declared they prefer to die rather than see their land destroyed.
The U’WA community files an action for protection as a transitional mechanism via the Ombudsman, to avoid irreparable damage because of the flagrant violation of the fundamental constitutional participatory right, after several favourable decisions. In 1997 the Constitutional Court foresees the U’WA people have to be assisted by the right of Consultation and
orders to execute it within thirty days, but the consultation never took place.
Simultaneously with the action for protection, in the name of the U’wa People, the Ombudsman filed an action for declaration of voidness of the environmental permit before the Council of State. Its judicial decision pronounced in 1997 states the U’wa people were indeed
consulted in 1995 in the city of Arauca, so the Environmental Permit is legal.
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In 1999 the government enlarges the U’wa reserve with limits that respond to the interests of
the National Government and OXY and not to the aspirations of the U’wa people. The well
Gibraltar 1, the first exploratory well within the U’wa territory, was left out.
That same year, Minister Mayr granted the environmental permit to OXY and the U’wa
Council bought the land where the Gibraltar 1 well was to be situated. Subsequently the
U’wa people mobilised and occupied the well location.
In 1999 the U’wa people appealed to the Inter American Human Rights Committee of the
OAS and filed a suit against the Columbian State.
3. LAWSUIT: “LAGUNA DEL TIGRE” RESERVE IN GUATEMALA
PLAINTIFF: Group “Colectivo Madre Selva”
DEFENDANT: Basic and the National Government of Guatemala
COURT: Constitutional Court / Central American Water Court
In 1989 the Maya Biosphere reserve was created. This is the second biggest tropical forest
of America.
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In 1997 300,000 ha within the National Reserve “Laguna del Tigre” were submitted to a bid.
The company Texaco was in charge of oil exploration activities. Basic was the operating
company. It bore 32 wells, built 120 km of oil pipeline and a refinery called La Libertad.
The activities had serious environmental and health consequences. The oil activity within the
Maya Biosphere reserve is still growing.
The group Colectivo Madre Selva reported two concessions in the Laguna del Tigre to
the Attorney General’s Office: the 2-85 area because of pollution and the 1-92 area
because it was awarded after the area had been declared a key zone within the
reserve.
The lawsuit was rejected by the Attorney General’s Office and was taken to the Central American Water Court, were they were found guilty.
In spite of the fact it concerned a “moral” court, the judgement affected the company’s
interests and it was sold for half of the price on the international market.
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4. LAWSUIT: GREENPEACE vs. BP IN DEFENCE OF THE INUPIAT PEOPLE
PLAINTIFF: Greenpeace and the Inupiat People
DEFENDANT: BP
COURT: Court of San Francisco
The lawsuit was against the BP Amoco Northstar project for oil extraction in the Arctic Ocean
(first offshore oil extraction project to be carried out in the Arctic Ocean). Oil was extracted
from an artificial island at 9.6 km north from the coast of Alaska.
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Oil would be transported through a pipeline buried at only 2 m below the seabed. The security of this kind of pipelines has not been proved in the Arctic Ocean (an environment that
consists in a solid ice layer or pieces of loose ice during more than 9 months a year, hit by
extreme temperatures, severe storms and months of darkness).
The execution of the Northstar project would have opened the door to new oil extraction
projects in the Beaufort sea. This would have serious consequences for the environment
and local communities.
The Western Arctic is heating 3 to 5 times as fast as the global average due to climate
change.
For thousands of years this community has depended on the Arctic Ocean for whales, seals,
fish and polar bears. Greenpeace established a camp in the area to monitor the construction of the project.
The lawsuit was filed in 1999 before the San Francisco’s Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It questioned the Federal Government for approving the project in spite of the lack of an
appropriate spillage plan.
In spite of the protests, BP announced it would continue its activities, but would perform the
extraction of crude oil from an onshore platform to the undersea oilfield.
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The Inupiat indigenous people and their brothers the Yupik are still opposed to the project
that is executed in the Arctic Wildlife Reserve and that will affect their lives because it threatens their sources of life, i.e. fishes, the musk ox, grey bears, polar bears, wolfs, over 130 bird
species and especially the shelter for 130,000 caribous and the birth place of their babies.
For over 20,000 years, the people of Alaska survived in the Arctic and know the fragile Arctic
ecosystem will be directly affected by the climate change produced by oil activities.
5. LAWSUIT: BOWOTO VS. CHEVRON
DEFENDANT: Chevron
PLAINTIFF: Bowoto et al.
COURT: San Francisco Court
In Nigeria, oil constitutes up to 90% of the State’s revenue.
Since a few years ago, Chevron’s operation has produced multiple environmental damages,
including oil spills which have caused the reduction of drinking water and soil erosion, thus
affecting the people of the Niger River Delta’s means of subsistence, such as forests, plants,
mangroves, wild life and cattle. The environmental destruction has provoked entire communities to be displaced. The company operates with the support of the military forces.
The area’s communities have become organized in opposition of the oil activity, in order to
stop environmental damage, obtain indemnification payment and environmental restoration of the damages caused.
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The means of opposition include meetings with the company’s representatives and peaceful protests in the communities and on the offshore oil platforms.
In May 1998 dozens of activists occupied the Parabe platform, in the Niger River Delta. The
demonstrators demanded from Chevron a major contribution for the impoverished area
where they subsist. Chevron requested military assistance. A few days later, Chevron’s helicopters landed in the platform and shot against the demonstrators, killing two people
and injuring others. Eleven activists where detained during three weeks. At least one of the
activists affirms to have been victim of torture. The helicopter pilots where contracted by the
oil company.
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In January 1999, in response to the local community’s continuous protests, Chevron initiated
an attack plan against the disarmed citizens, destroying the communities of Opia and Ikenyan, located near the oil project. The attack was made with helicopters and ships financed
by Chevron. Some of the demonstrators were subject of multiple executions, others were
seriously injured during the attack, and others were burned by the FIRE or tortured by the
police, in complicity with and/or by Chevron’s suggestion.
In May 27, 1999 a claim was presented before the District Court of California. Chevron filed an exception for the Court’s incompetence, alleging that it would be more convenient
to present the case in Nigeria. On April 7, 2000, the court denied this exception. Chevron
presented another exception alleging that the actions subject to litigation did not constitute
violations of international rights, and that those actions, if they were true, were the responsibility of Chevron’s subsidiary in Nigeria.
On May 12, 2000 the exceptions were rejected, anyhow, the time allowed for producing
evidence was granted. The claim affirms that there was a conspiracy amongst Chevron, the
military and the Nigerian police.
The claim includes accusations for murder, aggressions, torture, crimes against humanity,
assault, multiple executions, inhuman, cruel and debasing treatment, arbitrary arrests, vio-
lations to rights of life, liberty and to the right of association; for negligence, civil conspiracy,
illegal executions; for maintaining a pattern of human rights violations internationally acknowledged and violation of certain blackmail and corruption laws.
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The company requested that a summary hearing be expedited alleging that the crimes
were committed by the local military and police forces and also because these persons
were protecting the subsidiary, and not the DEFENDANTS per se. This petition was denied.
The court that denied this resource acknowledged that Chevron cannot be considered directly responsible for the actions occurred in Nigeria.
The PLAINTIFFS, from the Opia and Ikenyan communities of the Niger Delta, are still waiting
for the results of their claim in the courts.
6. CASE: EXXON MOBIL IN INDONESIA
DEFENDANT: ExxonMobil
PLAINTIFF: International Labour Rights Fund (in the name of 11 community people)
COURT: District Court of Columbia
Exxon Mobil has a gas extraction project in Aceh, Indonesia. Indonesia’s National Army was
contracted to protect their projects.
These groups members have been constantly involved in abuses and human rights violations in the local villages, including sexual violations, kidnappings,
murders, property destruction amongst other terror acts. ExxonMobil has not taken any
measure to detain these actions rather it has continued to finance the military and provide
them with equipment and installations to carry out and cover the operations (there are common graves inside these installations).
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In June 2001, the International Labour Rights Fund presented a claim before the Columbia
District Court. The claim was presented in the name of 11 community members, victims of
abuses committed by ExxonMobil´s security forces.
In October 2001 ExxonMobil alleged that even if these actions occurred, they were not the
result of ExxonMobil activities. It pointed out that the company’s presence in Aceh created
new work places, helped to stabilise the region, donated medicines and food and invested
in the local community’s development.
In April 9, 2004, the court heard the parties’ oral arguments. The decision should have been
made within a period of 60 days, however no decision has been taken yet.
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The contention is that ExxonMobil acted in plain consciousness and knowledge when it
used brutal military force to insure its projects, besides providing the material and financial
support. It is also affirmed that ExxonMobil employees or agents are part of the security
forces and that the company may be declared responsible.
Regarding this case, the United States Department of State said that the investigation being
conducted could be considered as an intrusion in the Indonesian government’s state sovereignty and that it could affect the interests of the United States, as Indonesia is an ally in
the fight against terrorism. It added that the investigation could cause a growing tension in
diplomatic and economic relations between both States; it could aggravate Indonesia’s political stability and affect the security of the United States and of other countries in the region;
and that it could impair possible investments of the United States in Indonesia. Finally it said
that the investigation could have negative effects in the search for peace in Aceh.
7. CASE: OCCIDENTAL IN COLOMBIA
DEFENDANT: Occidental Petroleum and Airscan, Inc. (their security contractor)
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PLAINTIFF: International Labour Rights Fund (ILRF) and the Human Rights Centre of the Northwestern University School of Law.
COURT: District Court for the Central District of California / Colombian Court
On December 13, 1998 a massacre of Colombian civilians took place in the village of Santo
Domingo. Helicopters bombarding resulted in the death of 19 civilians (6 children). It was
planned within OXY´s installations, by Airscan and the Colombian Air Force (CAF). The operation was executed by the CAF with OXY´s financing to protect the company’s pipeline in
Caño Limón.
This branch had the support of the United States government.
Dispersion bombs made in the United States were launched. The coordinates were obtained through AirScan, Inc., OXY´s security contractor.
The operation was supervised from the Skymaster airplane contracted by OXY and piloted
by OXY´s US employees. They supervised the area and collaborated with the CAF to identify
the objective and they chose the places where the military landed during the operation.
In the same airplane there was an officer from the Colombian army (link between the air
forces and OXY).
The claim was presented on April 24, 2003 by the International Labour Rights Fund (ILRF)
and the Human Rights Centre in Northwestern University School of Law, before the Central
District Court of California.
A Colombian Court, in May 2004, after various months of obstructed legal procedures, ordered the Colombian Government to pay 725,000 dollars to the survivors. These procedures
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occurred at the same time that the claim was presented in the United States. It is still in
process.
8. CASE: SHELL IN NIGERIA
DEFENDANT: Royal Dutch Petroleum/Shell
PLAINTIFF: Ken Wiwa and other MOSOP members
COURT: The Supreme Court of the United States
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The Ogoni people have always been opposed to the oil activities in their territory. They have
also defended their people’s autonomy and the equitable redistribution of the riches resulting from oil exploitation.
The military government, during the nineties, carried out a bloody campaign against the
community. Ken Saro Wiwa and other activists were illegally detained in 1994, they were
held without any communication and under military custody. Afterwards they were judged
by a Special Court, thus violating their right to due process. They were condemned for murders and executed in 1995.
On November 10, 1995, the following people were hung: Ken Saro-Wiwa, John Kpuinen, Saturday Doobee, Felix Nuate, Daniel Gbokoo and Dr. Barinem Kiobel, and three other MOSOP
(Movement for the survival of the Ogoni People) leaders.
There are three claims against Royal Dutch/Shell. They are being accused for:
• The murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa, John Kpuinen, Saturday Doobee, Felix Nuate, Daniel
Gbokoo and Dr. Barinem Kiobel, and three other leaders.
• The arbitrary detention and torture of Owens Wiwa and Michael Vizor.
• The attacks in Karalolo Kogbara and Uebari N-nah, when those people peacefully protested against Shell activities.
The original claim was presented in 1996 and modified in April 1997. In September 2003, the
claims were modified to include new actors.
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Shell is accused of torture, arbitrary actions, extortion, illegal executions; cruel, inhuman and
debasing treatment.
The claim presented a motion to reject the proceedings alleging that the jurisdiction should
be established in The Netherlands or England; and that the Alien Tort Claims Act did not
apply since it involves a corporation.
September 25, 1998, judge Kimba Word determined that the jurisdiction had to be the United States (NY) or England.
Afterwards, in March 2001, a claim was presented against Brian Anderson, ex general manager from Shell Nigeria, subsidiary of Royal Dutch/Shell.
On February 28, 2002, all the petitions to reject the claim made by the company were denied, because it was determined that Royal Dutch/Shell and Brian Anderson participated in
all the crimes mentioned in the claims.
Also, the possibility was opened for Brian Anderson to be sued due to violation of the Torture
Victim Protection Act.
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9. CASE: TALISMAN IN SUDAN
DEFENDANT: Talisman Energy, Inc. (Canada)
PLAINTIFF: Sudan’s Presbyterian Church, Nuer Community Development Services in the
U.S.A. and others (by their own rights)
COURT: Southern District Court of New York
The company Talisman collaborated with Sudan’s government in an “ethnic cleaning” in
the South of Sudan, around the areas were it executed its oil activities. These murders were
carried out against civil population and they were based on ethnicity and religion. It encouraged the government to do it and provided the material, knowing that it was going to
be used in such activities.
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China’s National Petroleum Company and Petronas Carigali collaborated with Talisman.
More than 500,000 Christians and other non-Moslem from South Sudan have been murdered. Others (1.8 million people) have been forced to flee to Ethiopia or Kenya, or have been
imprisoned in refugee camps created by the Islamic government of Sudan together with the
oil companies, to protect the oil camps and installations.
The claim was presented in 2001 by Sudan’s Presbyterian Church, Nuer Community Development Services in the U.S.A. and people from Sudan living in Sudan and the United States.
It is alleged that Talisman cooperated with Sudan’s government in the genocide and forced
displacement of Christian and other non-Muslim communities that live in the area consigned to the oil company Talisman.
The claim was presented in Denise Cote of the Southern District Court of New York in the
United States. The Court denied the company’s petition to dismiss the claim.
The judges of the Southern District Court of New York have agreed in the decision that a
company can be responsible for actions transgressing the Ius Cogens.
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The oil company’s acknowledgment of responsibility and the payment of damages are
sought.
In October 2005, the company formally left the country, fact that has been seen as the Plaintiffs triumph, since it also has provoked a significant descent of the company’s stock value
in Canada’s stock market; nevertheless, the PLAINTIFFS shall continue their legal and public
campaign to achieve the compensation of those who have suffered due to their operations, as well as the criminal responsibility of Talisman’s Executive Officers, as accomplices of
genocide.
10. CASE: UNOCAL AND TOTAL IN BURMA
DEFENDANT: Unocal Corporation
PLAINTIFF: John DOE I; et al.
COURT: France/ Belgium and the United States
Burma has been under a military government since 1958. In 1988, after overtake by The
Myanmar Military the name changed from Burma to Myanmar.
The Military Junta awarded the 412 Km Yadana gas pipeline project to Total.
In 1992, Unocal acquired 28% of the stock in a gas extraction project awarded to Total. A
subsidiary was created to manage its interests.
Unocal contracted military to insure its project, in spite of the accusations made regarding
its abuses and human rights violations.
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The gas pipeline was constructed with forced labour, which obligated violently entire populations to be displaced. Heliports were constructed to protect the project and hundreds of
soldiers arrived to the area. There are various testimonies from ex-military who assure that
Total and Unocal provided support material to the military forces that guarded the project.
In 1996 two separate claims were presented. In France and in Belgium against Total and in
the United States against Unocal. The claim is for sexual violations, forced labour, torture
and murders.
In 1997, a United States District Court decided that the corporation and its officers could be
held responsible for violation of human rights in Burma, since Unocal knew about the forced
labour and was benefited by it. In spite of this, the Court dismissed the action alleging that
Unocal had not ordered the execution of these actions. The actors appealed this decision.
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On September 8, 2002 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the decision of the District Court allowing the claim to continue. The Court indicated that it was only necessary to
demonstrate that Unocal assisted the military, knowing that they committed abuses. It was
thus determined that the actors had enough evidence to go to trial.
In June 2002, the case went to California’s Superior Court, and on August 25, 2004, the Bush
administration presented a legal report before the Ninth District Court of Appeals indicating
that they considered that Unocal could not be held responsible for violations occurred in
Burma.
On December 2004, a preliminary agreement was reached, which would respond to the
Plaintiff’s expectations. It was established that funds would be contributed which would
allow the development of programs to improve life conditions, health care and education of
the people of the pipeline region and to defend their rights.
On April 25, 2002, a claim was presented against Total in Belgium, supported by La Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l’Homme (FIDH) and the member organization
in Belgium of the Ligue des droits de l’Homme (LDH - Human Rights League)
On May 8, 2002 Total denied the accusations. The process continues.
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11. CASE: AGUINDA vs. TEXACO1
DEFENDANT: Chevron
PLAINTIFF: Ecuadorian indigenous people and small farmers
COURT: Lago Agrio Court - Ecuador
The companies Texaco de Petroleos del Ecuador (TEXPET subsidiary of TEXACO INC.), operated in Ecuador from 1964 to 1990. Even if in 1974 The Ecuadorian State Oil Company entered
the consortium and had 62.5% of the stocks in 1977, TEXPET was the consortium’s operator,
and as such was technically responsible for the consortium’s activities.
Texaco operated in Ecuador’s Amazon area, producing an environmental deterioration in
around one million hectares of Amazon jungle, using technology that was forbidden in
other parts of the world. As a consequence of this brutal environmental deterioration there
was a serious affectation to the local population’s health and life expectation.
Texaco’s technology and procedures were diffused by the operator through training activities
for local technicians. So when CEPE, the national company, took on the total operations, it
initially reproduced almost all the contaminating practices implanted in Ecuador by Texaco.
In November 1993, the PLAINTIFFS initiated legal actions against Texaco Inc. in the State of
New York, U.S.A. The judge’s resolution, after almost ten years, was that Texaco Inc. had
to submit to Ecuadorian jurisdiction and determined that it could not allege in its favour the
statute of limitations.
1
Texaco merged with Chevron and became ChevronTexaco. In 2005, the company
name was changed to Chevron only.
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In December 1995, TEXPET subscribed with Petroecuador and with the Ministry of Energy,
representing the State, a memorandum of Understanding regarding Environmental Remediation Works, which was concluded in 1998. Nevertheless, the environmental restoration
works executed by TEXPET were insufficient, and were not adequately executed. The truth is
that, up to now, there still remain contaminating elements in the environment which continue producing ecologic, environmental, patrimonial and personal damages.
12. CASE: LA PROPICIA AGAINST PETROECUADOR
DEFENDANT: Petrocomercial, Subsidiary of Petroecuador
PLAINTIFF: La Propicia Neighbourhood, Esmeraldas
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COURT: Supreme Court of Ecuador
The fire/spill that occurred in Esmeraldas on February 26, 1988 affected the neighbourhood
Delfina Torres Viuda de Concha (La Propicia 1) in Esmeraldas - Ecuador. The neighbourhood
presented a claim for permanent and accidental damages provoked by the Esmeraldas
refinery, before the Third Civil Court of Esmeraldas.
The lawsuit demands for the repair of the damages caused by the presence of the refinery,
the compensations for these damages and the cancellation of the sources of pollution. It
represents the 250 families that live in la Propicia.
The PLAINTIFFS argue that Petroecuador does not have sufficient safety measures to guarantee the life and environmental equilibrium in the Province. In this case, the company blamed the victims, since they argued that to have settled in the area was an imprudent action.
Likewise, they argued that the accidents were due to natural circumstances.
The insurance companies paid 6,000 million sucres. The claim was for 35 million dollars
and a decision favourable to the PLAINTIFFS was obtained for 11 million dollars.
The grounds for the claim are the right to live in a pollution free environment, the right to
health and access to services, acknowledged by the Ecuadorian Constitution and the right
of third parties to file legal actions without prejudice to the rights of the affected parties.
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The affected parties won the claim and the company had to pay a compensation of 11 million dollars and take actions to eliminate the contaminating sources.
TO CONFRONT THE COMPANIES´ VOLUNTARY SELF-CONTROL
(COMMUNITY MONITORING)
“Community Environmental Monitoring” is a continuous vigilance and permanent control
of the oil activities by the communities and grassroots organisations with the purpose of
demonstrating the unsustainability of the oil exploitation due to socioenvironmental impacts
provoked at local and global level.
Environmental monitoring is a useful instrument to achieve changes in national energy policies, through permanent recording and reporting of the social and environmental impacts
of oil activities.
Community monitoring is an instrument that allows the affected people to carry out field
investigations using the most suitable indicators. The communities, when they observe the
changes provoked by pollution and deforestation in the animal and vegetable species and
in human beings, may define bioindicators, health indicators, or physical and chemical
indicators that are easy to manage and allow them to demonstrate the magnitude of the
impacts produced by the company’s activities.
One of the main uses of community monitoring is to put social pressure from the grassroots
to obtain that competent authorities solve the problems caused by the oil activities, which
implies: the closing of the different sources of pollution, the total environmental restoration
of the affected areas and the social compensation to the communities that have suffered
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economic losses and damages in general. This pressure is obtained by way of an accusation and diffusion in the media, through lobbying and by peaceful pressure actions when
the situation calls for it.
Community monitoring is an instrument that encourages the organization and consciousness of the affected populations by favouring a space for training and coordination. This
activity results in the entire or a good part of the community mobilisation for the defence of
their resources and the defence of their rights.
These are some of the objectives that may be attained with monitoring:
• To verify that the oil activity generates impacts
• To have figures regarding the impacts and be able to compare a specific area to another
without oil activity
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• To identify the necessary restoration activities
• To demonstrate that the EIA Environmental Impact Studies are not fulfilled
• To have evidences for a legal claim.
• To have proofs for meetings, actions, lobbying.
DOCUMENTED EXPERIENCES OF COMMUNITY MONITORING:
• Extraction (including seismic prospecting): Nigeria, Ecuador, Colombia
• Pipelines and gas pipelines: Cameroon, Bolivia, Brazil, Thailand, Ecuador, Nigeria
• Refineries: South Africa, Ecuador
• Spills in the sea: Nigeria, Mexico, Indonesia
• Spills in lakes: Nicaragua, Ecuador, Guatemala
• Spills in rivers: Ecuador
• Health impacts: Mexico, Ecuador
• Activities in protected areas: Guatemala, Indonesia, Mauritania, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
• Human Rights Violations: Nigeria, Sudan, Indonesia, Colombia, Burma
• GIS Monitoring: Indonesia, Ecuador
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TO CONFRONT CLIMATIC CHANGES: EMMISSIONS
REDUCTION BY POPULATIONS THAT USED RESISTANCE
Climate changes caused the oil industry and fossil fuel consumption to be an object of a lot
of criticism. Nevertheless, when talking about reducing the consumption or limiting oil frontiers, the results are completely different. The tendency is to continue with the oil exploitation
and consumption model and redirect the actions to projects that will affect even more the
south of the world.
Considering this tendency, according to Oilwatch the only real efforts to reduce emissions
are those of the communities in resistance.
Demonstrate that the populations have been doing efforts to stop
climate change has important political effects, it may reduce repression and violence to which the communities in resistance are
subject and it does not allow the companies and the states to ignore their responsibilities with regard to stopping the oil frontier.
Oilwatch estimates 1,000 oil barrels are equivalent to 117 tons of
real carbon emissions. Third world countries that e.g. do not extract
more oil might receive a compensation for this, which would amount
to 182 USD per ton in accordance with the current oil prices.
Some examples sustained at international level are:
Oilwatch estimates 1,000 oil barrels
are equivalent to 117 tons of real carbon emissions. Third world countries
that e.g. do not extract more oil might
receive a compensation for this, which
would amount to 182 USD per ton in
accordance with the current oil prices.
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COUNTRY: Nicaragua
POPULATION: Indigenous fishing communities of the North and South Atlantic Sea in Nicaragua (approximately 4,000 persons).
LOCATION: North Atlantic region of the North Atlantic Coast, Bilwi Municipality.
CAMP OR PROJECT: Action Plan for oil exploration in Nicaragua that includes a total of 22,918
kilometres of seismic lines.
AMOUNT OF CRUDE OIL OR GAS REPRESSED: It is estimated that the camp will have an average production of 350 daily barrels in 22 wells for 5 years, which gives an estimate of 70
million barrels of oil.
PREVENTED CARBON EMISSION: 8 million tons of carbon.
COUNTRY: Colombia
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POPULATION: U’wa
LOCATION: The oil area comprises the municipalities of Saravena, Tame, Fortul (Arauca), Cubara (Boyaca), Toledo (North Santander). Of the total area, about 25% is in Indian Territory.
CAMP OR PROJECT: Samore Association Contract now called Siriri Partnership Contract.
AMOUNT OF REPPRESSED CRUDE OIL: 1,200-1,400 million barrels of crude oil.
COUNTRY: Colombia
POPULATION: Nukak Maku (Indian Nomad population, hunting and harvesting)
LOCATION: Guaviare - Colombia: Amazon Forest Preservation and Nukak National Park.
CAMP OR PROJECT: Seismic Program Vichada-92
AMOUNT OF CRUDE OIL REPRESSED: It is estimated that the reserves in this region of the
country are of approximately 24,000 million barrels of oil.
PREVENTED CARBON EMISSION: 2,000 million tons of carbon.
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COUNTRY: Burma and Thailand
AFFECTED POPULATION: The gas pipeline goes through the villages Karen in the Laydozoo District, in the Province of Mergui-Tavoy and through the village of Mon, Province of
Ye-Tawai. Burma has “cleared” the path by relocating a total of 11 Karen populations that
otherwise would “obstruct” the passage of the project. In the Burma side, the gas pipeline
has been constructed with slaves work from the communities settled in the sides of the gas
pipeline road.
LOCATIONS: Mar Andaman, at 60 kilometres offshore of southeast Burma. 670 kilometres
of gas pipeline (that goes through Burma and Thailand). Ratchaburi (Thailand) where the
energy plant will be.
CAMP OR PROJECT: Yadana (extraction of gas, gas pipeline and energy generation).
AMOUNT OF REPRESSED GAS: Reserves proved between five and seven trillion cubic feet of
gas. The electric project requires 400 million cubic feet of gas per day.
COUNTRY: Thailand and Malaysia
AFFECTED POPULATION: The project will affect mainly the Muslim fishing communities, which
are an ethnic minority in Thailand.
LOCATIONS: Joint development area in the Gulf of Thailand, with its infrastructure located in
the southern Province Songkhla in Thailand.
PROJECT: Joint Development Area Thailand - Malaysia
AMOUNT OF REPRESSED GAS: 10 trillion cubic feet of gas
PREVENTED CARBON EMISSION: 260 million tons of carbon
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COUNTRY: Bolivia
POPULATION: Small Farmers Communities and a frontier city.
LOCATION: Department of Santa Cruz
Municipality of Puerto Suarez, community Carmen Rivero Torres.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AREA: “Chaqueño” semi-tropical forest, belongs to the “Chaqueño” plain in the Department of Santa Cruz .
CAMP OR PROJECT: Gas pipeline Bolivia-Brazil
COMPANIES INVOLVED: Petrogasbol and the consortium that constructed the BRM CPB pipeline (Murphy Bros Inc.).
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ACTIONS TAKEN: Road blocking, strikes by the affected population, cutting off water used by
the company, occupying the company’s camp site when the gas pipeline was being constructed. AMOUNT OF CRUDE OIL OR GAS REPRESED: It is calculated that there are around
200,000 million cubic meters natural gas reserves.
COUNTRY: Nigeria
POPULATION: Niger Delta: Ogoni, Anyama, Sangana, Okoroba, Ijaw, Nembe
LOCATION: Niger river mouth in the Gulf of Guinea. 26.000 km2 in Afrotropical Africa, a sub
region of Western Africa, to the South of Nigeria.
CAMP OR PROJECT: The Niger Delta is strategic from the point of view of hydrocarbon production. Nigeria produces 3.2% of oil and 2% of gas in the world. It is calculated that Nigeria’s
reserves are around 15,500 million barrels of crude oil and 3 million millions of cubic meters
of gas. The Niger Delta’s oil is of an average of 18 degrees API. In the Niger Delta 56,000
kilometres of seismic lines have been cleared, 349 wells have been drilled, 700 kilometres
of flow lines, 400 kilometres of pipelines, 22 stations and an oil Terminal. It is calculated that
approximately 70% of Nigeria’s oil comes from the Niger Delta.
AMOUNT OF CRUDE OIL OR GAS REPRESSED: It is estimated that the Delta would have repressed reserves of around 11,000 million barrels of crude oil. With the actions of Climatic
Change Operation, the Young Ijaw People would have closed about 60% of the Delta Wells
from December 1998. This means that with this resistance movement, the production of
6,600 million barrels is being prevented.
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COUNTRY: Chad
POPULATION: The Southern Region of Chad is populated by the Saras, Massas, Mundanis
and Hakkas People. This population consists of mainly farmers.
LOCATION: Doba basin region, at the South East of Chad. The project area has an approximate population of 28,000 inhabitants, belonging to the counties of Bero, Kome and Miandoum. The counties of Timberi, Gadjibian, Bessao, Mont de Lam and Mbassay are in the oil
pipeline path. The population of all the counties adds up to an approximate population of
68,000 people. The pipeline will go through 64 villages.
CAMP OR PROJECT: Three oil camps: Komé, Bolobo and Miandoum, with around 300 wells (2/3 in the Komé camp), 3 storage stations, one treatment station, an electric centre,
runway, workers camps, construction of 500 kilometres of roads, 3 pumping stations, 170
kilometres of pipeline (1050 kilometres is the total up to the port and the sea Terminal in
Cameroon).
AMOUNT OF CRUDE OIL OR GAS REPRESSED: It is calculated that the reserves are around
1,000 million barrels.
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COUNTRY: ECUADOR
POPULATION: The Cofan population, a total of 840 people, settled in five communities located at the shore of the Aguarico river. Three of these communities have shown resistance
to the oil activities. These communities are: Comuna Cofan Dureno, Comuna Cofan Duvuno
and Comuna Cofan Zabalo.
LOCATION: Province of Sucumbíos in the northern part of the Ecuadorian Amazon region, in
the Northeast of the Country.
CAMP OR PROJECT: The following oil projects are located in the Cofan Communities of Zabalo, Dureno and Sinange: oil wells Zabalo, Paujil and Imuya, Oil camp Guanta - Dureno
and Oil Block # 11 Rubi Well 1.
AMOUNT OF CRUDE OIL OR GAS REPRESED: A total of 32,000,000 barrels.
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PREVENTED CARBON EMISSION: The Cofan people have been able to prevent the emission
of 4 million tons of carbon.
CONFRONTING ISOLATION AND ABUSE BY THE OIL COMPANIES:
THE RESISTANCE CORRIDORS
New frontiers of resistance are promoted by several people and communities against the
opening of oil frontiers. Some struggles are characterised by mutual inspiration or are linked
and coordinated with each other, creating true resistance corridors.
Resistance to new explorations is found in the three continents of the Third World. Oilwatch
has built a strategy for creating resistance corridors that support the lawsuits, link them and
stimulate a common learning process.
These corridors have been built through the exchange of experiences, visits, meetings and shared information. Each country has its strengths and nurtures the network and its members.
CORRIDORS IN LATIN AMERICA
From Mexico to Tierra del Fuego there are processes of claims,
fights and resistance that are progressively being linked.
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A unified process has been constructed, in Middle America, against
the expansion of the oil frontier in the region, which has freed the
countries and regions from oil activities, as is the case of Costa
Rica and Nicaragua. In Guatemala, since a few years ago, there is
a defence for environmental rights, especially in the protected areas
of the country. In Mexico there is much experience in environmental vigilance and
monitoring, and experience in the geopolitical analysis of the problem, linking it
to other environmental and political axis, which has contributed to the debate in
the region.
New coordinating spaces between Middle America, Colombia and Venezuela are allowing to put focus on the Caribbean Basin, to face in the best
manner the impacts and threats posed by oil activities.
In South America, most countries have an old oil activity and many members have gathered experience in resistance fights. There are inspiring
processes such as the U’wa population in Colombia and the Sarayaku
community in Ecuador.
Ecuador has become a field school to learn about the impacts caused by
oil activities and it has received brothers who are in resistance against oil
companies, coming from almost all countries that are part of the Oilwatch
network.
From Bolivia it is possible to learn about the resources reappropriation processes.
Coordination, such as the Amazon Basin, has been initiated in order to link the
different struggles and design common strategies.
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CORRIDORS IN AFRICA
In Sub-Saharan Africa there are strong processes of claims and resistance against oil activities. The struggles by the Ijaw and Ogoni population have inspired the African continent.
Nigeria has been a learning place for the oil activity impacts in the Delta area and offshore.
In Ghana the fight against the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) has been fundamental.
These struggles have been coordinated with the five countries affected by this pipeline.
Likewise, Chad and Cameroon’s struggles were linked in the resistance against the oil pipeline that would connect both countries. The populations of Chad learned about the impacts
that the extraction activity would provoke, visiting Nigeria.
In Mozambique, the local population has prepared itself for the resistance to hydrocarbon
operations, by visiting the oil camps in Nigeria.
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The organizations in Northwestern Africa, which is a new frontier for the oil industry, are
distrustful of the oil industry offers, as they know of the impacts in the Gulf of Guinea.
There are various common issues being worked on in Africa, such as human rights violations and “ethnic cleaning” in Sudan, environmental racism in South Africa and the remains of
Apartheid, corruption and management of oil revenues in Nigeria and Angola, and militarisation to favour the oil companies in the region in general.
CORRIDORS IN ASIA
In Southeast Asia, there are diverse processes of resistance around the energetic interconnection between the countries that form the ASEAN that includes increasing the oil infrastructure in the region, the exploration and exploitation of gas and oil, the construction of the
Trans ASEAN Gas Pipeline - TAGP. All these processes are in the heart of the struggles.
In Indonesia there are resistance processes in several of the islands of the archipelago and
they are connected in spite of the distance. The impacts have been documented.
The mobilizations and strategies developed by Thailand have initiated the questioning of a
perverse energetic model. They are coordinating with Malaysian organizations regarding
the gas pipeline that is being built to extract the gas in the JDA development area, which is
going to be processed by Petronas.
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Other struggles are also concentrated in Thailand, from exile in defence of territorial and national rights, as is the case of Arakan, where the Burmese government pretends to extract
gas and build a gas pipeline that will seriously affect their territory.
CONFRONTING THE POWER OF THE OIL COMPANIES:
A RESISTANCE NETWORK
The members are essential for a network, but they are not enough; it is necessary to guarantee the network is well connected. For the members we have promoted several meeting
and exchange moments, of which the following are worth mentioning:
• From Peru to Ecuador: This allowed indigenous people from the Northern and Central
Jungle of Peru to closely observe an activity that also exists in their territory, but cannot be
seen close up.
• From Nigeria to Peru: People affected by the company Shell in the Ogoni territory were put
in contact with people that might become affected by the Camisea project in Peru.
• From Nigeria to Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador: This allowed to build solidarity networks
to conserve the Orinoco delta, claiming it is part of the Niger Delta, which is destroyed.
Conserving it also allows Nigerians to have a part of saved delta.
• From Chad to Nigeria: This allowed to recognise the impacts of an activity that had been
announced as the salvation of Chad and in which the World Bank played a project promoter role.
• From African countries to Cameroon: The impacts of the construction of the gas pipeline
Chad - Cameroon were recognised in situ.
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• From Equatorial Guinea to Congo: Impacts of the activity, organisation and control strategies for the oil industry.
• From Bangladesh to Ecuador: This allowed to learn about oil activities in the situation of
emerging concessions in Bangladesh. Topics like models for self-subsistence of the communities were discussed.
• From Central American countries to Mexico: We learned about the oil process, the impacts of the operations on health and the impact on coast populations when the operations are situated off shore. The resistance was based on this.
• From South American countries to Ecuador: Ecuador has become a school, as the concentration of oil activities allows to observe in little time and distance the different phases
of these activities and the impact on the communities.
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• From Eastern Timor to Nigeria and Angola The Timoreans learnt from the impacts on the
activities and the resistance struggle. They managed to visualise the operation practice
of the company Shell that presented itself as a highly responsible company in Nigeria.
• From Ecuador to Mauritania: This helped to understand oil industry threats in protected
areas and for traditional populations who live within the area.
• From Colombia, Peru and Brazil to Ecuador: This helped to understand oil industry threats
in protected areas and for traditional populations who live within the area.
• From South Eastern countries to Thailand: We learned from the impacts of the construction of the Yadana pipeline and shared experiences of struggle, organisation and
resistance.
• Ecuador-Colombia-Peru: Several meetings allowed us to build common strategies to deal
with the issues. It is important to mention the presence of indigenous people, of which
some are divided by national frontiers. In practice, resistance corridors are built between
the three countries.
chapter
THREE
Vegetal
Resistance
declarations made
by the oilwatch network
Cartulina
LIKE A RIVER
To be, like a river, able
To carry on your own
The canoe till it can go no farther.
To chart the course
For hope.
And to scrub away the stains of sorrow
Till it is clean again.
Like the river that sweeps away
And washes.
To rise and belt out
In the quiet distance
A powerful song, like a river deciphering
The earth’s secret.
Like a river, to embrace
Those sudden waves
Swelling with muddy waters
Bringing to the surface the truth
Hidden in its depths.
Like a river, emerging from others,
Wisely flowing along with others
Toward that place where it blends
With the vast waters
Of the boundless ocean.
Thiago de Melo
1. MORATORIUM to the EXPLORATION OF FOSIL FUELS:
A PROPOSAL TO ALL NATIONS
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TO THE G-77 AND CHINA GROUPAND ALL NATIONS CONCERNED ON THE GROWING
ENERGY CRISIS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
N
New York, United States
9th Annual Conference on Sustainable Development
April 2001
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
1. Energy needs and climate change are essential elements to achieve sustainability.
2. Consumption of fossil fuel as primary source of energy is based on severe distortions
around the world. On the one hand, there is excessive energy consumption in the industrialised nations, which is directed cause of resulting in climate change. It is imperative that the
levels of consumption must be reduced. On the other hand, there are many populations in
the world, which use very little energy, including two billion of world’s poorest and therefore
have very low responsibility in generating global warming. But that faced the worst impact
of climate change.
3. The impacts of climate change are being felt all around the world, as the destructive
power of extreme weather events such as floods and storms, hurt many vulnerable populations in developing countries. Most of these countries are part of the G77 and China
group. The impacts of climate change are causing loss of life and adversely health, on the
agriculture and are producing environment degradation. Apart from the loss of human life
and environmental destruction, fragile economies are also devastated. The consequences of
global warming such as an exacerbated of El Niño, the increased of tropical hurricanes, severe storms, flooding and wildfires are having enormous repercussions for these countries.
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4. This crisis is most evident in low-lying coastal regions. Both, human population and urban
infrastructure are been seriously impacted. Expensive projects, such as natural gas and oil
pipelines, dams, urban centres, and others, are being destroyed by the intensity of climatic
changes impacts.
5. Agricultural systems are experiencing serious problems, including the loss of agricultural
land and fresh coastal waters, because of the salinization, in other cases excess floodwaters have destroyed crops. Furthermore, changes in temperature cycles of wet and dry
seasons are placing huge stresses on the natural environment.
6. The oil industry is the main responsible of the climate change
7. The rich countries are threatening the security of the whole world with their disproportionate use of the carbon sinks. With the Kyoto
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Protocol, the rich countries keep their “grand fathered” rights to carbon sinks, namely the
oceans, the new vegetation, the soils, and the atmosphere, as if their were their almost exclusive rightful owners, only in exchange for a promise of a small reduction of 5.2 per cent
from their 1990 levels. Even this most generous of Protocols is unacceptable to the President
of the United States.This is a true aggression against the rest of the world and against future
generations.
8. Profound changes need to be made in energy policy away from fossil fuels to climate
friendly and abundant renewable energy supplies, energy conservation and efficiency, in
order to guarantee the survival of the planet. These changes must be implemented at all
level, production, distribution and consumption.
9. The barrier to a transition to clean energy source are political and economical and not
technical. The economics are oriented in favour fossil fuels by huge subsidies as well as
guaranteed loan from international financial institutions in their favour. This undermines the
development of truly sustainable alternatives.
10. The highest priority must be to research on marketing and installation of clean, decentralized and low impact sources of energy sources. This must receive immediate attention
because the growing nature of the climate crisis.
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11. Despite mounting evidence of the impacts of climate change and often-public statements
by oil companies acknowledging this, these same companies continue their determined
search for new sources of oil effectively expanding the fossil fuel reserve base. Countries
must take a firm stand against this trend, and place the interests of the global majority above the private interests of corporations.
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A MORATORIUM ON FOSSIL FUEL EXPLORATION: A PROPOSAL TO ALL NATIONS
Oilwatch, an international network of grassroots environmental and human rights organisations from tropical countries, invites all governments attending this conference, to support
and lead the call for a Moratorium on oil exploration as a first step toward a wholesale
energy transition on an international scale.
THE OBJECTIVES OF THE MORATORIUM
• To place the consequences of climate change (floods, hurricanes, droughts, changes in
rain patterns, etc.) within the context of national and international energy policy.
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• Responsibility for these ecological disasters is not shared equally, but falls squarely on
the shoulders of those who promote the petroleum industry (the oil companies, World
Bank, and other international financial institutions and the governments of industrialised
nations).
• The costs of an energy transition, and of repairing the damage done, should be reflected
in the price of production and consumption of fossil fuels.
• To create incentives for a transition to clean, decentralised and low impact energy sources, energy efficiency and conservation.
• To cancel all the projects developed to transfer the responsibilities of C02 emission to
other regions of the World, under the Kyoto Protocol.
TO G-77 AND CHINA GROUP OIL/GAS EXPORTER COUNTRIES
1. The extraction of fossil fuels produces high human environmental cost including the loss
of biodiversity, contamination and degradation of watersheds, agricultural lands, fisheries
and other productive systems, deforestation of pristine forest and other fragile landscape,
contributing further with the greenhouse effect, both because of the loss of CO2-consuming
ecosystem, as well as the increase of emissions by burning fossil fuels.
2. Although oil/gas exportation is profitable in the short term, it is an immutable fact that petroleum is a scarce and non-renewable resource. The oil industry can never be sustainable,
by any terms of the definition.
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3. The current policy of OPEC nations is to reduce the supply of petroleum in order to raise
the international price of oil. There is a concurrent trend among the large energy-consuming
nations to pressure non-OPEC countries to expand exploration and exploitation.
4. Oil-producing nations face a choice between serving the interests of the large energyconsuming nations, by exploiting their last hydrocarbon reserves to export at low prices, or
to protect their own long-term needs.
5. A Moratorium on exploration by oil-producing nations is a way of preserving their natural
resources, their sovereignty, and the survival of many indigenous cultures that live areas
with hydrocarbon reserves.
6. Countries, which decide to implement a Moratorium on the exploration or extraction of
their hydrocarbon reserves, could negotiate economic credits under the Kyoto Protocol for
CO2 net reduction.
TO G-77 IMPORTER COUNTRIES
1. Importer countries must initiate a rapid shift towards economies less depends on fossil fuels. This implies developing clean, low impact and renewable sources of energy, for
example from solar, wind and hydro technologies
2. Energy, based on fossil hydrocarbons, consumption has to decline in industrialised countries, and energy sources must be diversified. The sooner this decision is taken; the easiest
will be the transition. One way or another, a reduction in oil and gas consumption will be
obligatory within the coming two or three decades, since the imperative for a shift away
from fossil fuels will become ever more evident as evidence of climate change increases.
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For certain the world cannot survive following the current projected world demand for fossil
fuels.
3. The less industrialised counties are in a better position to begin this process because their
development and infrastructure rely more on other energy sources, clean, renewable, and
with low impacts, rather than fossil fuels.
4. Those G77 nations, which import fossil fuels, must search for international support for
these kinds of projects.
TO SMALL INSULAR STATES
1. Small insular states face the greatest threats from climate change, since they face a threat
to their very existence. AOSIS have proposed serious fossil fuel reductions, but have met
with a complete lack of political will on the part of industrialised nations.
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2. A Moratorium on oil activity is a simple proposal, which shuts the valve on the crisis at its
source. It is a strategy, which is already being pursued by hundreds of local communities
around the world.
3. In supporting local communities of resistance, the small insular states can play a crucial
role in building an international movement toward fossil fuel reductions.
A MORATORIUM IS REINFORCED BY THE FOLLOWING INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS:
1. The Convention on Biological Diversity, whose main objective is the conservation of biodiversity, which is negatively impacted by all phases of fossil fuel production.
2. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol,
which require emissions reductions by the countries listed in Annex I, and makes recommendations for actions on the part of those countries.
3. Convention (No. 169) concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries
(International Labour Organisation), which recognises the rights of indigenous peoples, who
are currently threatened by new oil exploration projects and the construction of pipelines.
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There also exist other international instruments that recognise the moratorium as a precautionary measure in favour of the environment.
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2. FOSSIL FUELS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
6th Conference on the Parties of the Climate Change Convention - COP6
The Hague, November 2000.
CONTEXT OF A CRISIS
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The link between climate change and hydrocarbons is now recognised as the main source
of CO2 emissions and is due to the fact that the burning of fossil fuels is the main source
of energy.. In spite of the of climate crisis, – with more intense and more frequent weather
disasters, the melting at the poles, and the increase in the number and impacts of hurricanes, etc., the centre of discussion between different governments is not how to decrease
the amount of oil on the market (as was agreed upon at the Kyoto conference) but how to
lower the cost and therefore continue with a model of development based on the use of
fossil fuels as the main source of energy.
Although lowering the consumption of oil is a goal of the protocol, the supply of oil on the
market continues to rise due to oil from new reserves. The new oil reserves are mainly located in countries with large areas of natural forests and in deep water seas. The extraction
of oil in these cases has a double impact on climate change. Firstly, marine photosynthetic
organisms that absorb atmospheric CO2 are destroyed, and secondly, processes of deforestation increase (which implies the release of CO2 into the atmosphere).On the other
hand, increases in the use of fossil fuels stored in the underground and the emission of
gases which increase the greenhouse effect.
Industrialised countries, which exceed their emissions of CO2 in the absorption capacity of
the entire planet, now want to occupy both the territories of non - industrialised countries
and international waters. These countries are now occupying the South with forest plantations projects and with the mortgage of forests areas through the Clean Development
Mechanism.
In these countries, in spite of the absence of governmental measures, traditional populations are now taking part of the solution into their hands: “to close the tap” of oil , ready to be
burned, and in this way defending their right to a sustainable live.
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SCIENTIFIC POINT OF VIEW
3,5 billion tonnes of crude are used every year. This results in burning 3 GigaTons of carbon.
In addition, the consumption of gas and coal is estimated to be equivalent to an annual
production of 6 GigaTons of carbon. It has been calculated that there are around 1 trillion
barrels of oil underground reserves (between reserves in production, reserves tested but
not exploited, and those yet to be discovered). This equals approximately 117 GigaTonsof
releasable carbon. Current CO2 emissions are already exceeding the absorption capacity of
the planet and are causing huge disasters.
The increase of carbon in the atmosphere will provoke, among other things, widespread
profound ecological changes in forests, extinction of plants and animals, the disappearance of glaciers, crop changes, a decrease in fresh water reserves, flooding, the loss of corral
reefs, avalanches, storms, diseases, and death.
According to Art. 3, of the Climate Change Convention, measures are needed, to “anticipate, prevent or minimize the causes of Climate Change, and to mitigate adverse effects”.
These objectives can be met by stopping the expansion of the oil frontier.
THE POINT OF VIEW OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES
Local communities, living in a close relationship with nature, and with the forests, have traditionally been, marginalised by development, especially of the oil consumption, production
and development.. A moratorium on the expansion of the oil frontier is a matter of survival,
because the material, social and cultural basis of survival are being destroyed in the process of extracting fossil fuels. For local communities, the main objective is not to demand
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a legal declaration of a moratorium, but to apply it, with the supreme right of resistance.
Avoiding the extraction of oil allows and enables the conservation of forests, which is indispensable for the survival of local populations, and for the environmental services which they
render. Without doubt, the zones where watersheds or coasts are protected by forests are
less adversely effected by climate changes. The local communities that protect these forested areas, have greater possibilities of maintaining the stability of the climate in their region.
If forests are conserved so can biodiversity is another basic guarantee for the adaptation
and resistance to these changes in the climate. Farmers who are able to maintain a wide
diversity of seeds will be able to confront adverse climatic conditions, using their varieties
which are resistant to drought , flooding, frost, etc.
Once again, as has happened throughout human history, small farmers guarantee and
protect have guaranteed food security, even though they compete with industrialised farmers whose economies are subsidised by oil.
THE PROPOSAL FOR A MORATORIUM
In Kyoto, OILWATCH, together with hundreds of other organisations, called for a moratorium
on the exploration for oil, gas and coal based on the following arguments.
1. Oil activity is an outrage against the survival of indigenous populations and threatens local
communities with ties to the earth.
2. The use of oil increases the greenhouse effect, unleashing severe changes in the climate.
3. The extraction of hydrocarbons destroys forest and marine ecosystems; in other words,
decreasing drainage, and with this increasing carbon emissions to the atmosphere.
4. Hydrocarbon activities induce other activities that also destroy ecosystems, such as the
opening of roads and the construction of infrastructure for oil activity. Additionally, oil activities generate social problems that in turn increase the pressure on natural resources.
5. Due to the agreements contained in the Kyoto protocol, the world reserves of fossil fuels
cannot be used because it is not necessary to extract.
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6. The production of oil in Third World countries is a subsidy to industrialised countries since
they buy energy at a cheap price and then sell expensive products to the Third World.
7. The money obtained from the sale of oil is inferior to the amount needed to restore all of
the damages provoked by such activity.
8. Among the impacts generated by these activities is the forced displacement of traditional
communities.
9. Oil activity induces migration of foreign populations, producing more pressure on resources.
11. Oil has a cultural value for many of the world’s indigenous populations . For many peoples
oil is an element that plays a fundamental role in terms of the earth. Each barrel of oil NOT
extracted constitutes a positive contribution to climate stability. Thousands of millions of barrels are still underground thanks to the struggles of traditional indigenous populations who
defend their territories and their rights. The local communities that impede the extraction of
oil are keeping carbon in the only safe deposits that exist: in the depths of the earth.
The moratorium is a unilateral declaration of peace and well being for the planet.
FORMS OF APPLYING THE MORATORIUM
The moratorium is a unilateral declaration of peace and well-being for the planet and can
be applied in the following ways:
1. Avoiding new exploration activities:
Due to the legitimate resistance of many local populations, the expansion of the oil industry
has halted numerous oil projects. Although many indigenous peoples and local populations
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have succeeded in having the property rights of their land and territories recognised , in the
majority of countries underground resources belong to the State. Oil companies have developed many strategies to expropriate land from their legitimate owners.
Therefore, local populations should know their fundamental, civil, political and collective
rights and know how to face up to oil companies.
2. Closing of wells:
In several parts of the world the closing of wells in operation has been achieved by local
organisations with a profound understanding of the accumulated impacts of oil production..
Different actions to eliminate fires and to close zones of extreme contamination are key in
reducing the emissions of CO2, such as the action taken by the Ijaw in Nigeria during the
Operation Climate Change.
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Populations have been able to prove that there are no benefits for them, only negative effects.
In many cases it has been necessary to quantify the costs of environmental impacts of a functioning well, as this seems to be the only language that the government understands.
3. Decrease oil and gas extraction:
In many cases it is possible to obtain national agreements to decrease the rate of production (considering strategic aspects) and promoting renewable natural resources as alternative energy sources Decreasing the amount of extracted crude is an agenda for producing
countries to avoid the falling prices of their energy resource.
4. Declaration of untouchable zones or zones free of oil:
Arguments of an environmental or cultural character can permit the determination of areas
where oil activity is not permitted The legislation regarding protected areas and indigenous
territories must be strengthened, and collective rights must be exercised as a way of avoiding the destruction of new areas by oil activity. ../.
CONSIDERING THAT
• Climate change will cause negative impacts on the poorest populations and generate
severe environmental impacts on extensive and pristine regions of the planet.
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• Climate change is only a part of the environmental debt accumulated by the industrialised world by the overexploitation of the resources of the South.
• CO2 emissions are the principle factor responsible for climate change and emanate from
the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels.
• The burning of oil, gas and coal is the principle cause of climate change induced by human beings. The burning of only a portion of recoverable fossil fuel reserves ensures a
climatic catastrophe.
• The exploration of fossil fuels has reached new ecological and ethnological frontiers: the
home of the last and most vulnerable indigenous groups and fragile ecosystems, the
results of which are an accelerated loss of biodiversity and traditional knowledge that will
end in ethnocide and genocide.
• Economic growth continues to be based on the use of fossil fuels.
• Transnational oil companies are at the same time the main beneficiaries of the current
model of development based on exploitation and consumption of fossil fuels, and responsible for climate change and the loss of communities and ecosystems.
• In the 6th Conference of the Parties of the Agreement on Climate Change in The Hague,
the “Clean Development Mechanism”, which is promoted by countries in the North in
order to avoid directly reducing emissions, and could result in a new form of inequality in
North – South relations, will be the main issue on the agenda.
FOR THE ABOVE REASONS WE CALL FOR:
• Immediate and effective measures to be taken to stop CO2 emissions in the sites of origin.
• The expansion of the oil, natural gas and coal frontier to be halted, by means of a moratorium on the exploration of new areas, as a step towards the transition to clean and low
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impact renewable energy, to and the total elimination of fossil fuels as a primary energy
sour.
• A moratorium on bilateral and multilateral loans, and on national credits and subsidies
for hydrocarbon extraction projects and for fossil fuel energy generation projects.
• Energy sovereignty and efficiency to be achieved and conservation methods to be applied
and clean renewable low impact energy to be developed .
• Compensation and remediation for damage caused by climate disasters and by extraordinary events such as El Niño, the loss of coast line around the world, floods such as
those in Southeast Asia, South America and other regions, threats to island countries,
and the constant loss of deltas and estuaries.
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• Oil companies, to be declared responsible for the impacts of globalisation based on fossil
fuels; leading process at every level, including production, distribution, processing and
commercialisation of fossil fuels.
• Recognise the existence of the demand for the ecological debt and incorporate it in climate change negotiations, with institutional help of fair and efficient financial mechanisms, assuring the ecological and economical rights of everyone around the world.
• The immediate cancellation of the external debt of countries of the South.
3. OILWATCH POSITION PAPER ON EMISSIONS TRADING
Buenos Aires, December 2004
10th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
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While the peoples who oppose petroleum mining activities are achieving real reductions
in CO2 emissions, the World Bank is promoting and financing greater use of fossil fuels,
through both direct subsidies and projects such as the Prototype Carbon Fund, which purportedly compensates for the burning of fossil fuels. While in the past their projects allowed
for the occupation of the atmosphere, today they are promoting a new form of occupation
of the peoples’ territories.
A. EMISSIONS TRADING: SOLUTIONS OR COMPLICATIONS?
There are currently two main approaches to solving the serious problem of climate change. One approach is based on a drastic and rapid reduction of the use of fossil fuels, and
focuses on the current use of the atmosphere, which is inequitable and unsustainable. The
second is aimed a manipulating the world’s ecosystems as a means of increasing their
absorption of CO2.
The first approach encompasses the peoples’ struggles to halt the expansion of the petroleum frontier, the campaigns waged by environmental groups for this same purpose, the
efforts of island states to bring about a reduction of emissions, and even the incipient commitments made by some regions, countries and cities to keep emissions from increasing.
This approach falls within a social justice framework; it recognizes South-North inequalities,
identifies the problem and aims at solving it. It acknowledges the historic debt owed by the
industrialized countries that have arbitrarily occupied the atmosphere of the entire planet.
This approach proposes that the best way to decrease the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is by leaving it underground, where these reserves are safe. This is also the best way
to prevent local impacts from fossil fuel exploration and extraction activities.
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The second approach is focused on the promotion of tree plantations as carbon sinks, and
a series of experiments, particularly in the oceans, to create more carbon sinks. This approach includes such proposals as the emissions trading market and what is currently known
as the sale of environmental services. Under this approach, inequality is assumed as a
historically acquired right. For its beneficiaries, the priority lies on maintaining their levels of
consumption while increasing the capacity for the absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere,
through initiatives like tree plantations in the South, for instance. The differences between
these two approaches are not only political; they also relate to results and impacts. The latter approach makes it necessary to the convince the world of the efficiency of plantations as
carbon sinks while ignoring their weaknesses: the amount of time they can be guaranteed
to remain standing without being burned down, logged, sold or infested by diseases. It
also implies disregarding the impacts of plantations on local populations, who are deprived
of the rights to their territories, forests and ways of life. It further ignores the fact that the
local communities will have to take care of these plantations in return for ridiculously small
amounts of compensation, while being denied the use of their lands and forests.
B. ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES: THE MECHANISM FOR EMISSIONS TRADING
Emissions trading requires the creation of tradable merchandise in the form of environmental services, which is now being undertaken by the countries of the North. Environmental
services are a new mechanism being used to convert the services provided by ecosystems
– such as carbon sequestration, water filtration and biodiversity protection – into commodities. This may seem like a good proposal, because it would allow local populations to
charge money for preserving forests. Nevertheless, in actual practice, it deprives local populations of their rights and control over their lands and resources, and only guarantees the
rights of those who purchase the services.
The sale of environmental services is accompanied by a campaign to gain access to control
of vast areas of land, many of them currently protected, and others of strategic importance
for their biological functions. Conservation NGOs will be the ones to acquire the rights for
administration, planning and research in these protected or strategic areas, and this process is already underway. This will lead to the achievement of two simultaneous objectives:
on the one hand, local communities will be stripped of the rights to their land, while on the
other, access to these resources will be made available through negotiations with transnational conservation NGOs.
When the sale of a service does not take place in a protected area, the local communities
will have to abandon their traditional agriculture and harvesting practices to become caretakers of areas used for the conservation of trees that fulfill a function that has been sold
to third parties. Forests are large carbon reservoirs and their conservation prevents carbon
emissions, which is why countries and corporations in the North want to use these forests
to compensate for their industrial emissions. This is the reason for the North’s interest in
controlling the forests of the South. In many cases these forests – whether they are already
degraded or not – are replaced by monoculture plantations of exotic tree species, supposedly in order to take advantage of the suitability of this land for the absorption of industrially
produced carbon.
C. THE DANGEROUS MARKET CREATED BY THE WORLD BANK
The World Bank has created the Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF), a mutual fund to facilitate
negotiations between potential corporate or government investors in carbon reduction projects and entities that want to sell carbon certificates.
Although the objective of the PCF is to help finance projects that will purportedly lead to false
and unverified reductions of carbon emissions, so that the resulting carbon certificates can
be traded, the policies of the World Bank’s energy sector continue to promote the use of
fossil fuels, particularly natural gas. The World Bank is backing the construction of a number
of oil and gas pipelines that will pass through fragile regions, such as the Chad-Cameroon
oil pipeline, the West Africa gas pipeline, the pipelines to be built in Indonesia, and the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline, among others. The policies of the international and regional financial
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institutions generally ignore the risks involved and instead continue to promote ever more
and ever larger energy infrastructure projects.
D. THE REAL BENEFICIARIES OF EMISSIONS TRADING
Oil companies carry out ongoing campaigns to prevent a reduction in petroleum consumption, at least until it has become possible to turn other energy sources like the sun,
water and wind into resources subject to monopoly ownership. These same companies, like
Shell and BP, are attempting to negotiate carbon credits for their investments in alternative
energy sources.
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Forestry companies are seeking to benefit in two ways: while acquiring financing and subsidies for their tree plantations, they would also be able to repair the damage to their image
created by deforestation. In practice, the funds they acquire will endanger new areas of
natural forests, since these companies will at no point be prepared to cut back on their
logging activities.
Development NGOs are also hoping to benefit through projects for the sale of environmental services, arguing that these will provide resources for social investments. Nevertheless,
these projects merely serve to maintain a technocracy that does more to improve superficial
images than to resolve underlying problems. International conservation NGOs are probably
the key actors in the environmental services strategy, since their involvement allows for this
process to take place under the guise of sustainable development and preservation of the
environment. It is these NGOs that will come to “administer” the areas in question, which
means that they will be able to decide what will be researched and for whom, which areas
will be used to extract resources, which will be conserved, and so on. Within this scenario,
the most that local communities can hope for is to play the role of forest rangers or caretakers. Organizations like the WWF, the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International
and Birdlife have already taken concrete steps to resolve the pertinent legal, funding and
technical capacity issues. To achieve their goals, they have succeeded in infiltrating national
agencies in order to weaken them and to place themselves in the position of the only organizations with the necessary technical capacity.
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E. THE VICTIMS OF EMISSIONS TRADING
The local populations who have co-existed with, preserved and enriched biodiversity will
lose their rights over their territories and resources. In order to receive resources in exchange for forest conservation or the leasing of their lands, they will be forced to give up the
traditional uses of their resources and be converted from owners to caretakers.
National governments will lose their sovereignty over their resources and territory by being
forced to accept the administration of large areas of land, many of them strategically important, by foreign institutions, which will work to guarantee the interests of corporations,
not the people.
Environmentalists, human rights defenders, and all those who fight for global justice all
around the world, whether as members of organizations or not, are now confronting new forms of usurpation and destruction. In the past we were deprived of a clean atmosphere; today
we are threatened with having our land taken away, in the name of the atmosphere.
4. Joint Statement on Protected Areas to the 7th Conference of
the Parties of the Convention on Biodiversity
Kuala Lumpur, 11 February 2004
EThe World Rainforest Movement, Oilwatch and Friends of the Earth International (a federation of 68 non-governmental environmental organizations from 65 countries) believe that
sustainable management of protected areas is a key pillar to biodiversity conservation.
However, we have noticed with regret the alarming rate at which protected areas are being
lost and decimated, due to the process of planning, establishment and management, and
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more importantly, due to largescale mining, oil extraction and commercial logging activities.
Most government designated protected areas world-wide have been established at the exclusion of the rightful owners - local communities and Indigenous Peoples - in the planning,
establishment and management of these areas. This is a clear violation of their ownership
and rights.
Where then lies the protection and encouragement of customary use of biological resources (article 10(c) of the Convention on Biodiversity) when local communities and Indigenous
Peoples are denied the right of access, under the flag of protection, to the very resources
that belong to them, while these resources are given out eventually to large foreign conservation organizations, or to multinational corporations for large-scale mining, oil exploration
and logging activities.
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To achieve sustainable management of protected areas and for that matter biodiversity
conservation, we urge parties to the CBD to adopt a program of work on protected areas
that clearly includes and explicitly safeguards the rights and interests of local communities
and Indigenous Peoples throughout the process of planning, establishment and management of protected areas. We do not and will not believe in parks without people, and we do
not believe in a protected area program without explicit safeguards for Indigenous Peoples’
rights and other aspects of social governance.
We also emphasize the need to include a clear reference to the rights, interests and role of
women regarding protected area planning, establishment and management. Moreover, a
work program on protected areas can only be considered credible if it includes an explicit
rejection of mining, oil exploration, and large-scale commercial logging activities in and
around protected areas.
Also in this light, it should be ensured that sufficient funds are allocated to national conservation programmes, so that we don’t need to sell out conservation to private actors
like foreign conservation organizations, and oil, mining and logging corporations. We also
support the call for Action of our Indonesian colleague organizations in this regard “Conservation is not for Concession”.
5. OILWATCH’S STATEMENT TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF OPEC
Vienna, September 19, 2005
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Sovereignty under threat
During the 1970s, OPEC achieved a significant turnaround in the correlation of global forces.
For the first time ever, the oil-producing countries in the South were in an advantageous
position. It managed to limit the colonial model of appropriation of raw materials.
Through a process of nationalization of hydrocarbons and the creation or strengthening of state-owned companies, no other group of countries that produce
such strategic raw material had been so successful in controlling its natural
resources, both from an economic and a sovereignty point of view.
However, with this triumph, all the member countries of the OPEC entered,
at their own risk, into the core of a global technical pattern, created from and
for the benefit of the certain countries. They thereby started to have a direct
dependence on the global functioning of the industry, its finances and its technical-scientific system. Thus, the possibilities of keeping a favorable alignment
of economic forces within the current oil civilization were merely fleeting.
It is no coincidence that most of the technical, economic and social victories achieved by the
oil-producing countries of the South, whether or not members of the OPEC, have started to
fade away since the mid 1980s, both on sovereignty aspects and in the search for the welfare of the countries that possess such a fundamental resource.
The strategy of the northern countries, and their respective private companies, was centered
in the creation of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which has been able -since 1985- to
fracture OPEC’s agreements, and to consolidate the mediator function of the transnational
oil companies and oil-services providers. In this way, they managed to effectively stop the
flow of excess production to the South thus ensuring a huge wastefulness of energy in the
countries in the North.
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Transnational companies have recovered much of the space they had lost during the 1970s
when OPEC was created. They have recovered direct control over the oil companies and
deposits, or they have managed to achieve an increasing number of guarantees that allow
them to occupy tactical spaces both locally and internationally. As a result, they are currently more influential within OPEC and are re-taking an increasing control over that wealth
which they had momentarily lost.
Faced with this situation, most of the state-owned companies, whether or not members of
OPEC, have been unable to stop or effectively limit the intervention of the transnational oil
companies. On the contrary, the latter are advancing both in the strategic area of services
and in the processes of reform and adjustments imposed on our countries by the multilateral banks, fostering the dismantling of the national companies.
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Despite OPEC’s initial efforts, once again the transnational companies are deciding the energy policies in all the oil-producing countries in the world. One example would be the fact
that the directors of Halliburton, Exxon-Mobil and Chevron-Texaco are extremely powerful
inside the government of the United States – the main oil consumer with a huge resource
deficit – and since they are the people who hold all the information on the reserves of the
planet, they are the protagonists of the wars for the conquest and control of the resource.
However, with the arrival of the new century, this world that has been created to be the image and resemblance of the oil civilization, is reaching two important limits: first, the global
depletion of reserves, especially in small and medium oil-producing countries and secondly,
the catastrophic exhaustion of the planet’s environmental ability to support more burning
of hydrocarbons.
Faced with an environmental crisis, the companies are preparing their strategies to enter
into the business of “alternative” energy and are setting the bases to control the energy
market through Public-Private Partnerships and other mechanisms. The fact that the companies that pretend to control oil today are the same companies that are now getting hold
over the energy services means that there will be serious economic, social and environmental implications for the southern countries. This is a challenge that OPEC will have to face.
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In the meantime, OPEC countries have done little or nothing to enter into the field of research
and change to energy alternatives adapted to the characteristics of their own countries, nor
have they managed to diversify their economy.
An In-House Environmental Crisis
We have started the new century with severe environmental problems caused by over consumption of combustible fossils. Climate disasters, which are ever more frequent, intense
and uncontrollable, are affecting the planet as a whole.
To the environmental vulnerability faced by OPEC’s members themselves, we need to add
a series of steps taken by transnational companies, strong consumer countries and the
governments of the member states themselves that are jeopardizing the spirit in which the
cartel of producing countries was created in the first place.
Two scenarios where the pieces of the puzzle are moving dangerously against OPEC members are Environment and Economics. The immediate benefits from the policies on crude
oil prices and its derivatives are really contradictory to the progressively disastrous effects in
the middle and long terms.
OPEC’s country members are already facing the impacts of climate change and pollution
linked to the oil civilization. We only need to remember the December 1999 Vargas disaster
in Venezuela, caused by totally unpredictable rains, or the forest fires in Indonesia and other
countries in the region, caused by droughts.
We certainly need to add to these problems the local environmental impacts caused by the
extraction, transportation and refining of crude.
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Countries with arid and semiarid ecosystems are suffering, due to climate change, an increase in the desertification process; they are losing the little amounts of agricultural lands
they have, and their scarce sources of water are being polluted.
On their part, countries with rainforests are rapidly losing their biodiversity, a strategic resource, and they are also facing the pollution of their water sources.
In addition, the local impacts of oil activities generate discontent among the population, leading to protests –legitimate from the communities’ perspective- which governments must
face.
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Three countries, members of OPEC, are the main concern of Oilwatch because they are
tropical countries with oil production: Nigeria, Indonesia and Venezuela. The situation in
these countries is critical, there have been threats of invasion, the sources for survival of the
populations are being destroyed, the transnational companies are rapidly gaining space,
and they are destroying the resources that will guarantee the wellbeing of their people in
the future. At present the citizens of these countries have borne unjust and oppressive pressures on the social, ecological, economic and political fronts while the benefits are reaped
mostly by the national elite and the transnational oil corporations.
In Nigeria and Indonesia, for example, the citizens experience rising fuel pump prices each
time the price of crude oil rises on the world market confirming the curse of crude oil on the
people in whose land the resource is extracted. Governments are quick to speak of subsidizing oil costs whereas it is the poor communities whose lands and waters have been
colonized by the oil industry who subsidize the cost of oil with even their blood.
Besides that, Indonesia is suffering from the depletion of its reserves, because already one
third has been exploited. And what is more serious, is that Indonesia which is the only Asian
member of OPEC is considering abandoning its membership, because of the lack of an
OPEC policy of protecting its members.
In the case of Venezuela, the mega projects for gas and oil exploitation planned for 20062030, and the opening of Venezuela to private transnational companies are incompatible
with the proposed political reforms in favor of the people, the sovereignty and the respect
for environmental rights and the rights for indigenous people, fishermen and farmers.
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Besides that, these plans will accentuate the impacts and risks mentioned above.
It is vital for OPEC members to consider the interest of citizens rather than dancing to the
shifting strategies of powerful consumer nations and corporations.
Regaining sovereignty, the establishment of a policy of reinvestment and control of excess
production, and the setting of conditions to develop a new post-oil civilization, are undoubtedly imperative to achieve the objectives set to protect these countries and their inhabitants.
If not, all these countries will find themselves with a huge ecological and social debt and
an accumulation of externalities that no one will know who must pay. Our legacy will be
ruinous economic and environmental decadence and dependence, which will be as disastrous as the punishment imposed on these countries by climate change.
For all the above, Oilwatch proposes the following:
To open up a national an international dialogue on sovereignty and privatization, on the
short and long term and on social, economic and climate justice.
To start a discussion on a post-oil economy, where alternative energies are controlled and
provided by States and which can identify solid bases to sustain energy sovereignty and
social and economic well-being.
To take in the precautionary principle, already included in the most important international
conventions, and to start adopting it progressively among OPEC countries and the rest of
the nations in the world. A disregard of this subject would mean to move ahead without
addressing the problem of an uncertain future.
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To open up a debate among the tropical countries that are members of OPEC on the broader
ecological and economic benefits of safeguarding and keeping our oil reserves as a way to
preserve biodiversity and water, respect human rights, contribute to address climate changes and to gear their policies towards sovereign and non oil-dependant nations.
To avoid the criminalization of protests and resistance by local communities who denounce
the impacts of oil activities, because they are defending the rights of the people, the countries, and the planet.
For the planet and its people.
6. OILWATCH DECLARATION TO THE SOCIAL
FORUM OF THE AMERICAS
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Quito, July 25 to 30, 2004
While social movements are struggling against globalization and transnational corporations, in defense of sustainability, the governments of the countries of our region have been
moving forward with decisions that serve to dismantle national sovereignty.
As hostages to impositions, they have been moving forward in the signing
of Free Trade Agreements.
The availability, abuse and deprivation of energy are key elements in the
lives of societies and nations and are at the heart of the agenda of Free
Trade Agreements.
The strategy of these agreements is to force us to extract petroleum in order to export it, to export in order to have hard currency to pay off our external debt, and then to take on new debts so as to continue exporting. In this
way the industrialized nations are guaranteed a constant flow of energy to
keep their industrial, financial and economic machinery running.
Access to energy constitutes a basic human right, like the right to water or land, and should
be guaranteed to all the inhabitants of the planet. The world’s population is a user of these
resources, not a client of corporations.
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The abuse of energy consumption obliges nations to increase the exploitation of energy
sources. In this regard, a central role is played by the transnational companies and their
partners, the armed forces who serve as a mechanism of persuasion and all the political
and legal grounds that allow access to and control of our resources and territories.
The deprivation or privatization of energy entails stripping governments of all control over
these resources, including the legal grounds for their administration.
FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS: THE ISSUE IS NOT TRADE, BUT SOVEREIGNTY
Throughout the Americas, Free Trade Agreements are being actively discussed, negotiated
and approved. Many believe that it is simply a matter of negotiations on investment and
trade. But this is not the case. It is a question of a total loss of state sovereignty, in which one
of the main objectives is access to and control of natural resources, primarily oil and gas,
the energy sources of the system, as well as biodiversity and water, fundamental resources
for industry.
According to U.S. policy, without a substantial increase in energy reserves, the United States
could face a threat to its national security and economic well-being. As a result, it has declared all of the world’s oil reserves as a matter of its own security.
The United States’ energy demand requires 20 million barrels of oil a day. Its own production and reserves are wholly insufficient. For every 100 barrels of oil consumed in the United
States, 60 are imported. By the year 2020, this figure will have risen to 75 out of every 100
barrels. The United States consumes half of the world’s gasoline, yet represents a mere 4%
of the world’s population. In this context, Latin America plays a key role. It currently provides
40% of the United States’ oil imports, and this proportion could further increase if it succeeds in
bringing about the development and rapid extraction of known and discovered reserves.
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To gain access to the resources of Latin America, a series of strategies have been proposed
which entail the occupation of territory through oil pipelines, highways, ports and biological
corridors. These are joined by a military strategy, a strategy to dismantle the structures of
state control, and absolute control over the administration and management of resources
in the hands of transnational corporations.
Throughout the Third World, in response to external pressures, the state has been delegating its functions, and this has included the privatization of electric power companies,
transportation and energy production, from both hydrocarbon-based and hydroelectric
sources.
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U.S. intervention in Colombia is aimed at controlling oil production in this country and strengthening U.S. presence in the region to prevent a loss of control over its crude oil, particularly
in Venezuela. The Plan Puebla Panama initiative and “New Horizons” military exercises include the construction of pipelines that lead towards the United States.
Oil is the lifeblood of globalization. It fuels all of the workings of the market, transportation,
consumption and industrialization, and sustains the supremacy of the imperial nations.
ARBITRATION, THE MEANS TO THE END OF LEGAL SOVEREIGNTY
In Free Trade Agreements, arbitration is established as the means of resolving trade disputes. These disputes arise primarily from so-called “discriminatory treatment”, based on the
supposition that transnationals must be given the same treatment as national companies
or any other company. Any mistaken decision made by a state becomes a precedent for
future demands for equal conditions. Any national standards or regulations (related to the
environment, taxes, commerce, banking, etc.) whose application serves to restrict foreign
investment can be interpreted as “discriminatory”, and the companies affected can thereby
appeal to arbitration bodies that strictly protect investments.
Under the model of conflict resolution through arbitration, the rules applied are not related to
national laws. These mechanisms are in fact often unconstitutional. When a country accepts
arbitration, regardless of the different forums and models of arbitration, it renounces its legal
sovereignty and loses all possibilities for the appeal, review or challenging of decisions.
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Arbitration represents a renunciation of the “impartiality of justice”. Decisions are handed
down by trade tribunals that exclusively protect investments and investors, and not the rights of states or individuals.
SOVEREIGN NATIONS THROUGH ENERGY SOVEREIGNTY
Energy sovereignty must be demanded by calling on governments to define a democratic
and sustainable energy programme, to end dependence on oil and gas, to end dependence on transnationals and to end dependence on imported technologies.
Energy sovereignty at the community level must be maintained, as many local communities
have developed and maintained their own models of management and consumption, preserving ecosystems and preventing new areas from being destroyed through oil exploration.
Energy sovereignty must be built by developing local and community strategies for energy
production and consumption that allow us to be autonomous and break our dependency.
While corporations and governments attempt to dismantle sovereignty through a single
decision, our communities -- autonomous, diverse and decentralized -- are defending and
maintaining true sovereignty, which is rooted in the people.
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7. Position Paper on RACISM
AND FOSSIL FUELS
Given that:
1. World energy production and racism are closely linked. Activities related to the exploration, extraction, refining and transportation of coal, natural gas and oil, primarily affect
socially, politically and economically discriminated local communities. These communities,
at the same time, are also those which consume the least amount of energy, yet suffer the
greatest impacts.
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2. The process of intensive natural resource extraction has resulted in the most vulnerable
populations losing their lands; their cultural heritage is threatened; and now, the frontier of
natural gas, coal and oil exploitation is expanding toward native forests, where there are
still communities living in harmony with their environment.
3. The exploitation of fossil fuels serves only to enable an international model based on the
concentration of wealth and energy consumption. The enriched countries of the North act to
satisfy the energy needs of its inhabitants, as individuals and as a whole, while the activities
of extracting, transporting, refining and consuming fossil fuels threaten the satisfaction of
those very needs.
4. There is a world-wide distortion of who is the majority, and how they are represented.
Those countries with primarily indigenous or Black populations are looked upon as “minorities,” while those who represent the political and economic interests of an elite claim to
represent the interests of the whole.
5. Struggles of resistance, based on the right to oppose all forms of oppression, demand
that the rights of all world citizens be respected, and international pressure campaigns are
useful tools to hold environmental polluters accountable.
6. Justice is a concept based on equal rights, which should take into account environmental
degradation; given that the building of infrastructure for natural resource extraction alone,
results in such terrible problems that become direct attacks on people’s human, health and
cultural rights.
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7. While transnational oil companies may respect certain standards meant to protect people
and the environment during their activities inside their home countries, they operate inside
the impoverished countries of the South with total contempt for the peoples and their environment. Attempt to make them accountable for their destructive activities is prevented by
their home governments, which impose legislative restrictions that make it difficult for companies be held responsible for their activities in impoverished countries of the South.
Fossil fuel companies, usually transnational companies, or entities tied to them, have so
much power over governments –in the South- that they influence and ignore laws and
regulations, aimed at protecting the environment and local populations. Civil society’s rights to protection from polluters are been eroded away by governments signing voluntary
agreements, which will allow polluters to continue polluting poor –black or indigenouspeople. Governments withdraw support for environmental and human rights protection by
decreasing the capacity of environmental departments to protect people from polluters. At
the same time, these corporations reach a series of agreements with the local communities
where they operate, with the result that these communities renounce their right to demand,
resist and protest.
8. Beyond the issue of individual rights are those of the subsequent generations. Collective
Rights are intended to protect not only individuals, but also the rights of entire communities
or indigenous peoples, today and in the future. Collective rights are, for example, the right to
live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples, to maintain their identity in the face
of cultural and ethnic genocide. In essence, collective rights protect the inherent value and
survival of diverse communities and peoples.
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Which are the rights that protect us from racism?
The principle of no racial discrimination sets the foundation for the concepts of Human Rights and International Law, it is also fundamental to international human rights agreements.
Among the most important of these are the international agreement on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights; the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination; the Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and discrimination
on the basis of religion and belief; the International Convention on the Elimination of the
Crimes of Apartheid; the UNESCO Declaration on the Struggle against Discrimination in the
field of Education; the Declaration against Racial Prejudice; and, Declaration no. 11 of the
International Labor Organization (ILO), against discrimination in the areas of employment
and profession.
The tendency of the United Nations and the ILO is toward an international doctrine which
links self-determination to conditions which permit full enjoyment of human rights. Declaration No. 169 is a related document concerning the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples.
Cases which link environmental injustice with fossil fuels
There are innumerable examples of environmental injustice connected with the activities of
the oil industry, of which we will mention a few emblematic cases:
• The oil refineries of SHELL in Louisiana and CHEVRON in California in the United States;
the PETROECUADOR oil refinery in Esmeraldas - Ecuador; SASOL COAL and oil refineries
in South Africa and, the SHELL/BP and PETRONAS/ENGEN oil refineries in South Durban,
South Africa.
• Oil exploitation in the Niger Delta in Nigeria; in the Aceh region in Indonesia; and, on the
lands of the U´wa people in Colombia.
• Oil and Gas pipelines such as those in Cameroon which cross the territory of the Bakola
people; the Yadana natural gas pipeline in Burma, which affects the Karen people; the
natural gas pipeline between Bolivia and Brazil, which affects the Chiquitano people, and
the Gas and Crude Oil pipelines in South Durban, among others.
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Given all of this, we propose:
• Joining the many struggles for environmental justice
• Supporting the resistance movements of local peoples against the presence and contamination of fossil fuel extracting companies in their communities
• Encouraging an exchange of experiences between those communities that resist
• Defending those sustainable societies that still exist and creating paths toward recovering those which have been lost
• Supporting the national struggles of peoples to maintain their diversity
• Struggling to hold those accountable who destroy the environment
• Eliminating racism where ever it exists in daily life
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• The UN to set up an International Environmental and Human Rights Abuse Court to deal
with multi-national companies and governments that abuse Human and Environmental
rights.
Durban, South Africa, September 2001
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8. DECLARATION FROM THE LATIN AMERICAN
AND CARIBBEAN FORUM BETWEEN OIL WORKERS
AND ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Quito, May 26 to 28, 1999
Representatives of 23 popular workers’ and environmental organizations from 10 countries
in Latin America have gathered in the city of Quito for the purposes of listening to one another, bringing together our struggles, and joining hands to promote Latin American unity
and confront neoliberal postulates and their environmental effects. We have coincided in
many of our interpretations of the causes of the accelerated deterioration of environemtnal
conditions and the lives of our peoples.
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Neoliberalism, the spawn of the voracity of capital, has left a wake of destruction in its passage through the South of the Americas. Our rights and freedoms have been reduced to the
rights of the market and the freedom of prices, destroying our national economies, subjecting us to the most brutal unemployment, sacrificing ecosystems and lives, tossing aside like
human waste the millions of Latin Americans who live in a state of absolute poverty today.
Marching in this army of devastation are the transnational oil companies. Their activities
wage war on life, and the footprints they leave behind are the new deserts, the cultures
dismembered and uprooted from their lands, the bodies of water turned into sewers, the
women and men turned into prostitutes, the soil left salinated and infertile. Their footprints
are the marks of death.
The state oil companies that have survived the onslaught of privatization merely manage
to produce a part of the services our peoples pay on the external debt. The profits from our
oil eventually end up in the big banks and do little or nothing to satisfy the basic needs of
our peoples.
Today in Latin America our leaders strictly comply with the guidelines imposed on them by
the multilateral organizations. At their behest, our governments are hastily dismantling our
national energy industries and auctioning off the most profitable sectors. The reforms in the
mining and energy sectors imposed by consultants, far from helping foster self-sufficient
economies in our countries, serve instead to place in the power of the transnational companies the environmental goods and natural resources that could guarantee our livelihoods
and those of future generations. They talk of freedom for foreign investment, but nothing
new is invested, they merely buy up our infrastructure and existing profitable businesses.
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At the same time, the transnational companies, under the pretext of environmental impact
studies, are appropriating our popular wisdom, studying our genetic resources and taking
over the strategic sources of our lives and all human life. They say they create employment,
but instead they spread greater poverty and exploit our labour.
The more the words “sustainable development” are repeated in major multilateral forums,
the deeper the poverty grows in our nations. They sell us the line of efficiency, which really
means efficiency in plundering our natural wealth and inefficiency in solving our social problems. Because of all this, those of us gathered here have proposed to unite our dreams
and lift our hopes:
• We declare ourselves defenders of life and enemies of the death imposed on us.
• We join together against neoliberalism and all of the destructive forms adopted by capital.
• We demand the non-payment of the external debt and the immediate payment of the
environmental debt that the capitalists owe to the SOUTH.
• We oppose the processes of privatization and the expansion of petroleum activities.
• We call for national energy profits not to be spent on running costs, nor on debt servicing,
nor or the remilitarization of our states, but rather on satisfying the basic needs of our
peoples in the search for sustainable ways of life.
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• We propose that a rational hydrocarbons policy should limit production volumes, restrict
production areas, and develop programmes to increase energy efficiency in households,
transportation and industry.
• We call for a moratorium on exploration in fragile areas.
• We call on national oil and energy companies to invest in the transformation of the current energy model in order to advance as quickly as possible towards the replacement
of the use of fossil fuels.
· Under these premises we propose the integration of the defense of national energy companies and support Latin American integration.
• We propose that contracts for the exploitation of the natural wealth of our countries be
granted only on the basis of criteria of national, intergenerational, international and interpersonal equality.
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• We propose that the new technologies incorporated in the processes of modernization
and upgrading of national energy companies be acquired under conditions of full technology transfer.
• We reject the ongoing violation of human rights and the rights of the
peoples and the penalization of social protest that takes place
in many of our countries, while we call for the release of arbitrarily detained oil workers, as in the case of the workers
from the Union Sindical Obrera (USO) trade federation in
Colombia.
• We reject the economic blockade
unjustly imposed on the people
of our sister nation of Cuba.
9. Confronting The Meeting
Of The IMF And WB
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Prague, September of 2000
The role, constitution and policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
have been strongly questioned at the international level due to the social and environmental
impacts they have caused in non-industrialised countries.
The governments and the social, environmental and human rights organisations of the
Third World, have criticised the decision making processes of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and have exposed them as the vehicle by which their economies
are condemned to progressive de-capitalisation.
One of the ways these institutions have of imposing their policies on the Third World, is by
accusing them of having corruption problems, overlooking the fact that corruption is a two
way relationship, where there are just as many who corrupt as those who are corrupted,
and that this problem will not be solved while the roots of the problem are not addressed.
In the Third World countries the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are presently promoting the liberalisation of investments and commercial competition as part of
globalisation process. These policies have given rise to an increase in oil production and
have imposed an energy sector deregulation and privatisation model that have lead to
an intensification of environmental, social and economic problems in the Third World. The
energy policies initiated by these institutions have played a central role in the destruction of
local resources, due to the promotion of export based economic activities that have severe
social and environmental impacts, and the promotion of models based on large scale infrastructure.
The World Bank is supporting the construction of a series of oil and gas pipelines that will
cross fragile and forested areas, such as the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, the West Africa gas
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pipeline, the gas pipelines to be constructed in Indonesia, and the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline. All of these have been strongly questioned for social and environmental reasons.
Additionally, the World Bank development programs spring from a false concept of poverty.
They disregard the fact that the countries of the Third World are rich in biodiversity, resources, and culture, and that they are decapitalised owing to the economic measures imposed
by these institutions, measures which involve the intensive extraction of raw materials and
the reduction of the state budget in education, health, and other social fields.
Moreover, they disregard the fact that that the industrialised model is not a model to follow,
as it presupposes the occupation of the environmental space and the use of the resources
of other countries or regions of the world. It is exactly this model that has been building
up and increasing the ecological debt which the Northern countries have with those of the
South.
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Social, clean energy, and local development policies should be addressed in situations in
which there is an equilibrium between countries, and where the interests of the Southern
countries are adequately represented.
These are the conditions needed in order to resolve energy problems, over and above technical considerations, from an energy sovereignty perspective, and related to sources of
energy production, equitable distribution and control of the entire energy process.
THE MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS OF OILWATCH DEMAND
Of the World Bank:
1. That the World Bank assume responsibility for the damage caused to ecosystems which
have been intervened, and to the economic and social situations of local populations. It is
therefore necessary to carry out a study of the impacts that the energy policies of the World
Bank have had on the countries of the Third World. Based on the results of these studies,
funding should be created for the restoration of the affected zones.
2. Suspension of all projects connected to the use or transportation of fossil fuels, as well as
all projects which justify an increase in exploration for fossil fuels.
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3. That the World Bank establish participatory systems with which communities can freely
establish their decisions, with the capacity of veto. The consultation process cannot be turned into a process of harassment of the organisations and local communities that have
declared that they do not want the projects in question. The World Bank should respect the
sovereign right of the communities to maintain their own development model based on
their own proposals.
Of the International Monetary Fund:
1. To halt structural adjustment policies which force Third World nations to submit themselves to an import-export model, which implies an increase in oil exploitation, thus causing
local and global environmental impacts.
2. Not to require any country to expand its oil activities, to lower its barriers to new investments in the oil sector, to the detriment of national companies, or to eliminate protection of
community and sovereignty rights with the objective of increasing oil activities.
3. To recognise the illegitimacy of the external debt and furthermore, the existence of the
ecological debt, which is increased with the flow of resources from the South to the North.
4. To assume responsibility for the damage caused to ecosystems, and for the economic
and social situation of the local populations. It is therefore necessary to carry out a study of
the impacts that their energy policies and structural adjustment policies have had on the
countries of the Third World. Based on the results of these studies funding should be allotted
for the restoration of the affected zones.
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Of the governments of the Third World:
1. To initiate a moratorium on the exploration of fossil fuels.
2. To reformulate all the loans for projects that use fossil fuels as a source of energy, or for
their extraction or transport.
3. To commit themselves to develop a legislative and institutional base for a national energy
transition to a system based on sustainable, clean, and decentralised energy.
4. To stop subsidies and other incentives for those who pollute, and in their place to support
local communities, small farmers and indigenous people, who are net producers of clean
energy.
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5. To begin the elimination of oil activities in fragile areas, indigenous territories and in those
areas with proven environmental impacts.
6. To differentiate the responsibility for the restoration of ecosystems affected by climate
change and the funding of contingency plans to confront these events. The industrialised
nations, the multilateral agencies and the companies have a greater responsibility, because
they have induced, or have increased the intensity of, climate change through the promotion of fossil fuel use and the excessive consumption of energy.
7. That the governments of the Third World must act together with the goal of achieving
substantial changes in international policies so that they direct the third world towards sovereign control of their heritage.
To the communities and organisations of the North committed to the environment:
1. The communities and organisations of the North have a commitment to the Third World,
as it is the governments and companies of the North which determine the energy policies
which, on being implemented in the South, cause economic, social and environmental dis-
tortions. For this reason, they must direct their pressure towards their governments and
companies, in addition to actions on the international level.
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2. To lower consumption and to join the struggle for the recognition of the ecological debt
that the North has with the South, due to the high standards of living in the North which are
based on the historical flow of natural goods and financial resources from South to North.
3. To overcome some concepts that stigmatise and subordinate the South, such as: they
are countries which are corrupt, poor, lacking technology, handicapped etc.. The policies
of the World Bank are justified based on these concepts. Policies for the elimination of extreme poverty should also be complemented with those for the elimination of the extreme
concentration of wealth.
To the communities and organisations of the South committed to the environment:
1. To actively denounce the policies of the international financial institutions, for the role
they have played in promoting the use of fossil fuels and for trying to unify energy models,
thus sacrificing the diversity of ecosystems and natural resources, and imposing dependent
energy models.
2. To carry out the moratorium against the exploration of new oil wells and the construction
of pipelines, exercising the supreme right to resistance, as these affect the earth, sustenance and territorial integrity.
3. To fight for energy sovereignty with renewable, clean, decentralised, independent and
low impact energy projects.
For the planet and it’s people...
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10. OILWATCH DECLARATION TO THE FOURTH SESSION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES
16 to 27 May 2005
FOR THE FREE DETERMINATION ON INDIGENOUS TERRITORIES
The oil transnational companies exterminators of peoples, ecosystems and cultures, today are throwing themselves over the last existing frontiers: fragile areas and indigenous
territories. In this devastating crusade, they destroy peoples’ health and their means of
subsistence.
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To extract hydrocarbons highways are built, oil pipelines, gas pipelines, storage tanks,
camps, refinement and processing facilities or entire cities are created to the service of the
companies. Oil operations cause permanent damage and persistent accidents with terrible
environmental and social impacts. Violate human rights main principles, because almost
always these activities come together with military intervention, expulsion and extermination of indigenous communities.
All through out History, wherever oil activity has happened. Companies have been directly
responsible of:
• Financing massacres, conflicts and interethnic wars, low intensity wars product of the oil
exploitation;
• Forcing out populations from the oil areas (from family groups to massive evictions), with colonization programs, “relocation” and “transmigration” supported by multilateral banking.
• The breaking up of families
• Affecting women’s lives: with more work load, sexual abuse, and violence
• Affecting children’s lives: Using the work of children in decontamination and also because they endure with much intensity the social crisis associated to oil operations
• Destroying cultural diversity
• Creating a lack of physical and food security of those who live near the oil installations.
• Destroying the survival base and the life of the communities
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• Expropriating the land from the peasants and the indigenous peoples
• Triggering impoverishment, and local inflation
• Having created conditions for different illnesses, like sexually transmitted or tropical diseases, to proliferate
• Triggering the increase of illnesses like cancer and leukaemia in their operation sites;
• Causing new illnesses never seen before to appear;
• Generating environmental racism;
• Provoking the extinction of wild species
• Altering and destroying the live in rivers, forests, oceans and other natural ecosystems
• Accumulating waste in indigenous territories, including scrap metal, littering and in many
cases leaving toxic waste
• Appropriating freely resources for their operations: water, wood, rubble and other resources
• Inducing and causing the increase of prostitution, alcoholism, drug addiction, and crime
• Causing internal conflicts and among communities
The collective rights of the peoples include the cultural rights, the right to decide over their
resources, but over all, the indigenous peoples have the right of self-determination in their
territories therefore in face of the reality the oil operations bring about, the indigenous
peoples have the right to oppose to oil activities in their territories.
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THE INDIGENOUS TERRITORIES ARE THE BEST CONSERVED TERRITORIES
Thanks to the indigenous people, in many countries a lot of natural areas have been protected as well as fragile zones, oceans, forests and fresh water sources.
The indigenous peoples, minorities in many countries, continue managing a big portion of
the territories in the countries they live. They have protected the environment where they
have lived for millenniums, because it is the place where their physical and spiritual live is
being developed. Besides conservation, their knowledge, practices and innovations, the
indigenous peoples supply their countries with food for self subsistence, medicinal plants
and over all the knowledge of nature.
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For many of these peoples, their territory is sacred. It is the mother that nurtures the world
and sustains live. Penetrating the earth with big drills and extracting oil from its insides
constitutes a profanation.
The right for the territory that has already been recognized in many countries, it does not
include the right for the subsoil. Because of this, the national States feel they have the right
of given oil concessions inside indigenous land, and they argue national interest for that,
without recognizing that the only real beneficiaries from the oil activity are the foreign companies and the most affected the peoples which live in these territories.
Many indigenous territories have been declared protected areas, depriving the indigenous
peoples of their right for a territory. In other cases the people have been displace under the
false dichotomy of conservation and the indigenous people presence. However is not recognized that the presence of these native peoples has been what secured the preservation
of these areas. And what is worst, is that oil operations are allowed in these regions.
The oil companies, usually transnationals, build true colonial settlements in indigenous territories and protected areas. These companies are the ones who control the access and the
decision making. They become a state inside another state.
THE STATES SHOULD GUARANTY THE INDIGENOUS RIGHTS
Capitalism, the cult of market and fossil fuels as a source of energy, has not only failed in
achieving their development objectives, but also threatens the existence of the planet and
its people.
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The indigenous territories, the last frontiers of this collapsed model, are the most threatened.
The national States and the United Nations system should recognize the indigenous peoples,
who propose production and consumption models different than the globalized models,
and with them they could start building the true foundations of sustainability.
To recognize the right of the indigenous peoples existence implies to recognize their rights
for territory, for their culture and knowledge, and implies the elimination of obstacles that
obstruct full application of these rights, as it is the oil companies’ presence.
The indigenous peoples rights can not be replace by a simple information exercise. The
indigenous peoples should have the right to decide what happens in their territories, about
the type of life they want to live. Can not be object of pressure, impositions or harassment
by the States or the companies to accept the oil industry in their territories.
In many countries and at the international level legal instruments have been developed which recognize the indigenous peoples’ rights. The Interamerican System, the United Nations
system of instruments as is the case of the C169 ILO Convention, as well as a good number
of countries Political Constitutions are some of them. Even in the Biological Diversity Convention there are several articles that contemplate this.
OIL EXPLORATION MORATORIUM
In several international forums Oilwatch has promoted the proposal for a moratorium to
new oil and gas explorations.
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The moratorium is a unilateral declaration of peace and well-being for the planet, sometimes decreed by the States, other by local governments, and other times by the people.
If we want to talk seriously about a commitment to stop Climate Change, a commitment
with sustainability, and with the respect for the human rights, the countries should invest
their efforts in the protection of the indigenous people’s rights, in the sovereign development
of new energy sources, and in fortifying the territorial and patrimonial sovereignty of the
countries.
OILWATCH RECOGNIZES AND GREETS
• The legitimate resistance of the peoples that are oppose to oil projects.
• The brave work of the people that was able to close operations, to recover their land and
to re-appropriate their resources.
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• The work of indigenous people, peasants, traditional populations in laying the foundations for food sovereignty.
• The work of the environmental rights advocates for strengthening the protected areas
and fragile territories legislation.
• The work of the indigenous peoples and their organizations for broaden and strengthening the exercise of collective and peoples’ rights.
11. AN ECO-LOGICAL CALL FOR CONSERVATION,
CLIMATE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
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Montreal, December 2005
Addressed at COP 11 of the Climate Change Convention, MOP 1 of the Protocol of Kyoto,
the SBSTA 23 and SBSTTA 23 of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
RATIONALE
The Framework Convention on Climate Change urges its State Members, and particulary
those included under Annex 1, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and recommends
all other State Members to comply with this disposition. During the Conference of the Parties
of the Climate Change Convention held in Japan in 1997, the Protocol of Kyoto was adopted. This legal instrument proposes several solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
based on market options. These proposals include the Mechanisms for Clean Development
and the Joint Implementation. However, these two proposals do not guarantee the objectives of conservation and reduction of gas emissions; rather they threaten other rights like ILO
Convention 169, which addresses the territorial rights of traditional populations.
The Convention on Biological Diversity represents the most important international legal instrument designed for the conservation of biodiversity, as stated in Article 1 of the Convention’s
objectives.
Article 8 of the Convention addresses the issue of in-situ conservation of biodiversity, and
paragraph 8.j. calls upon the State Members to respect and preserve traditional knowledge, innovations and practices that bond traditional ways of life with the conservation of
biodiversity, particularly among those populations living in protected areas. Article 3 of the
Convention urges State Members to ensure that activities undertaken within their jurisdiction
do not damage other States’ environments.
The international eco-logical call proposes the combination of all matters related to the
conservation of biodiversity, soils and air, climate change and the rights of the peoples,
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particularly of the indigenous populations, to forge a common strategy to save all those
areas home to the largest amount of diversity, leaving the sequestered carbon in the underground, under the protection of the Climate Change Convention and all other international
agreements and conventions.
The aim of this proposal is to make all polluting countries compensate those who defend
sustainable development and inherent rights. In other words, reward the tropical countries
whose local populations are affected by such forms of production and consumption that
attempt against the rights of these people.
The eco-call is also an acknowledgment of the ecological debt that industrialised countries
in the North have towards the countries and peoples of the South.
OBJECITVES OF THIS PROPOSAL
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Urge national States to forgo oil and gas extraction from all existing protected areas due
to their incompatibility with conservation and their role in the degeneration and fragmentation of vulnerable ecosystems, which hinder the lives of humans and other permanent
forms of life.
That the same national States be compensated for the economic profit they would have derived from the extraction of hydrocarbons, as well as for their efforts to prevent further CO2
emissions and for their will to support the conservation of biodiversity and natural habitats.
Attain international commitments from those countries that have pledged to make a drastic
reduction of their CO2 emissions to compensate those countries that have taken the decision not to place their oil resources in the market.
Include the international community in the effort to create an international fund that will recognise the valuable existence of important protected areas and biodiversity, threatened by
oil activities, throughout the world, vis-à-vis the mere exothermic value of fossil fuels.
Ensure that this effort is recognised as part of the ecological debt that the industrialised
countries in the North have towards the countries and peoples of the South.
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METHODOLOGY
The proposal will be applied in fragile protected areas, indigenous territories rich in biodiversity and other vulnerable ecosystems threatened or affected by oil activities, which are
the main cause of climate change.
All those organisations that decide to adopt this proposal will start lobbying activities with
the governments of those tropical countries wishing to adopt this proposal in order to win
political support. Those States adopting this proposal will analyse the technical and legal
mechanisms necessary to regulate this decision. In the case of existing contracts or concessions, the necessary steps will be taken to revert them and to evaluate the socio-environmental liabilities in these areas so as to determine the compensation and environmental
remediation actions.
A multidisciplinary expert commission must be formed to analyse the economic and legal
mechanisms of the eco-call framework.
Develop the guidelines of an international agreement between oil-exporting tropical countries that will support the Eco-Call. In addition, establish a mutually-agreed international
fund calculated on an index that takes into consideration the value of not producing tons
of carbon emissions, based on an estimation of non-extracted reserve, per capita energy
consumption and other variables.
Apply the commission’s findings to individual cases to determine the economic price of foregoing oil, establishing whenever possible pilot funds.
Analyse the value of the compensations that will have to be paid by the ecological creditors
from the North for the burning and consumption of fossil fuels, as a way to repay the ecological debt.
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EXPECTED RESULTS
The ECO-CALL coherently articulates global objectives for the conservation and protection of
economic, social, cultural, environmental and collective rights; the conservation of biodiversity, and solutions for climate change. This proposal does not imply the commercialisation
of life nor the charge for environmental services, and it will definitely not generate any type
of property rights or use on project areas. This approach contrasts with other proposals
questioned by networks, organisations, and communities which state that sovereign rights
may be put in jeopardy.
In the short term, the proposal will unite all interested stakeholders, many times antagonistic to one another, around the logic of offering further incentives. The Eco-Call may then act
as a means to outreach new participants internationally.
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In the middle term, the proposal will demonstrate the failure of the market-approach to
solve the environmental crises; i.e., biodiversity conservation and climate chaos. Another
result will be the generation of new national income from the compensation of oil non-extraction and conservation. This will have a direct effect on the tropical countries’ economies.
An indirect effect could be the reduction of the pressure of the foreign debt service, enabling
money from the national budget to be assigned to social expenditures. Finally, governments
will have new resources for the national current accounts.
The long term results will have local, national and global benefits. If oil activities are stopped,
then CO2 emissions will remain sequestered in the sub-surface or in the forests that the oil
industry will no longer destroy. This alone is a victory, not to mention the conservation of the
cultures and the biodiversity that are the heritage of all mankind.
For the Planet and its people...
12. Global campaign against
a civilization based on oil
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World Social Forum
Caracas, January 2006
Over the past 10 years, we at Oilwatch have been building a strong and active network of
resistance to the negative impacts of fossil fuels activities on peoples and their environment.
With member organizations from over 50 countries, we are dedicated to developing global
strategies for the communities affected by the oil operations and of supporting their processes of resistance in the struggle against those activities.
We have worked hard to exchange information about oil companies operations in each
affected country; about their operation practices as well as about the different resistance
movements and international campaigns against specific companies. In addition, Oilwatch
makes an effort to raise, at the global level, the environmental conscience, exposing the oil
operations impacts in tropical forests and in local populations, also establishing the relationship between this activity and the destruction of biodiversity, the climate change and the
unpunished violation of human rights.
During this same time period, we know that you have been developing and strengthening
your own networks of resistance in your struggles for working people and families throughout the world.
More clearly than ever before, we see how looking at our struggles from a distance, it is
difficult not to see the profound connection among each other.
The struggle for staying healthy and eating well, the struggle for work with respect and a
future for our families the fight for clean sources of energy, for a sustainable and sovereign
agriculture, the fight for decontamination and against global warming, the search for a
green chemistry associated to a new policy on materials, the fight against transnational
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companies that exploit our work and expropriate our natural resources and the sustainable
use of our nations, the fight for national sovereignty and world peace....... depends to a
great extent on our ability to jointly resist the oil industry and the civilization it sustains.
Never before have the limits of the current development model based of hydrocarbons been
seen so clearly.
Never, until now, has the relationship between oil and the networks of power that control the
world been so clearly understood, nor have the relationships between oil and the principal
causes of misery which affect humanity been so evident.
Behind the worst wars of the last century and the current,
Behind the wastage of industrial, economic and financial resources,
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Behind the instability and impoverishment of many nations,
Behind innumerable State coups, dictatorships and manipulations of democracy,
Behind the profane subordination of the most productive workers,
Behind the international foreign debt of the last 30 years,
Behind the most dangerous chemical industries,
Behind the systematic and uncountable extinction of indigenous peoples,
Behind the contamination of the world’s fresh water, water of the seven seas, and air of our
cities,
Behind the destruction of numerous forests,
Behind the accumulation of enormous amounts of chemical and plastic wastes,
Behind climate change that includes cyclones, floods and hurricanes which are ever more
extreme,
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Behind the appearance and expansion of numerous degenerative illnesses and therefore,
Behind the extinction of life on the planet and as a main cause of human deaths in the
world,
We have oil.
The 20th century was the century of poisoning and mass death of people and life on the
planet. This poisoning is the product not only of the wastes caused during extraction of oil,
oil spills on land and sea and acid rain, it is also consequence of agrochemicals, Organic
Persistent Contaminants, fuels, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pharmaceuticals, hospital wastes and other components produced from oil. These are being spilled and accumulated on the planet..... and they are killing the Land and us. At the same time, thousands
of traditional cultures have been confronted and exterminated, separating them from their
healthy and ecological customs. Only very few have managed to survive, but more isolated,
impoverished and defenseless.
During the 20th century, we have suffered the worst threats to the sovereignty of our nations
causing wars and intrigues due to oil. The large empires define their principal forms of economic and military power in relation to the possibilities of obtaining their own black gold, or
to obtain secure access to it in other regions. This has been highlighted as the era of supreme power of the transnational companies, where pressure, manipulation and corruption
promote the loss of national sovereignty. That is why one of the most audacious moves of
the southern nations was to form the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC.
For the southern part of the world, the oil model has meant the perpetuation of an inequitable exchange, a technological dependence, indebtedness, and impoverishment. The ecological debt between the north and the south, which began during the colonial years, rose
with the unequal economic and ecological exchange.
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We built a society that based its growth and development on its addiction to oil, giving place
to a literal invasion of lands, minds, esthetics, street, air, and seas.
Whilst this occurs, we have accepted separately each one of these aggressions. Or worse
still, fought among ourselves: such as oil workers against indigenous communities, inhabitants of one country fighting against another, such as people from the north against those
from the south, such as the poor of the cities against indigenous and peasant people, such
as those ill from consumption against pacifists, such as those that propose against those
that criticize... And the list goes on and on.
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The crisis of the oil civilization has reached its climax. But nothing is being done to end it. On
the contrary, while our exit is being delayed, the effects of this crisis increase in a manner
that is ever more lethal. Although it is evident that the transition into a new civilization requires the creation of technical, scientific, cultural and environmental alternatives, these are not
clear yet. Likewise, there is a need for new adequate, although complex, macroeconomic,
financial, political and cultural mechanisms that will allow the reconstruction of peace and
equality among peoples, the recovery of our health and restoration of our environment, the
renegotiation of the financial international debt and the compensation for the pillaging of
the countries of the south, ensuring justice and a real democracy everywhere.
Therefore, the transition towards alternative energy sources, possibly also in the hands of
the transnational companies, is not enough. We need to seek a new type of society.
For us the fight of peasant, fishing and indigenous communities that face a frontal battle
against globalization and neo liberalism, by defending their right to live on their lands, with
autonomy, without physical, cultural or environmental aggressions, independent even of
those that are considered “symbols of progress”, shows us a clear path. But we need to
listen to each other, so that we may think of solutions that consider in a global form the
problems of us all.
Which are the organizations and networks which we could start a positive collaboration in
the fight against the oil civilization? Which are the most important social local and global
movements that we cannot ignore in our efforts? Which are the international agreements
and programs that could best help us in this process? Which are the new initiatives that we
could and should devise?
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To answer these and other needs. Oilwatch is inviting sympathetic networks to initiate a
joint dialogue of our struggles and launch a global campaign against a civilization based
on oil.
We invite you to share your opinions, comments, suggestions, and ideas to help us consolidate this concept, so that we can build a new path together, in order to establish coordinated work strategies and a common campaign, where we can reflect all of our struggles
which we are currently working on separately. This way, each and every one of our battles
will gain a new dimension.
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REGIONAL DECLARATIONS
1. OILWATCH AGAINST THE SOUTHERN GAS PIPELINE
Caracas, March 2006
As organizations of the Amazon countries, members of Oilwatch, we propose a reflection
about the energy projects that are hovering over our region
Different companies, institutions and governments are talking about building pipelines,
warehouses and other related infrastructures, to be able to make hydrocarbons flow
through the region. Oil, and now gas, are the targets of most of those projects.
New initiatives for regional integration are going for one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems: the Amazon.
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The ecosystems of that region are still in good shape, and they are the source of support for
traditional villages that maintain ways of life, production and consumption that have insured
perpetuity for thousands of years.
There are clearly two fundamental tendencies in the region. One is that of the group of
countries negotiating the FTA (free trade agreement) with the United States. An imperialist
proposition is taking shape through them, in order to obtain direct control of all the resources of the region, and impose legal reforms to debilitate the National States and transform
them in mere facilitators for the operations of the North American companies.
Through each FTA, the state-owned companies are being privatized and the sovereignty of
the States weakened, while U.S. military presence is growing in the region, for an empire
cannot sustain itself if not living as a parasite on others.
The other tendency represents the governments that have distanced themselves from the
United States, and are determined to strengthen the National States through regional integration, in order to give control on natural resources back to the Nations.
Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay are moving forward their agreements of
integration, strengthening or rebuilding of the national oil companies and planning interregional infrastructures.
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However, those countries want the national capital articulated with the transnational interests, to be consolidated through industrial projects that need big amounts of energy resources to export consumer goods.
But what are the real needs of our countries?
The indigenous people, peasant communities, river towns, communities living from hunting
and collecting and the poor of the cities demand their rights on land, water and their future.
Those are three priorities for their existence that are threatened by the new national and
transnational hydrocarbon projects.
A true integration is one that is attained fairly and through justice. This is impossible when
the environment is endangered, and human and collective rights are violated. The extraction, transportation and processing of fossil combustibles destroy the environment and
generate a systematic violation of people’s rights.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF GAS AND OIL PIPELINES
If we were to make an inventory of the hundreds of disasters caused by the existing gas and
oil pipelines in the region, results would be frightening.
The hydrocarbons transportation pipes, even brand new, suffer permanent breaches, causing
contamination, impacts in local people’s health, deforestation, crop destruction and death.
The Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (Sistema de Oleoducto Trans-Ecuatoriano, SOTE), suffers three breaches per week. The Camisea gas pipeline has been in use for a year and a
half and has already suffered five disasters and several breaches little after the start of the
operations. In an accident produced by a gas pipe managed by Transredes in Bolivia, 29
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people were burnt and many homes destroyed. Some time after the inauguration of the
Norandino gas pipeline, a fire caused by a gas leak in the region of the warm valleys of
Argentina was only extinguished after several days.
A gas pipeline, built following the dimensions as proposed for the Southern Gas Pipeline
(Gasoducto del Sur), would cross the three main South American hydrographic basins: the
Orinoco, the Amazon and the Río de La Plata basins.
The Southern Gas Pipe will affect natural ecosystems and water sources. Emerging diseases like dengue fever and malaria will grow stronger due to the interruption of the swamps;
and illnesses like leptospirosis will spread due to the increased mobility then expected in
the zone.
The gas pipeline breaches will cause fires along its 5700 miles stretch.
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There will be local weather alterations as a result of deforestation, and an infinity of other
impacts in the places through which it will go.
In the Amazon region, besides thousands of indigenous communities living in very vulnerable conditions, there are also indigenous people living in voluntary isolation. Those
will see their life brutalized. They will be exposed to illnesses against which they have no
resistance.
To serve the gas pipelines, there is a need of roads. Once built, these roads will become
open veins and hopeless wounds, as they will be open doors for wood exploitation, land
trafficking, mining business, and to steal biodiversity and ancestral knowledge from the
indigenous people.
THE PEOPLE PROPOSE ANOTHER KIND OF INTEGRATION
Venezuela has proposed to develop another gas pipeline going to Panama, which will
eventually connect with Mexico and go from Mexico to the United States. This means the
infrastructure that is being built today, with a vision of regional strengthening, can be used
in the future to swallow the resources of Bolivia and Peru, towards the North.
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The thirst for oil has served as a justification for invasions, wars, corruption, genocide, external debt or free trade agreements.
To secure the access to oil and gas, in the hydrocarbon extraction area, all along the path
taken by the pipes, next to the refineries and the petrochemical plants, people are forced to
suffer all kinds of shortages, illnesses, social problems, inflation or extreme impoverishment.
We shouldn’t reinforce our condition as oil exporting countries, neither as depending on oil
or gas. We shouldn’t drop anchor in an oil civilization that will necessarily have to change.
It is possible to talk about a different kind of integration, starting from the people. Integration
based on diversity, dignity, wellbeing and justice; on the respect to the human and collective
rights.
As Latin Americans, we have the opportunity to establish a different model of integration.
The time has come to initiate a path towards a post-oil civilization, respectful of the people
and their environment.
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2. To the political organizations and the organizations
of civil society of the Caribbean
Dominica, March 2002
1. 10 years after the Earth Summit and the signing of a number of environmental agreements it is time for an international evaluation of the achievement of the objectives set at
that time.
2. For the Caribbean the most critical environmental problem is climate change which is not
only a matter of sustainability, but is a threat to survival.
3. This evaluation must include an analysis of the oil situation in the world, since this is the
energy resource that sustains the actual economic system, and since its extraction and consumption are causing very severe local and global environmental damage.
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4. Oil-related activity causes, in all its phases, severe environmental impacts due to deforestation and contamination on land, and destruction of marine ecosystems in the case of offshore production. From exploration to refining to transport through oil pipelines it destroys
the livelihoods of the local populations and subjects them to conditions of permanent risk.
5. The increased consumption of fossil fuels in the world is a direct threat to the island
countries, as the rising sea levels may completely flood some of these or a large part of
their territories. An example of the proximity of this threat is the recent evacuation of the
inhabitants of Tuvalu.
6. The disasters of climate change wrought on the island countries entail the loss of zones
of agricultural production, the increase in tropical diseases, the disappearance of populated coastal areas, and the destruction of infrastructure among which include roads, public
services, refineries, and storage facilities which represent a high risk of contamination, fires,
and explosions.
7. Some Caribbean countries have reserves of oil or natural gas: Barbados, Cuba, Trinidad
and Tobago, Dominica. These countries are carrying out extraction activities onshore and
offshore, both with impacts on the local economies due to the destruction of the local populations sources of income.
8. The oil activity in the Caribbean includes hundreds of refineries, storage tanks, and transport roads. Among the oil activities, the exploration, exploitation, refining, and storage produces severe impacts on health, contaminates water resources, destroys forests, and has
adverse social and cultural impacts. In Trinidad, for example, one can observe the disastrous effects of oil contamination. In 2001, the fire on the Aruba refinery provided evidence
another example of the impacts of this kind of infrastructure. The Caribbean has a large
storage capacity of about 100 million barrels of crude oil and derived products. The main
storage centers are located in St. Lucia, Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Aruba, St.
Eustatius, Curaçao, and Bonaire of the Dutch Antilles.
9. In the storage centers, where there are already high risks of accidents, the risks of accidents will increase due to the impacts of global warming.
10. At this moment they are promoting several exploration campaigns offshore and onshore. For all of these, the results are contamination, destruction of marine life and small local
economies, and violation of the rights of local populations.
11. The dependence on fossil fuels has been an instrument of pressure threatening the political stability of affected countries. The oil embargo on Cuba is an example of this.
12. The oil companies have geopolitical interests in the region. Trinidad and Tobago, for
example, plays a strategic role for the companies owing to their proximity to Venezuela.
The biggest oil companies in the world have activities there: BP-Amoco, Shell, Exxon-Mobil,
Arco, Repsol, SHP
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13. The recent years has brought an increase in the oil exploration activity. Some countries,
such as Barbados, have plans of upgrading the technology which is a way of increasing the
output. In others, such as Cuba, there has been established Joint Ventures to increase the
oil exploration. Big transnationals such as Repsol and Elf have already entered in this process. In Trinidad and Tobago, they are constructing huge oil complexes, and the exploration
frontier has been extended onshore as well as offshore
14. On this background it is necessary to achieve profound changes in the national energy
policies in order to ensure the survival of the planet and its peoples. These changes must be
realized equally on consumer and producer level.
15. A transition towards clean energy sources is currently considered unprofitable, but this
is because they are competing with the subsidized oil industry.
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16. It is a priority to develop clean, decentralized energy sources with few adverse impacts.
The local/global climate crisis, and the survival of cultures demands that the process be
started immediately.
Oilwatch proposes to the organizations of civil society and the political
organizations of the Caribbean
1. To assume leadership on global issues by promoting and strengthening the proposals
for reduced greenhouse gas emissions, since these threaten the very existence of these
countries.
2. Comply with and promote an immediate halt to exploration of new fossil fuel reserves.
3. Demand construction of a list of the current impacts of climate change, and demand that
they be recognized as a part of the ecological debt which must be included in future negotiations over climate change.
4. Demand from the responsible corporations a complete restoration of all areas affected
by exploration and exploitation of oil, gas, and coal.
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5. Ask for the suspension of all credits, loans and other forms of subsidies from foreign
multilateral or bilateral development agencies intended for projects of fossil fuel extraction
or any activity related to this.
6. Develop proposals for a transition towards a non-fossil fuel economic model, promoting
national “energy sovereignty” (democratic access to and control over the energy resources)
using clean, renewable, and decentralized energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy, or small hydroelectric plants.
3. OILWATCH SOUTH EAST ASIA STATEMENT
Kuala Lumpur, 8 to 9 March 2005
The below signing organizations, members of the OILWATCH Network, repudiate the alliance between conservationists organizations and oil companies because it undermines the
effort of the organizations and communities for the conservation and sovereignty over their
lands historically plundered by oil companies, and also weaken the role of the governments
in the conservation of protected areas and fragile zones.
Why is biodiversity an important subject in Petronas agenda and why is oil important in the
Malaysian conservation NGOs agenda? Oil companies and organizations for Conservation
have always talked different Languages, because oil related activity is one of one the most
destructive industrial activities of biodiversity. In all the phases of this activity environmental
impact is produced.
The companies whose purpose is to extract oil have never respected the environment where
they operate. Petronas is not and exception, neither in Malaysia nor outside of this country.
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Grave concerns have been raised about Petronas’ environmental and human rights record.
This company operates the Durban, South Africa refinery, producing big impacts for ethnic
minorities. It is promoting the JDA (What is this?), project that has been strongly resisted by
local populations. It is also in Sudan, where oil extraction not only involves environmental
impacts but is also a crucial factor in the armed conflict of that country. Petronas also operates in other countries like Burma where human rights violations are well known.
The accusations of polluting, the increasing consciousness about the importance of biodiversity conservation and the relation between the fossil fuels and oil, have placed the oil
companies on the defence. The companies invest in public relations to improve their image,
to neutralize the communities’ rejection and try to fortify a global psychological dependency
on oil. In this process of “green make-up” some conservation NGOs lend their credibility.
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It is not the first time that conservation NGOs and the oil companies have got together. In
2003 “The Energy and Biodiversity Initiative” took place, between BP, Chevron-Texaco, Shell,
Stat oil and International Conservation, The Nature Conservancy and the Smithsonian Institute to produce guides, instruments and models with the purpose of integrating the biodiversity component to the activities of oil and gas extraction.
The companies have taken an audacious step, because they now they present themselves
as the saviours. “Biodiversity Management is becoming a fast emerging issue in oil & gas
industry”. When they become partners with the conservation NGOs, they not only improve
their image but also target new¡ businesses this time related with the environment.
The Malaysian & Gas Biodiversity Stakeholders Dialogue will take place on the 8 and 9 of
March, 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, which was where a year ago the Conference of the Parties
of the Biodiversity Convention (COP VII) took place. In that conference, it was decided that
several international NGOs – environmental transnationals - like the WWF – which are part
of the Stakeholder Dialogue - would be the implementators of the biodiversity agreement in
the Action Plan of Protected Areas. It is strange to us that now WWF gets in a dialog with the
oil industry, because the activities of this industry constitute one of the main threats to the
conservation of protected areas.
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Although the Kuala Lumpur Dialogue announces the participation of State entities, and academia, it is clear that the alliance leaves these sectors out side. The oil companies and the
conservation transnationals would be the people who define the conservation strategies
and priorities in the Protected Areas.
The dialogue intended with the oil industry has two objectives:
• Identify & prioritise issues of concern relating to biodiversity in Malaysia
• Seek ways where the industries can work together with stakeholders for the protection &
conservation of biodiversity in a sustainable manner.
WHO ARE THE NGOS:
WWF-Malasia
Malaysian Nature Society (MNS)
Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC)
Some of the NGOs that promote this initiative have already been partners with the private
enterprise in experiments that have as an objective to improve the transnationals image,
without changing the production or the behaviour of these companies.
OIL IN MALAYSIA
The recent oil findings made by Shell, Conoco Oil, Petronas Carigali and Murphy Oil, talk
about gigantic oil reserves and also of high quality oil. The Malaysian oil is offshore, in the
continental shelf and onshore. Analyst said the finds would significantly boost the countries
oil reserves, and help the growth of the oil and gas industry. “This is a good year for oil
exploration and will be good for the oil and gas industry in the long run,” said an industry
analyst at Mayban Securities. The actual annual Malaysian production is of 600,000 oil ba-
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rrels a day. Malaysia has a total of 494,183 Km2 of oil exploration area, 337,802 Km2 in the
continental shelf, equivalent to Vietnam’s area and 93,048 Km2 in deep water and 76,413
Km2 in onshore areas equivalent to the size of Austria. Most of the resources are found in
Sabah and Sarawak, considered the most bio diverse areas in the planet.
These exploratory campaigns are parallel to the construction of a network of pipelines and
gas lines in the region that will go through areas of high social and environmental sensibility. The discoveries will be a boost to the oil and gas industry, and particularly benefit
those involved in oil transportation” said a Mayban analyst, pointing to such companies…
However, there are there are many protests at the local level from the communities through
where these pipes will go through, as is the case of the JDA (spell out) gas line in Chana,
Songkhla in southern Thailand, by Petronas and PTA(spell out) that has not been resolved
since 1998 and constitutes a continuous violation of human rights, and adversely afftects
the environment.
CONCLUSION
1. The Malaysian Oil & Gas Biodiversity Stakeholders Dialogue is an effort to “improve” the
Petronas corporate image.
2. For the company, it is more convenient to promote a conference than to take direct action
to face the environmental problems they generate.
3. A dialogue between oil companies and conservation NGOs allows them on one hand to
clean their image and on the other to weaken the prohibitions and the restrictions that exist
in protected areas with the collaboration of the conservation groups.
4. The dialogue or such initiatives would not at all change the policies and practices within
the oil industries in dealing with or in reducing the impact to the environments (i.e. land use,
indigenous rights, protected areas, air pollution/carbon emission, displacement etc).
5. This type of initiative puts at risk the conservation of biodiversity, and facilitates the expansion of the oil frontier towards fragile ecosystems. It also weakens the efforts that local,
national, and international organizations and communities are putting in place for these
companies to take responsibility for the impacts they have caused.
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6. This initiative conspires against the efforts of the entire planet to avoid the climatic change
and to put a limit to the race of extracting each time more oil from the subsoil.
4. COMMUNIQUE FROM THE CONFERENCE ON OIL,
RESOURCE CONFLICTS AND LIVELIHOODS IN AFRICA
Lagos, 3rd of March 2005
We the members of communities impacted by the activities of oil and gas companies, civil
society organizations, academics, legislators and media from Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon,
Chad, Mozambique, South Africa, Sudan, Congo Brazzaville, Latin America, North America
and Europe, having met in Lagos, Nigeria from February 28 to March 2, 2005 and deliberated on the conference theme “Oil Resource Conflicts and Livelihoods in Africa” came to the
following conclusions that:
The reckless activities of transnational oil and gas companies have resulted in massive
degradation of the natural environment and gravely affecting communities in Sub-Saharan
Africa hosting these resources including the exacerbation of poverty in these communities.
The conspiracy between the ruling class and corporations as promoted by the World Bank
and the other financial institutions in African countries has resulted in:
The continued exploitation of oil, gas and mineral resources resulting in mass impoverishment of local people
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Fuelled conflicts among local people and oil and gas companies and resulting in brutal
suppression of these local communities by the state coercive machinery
An increased external debt obligation of African countries.
Continued reckless and illegal plunder leading to the destruction of forests, loss of biodiversity, inducing climate change and an ecological debt owed by Northern industrialized
countries
The growing militarization of the Gulf of Guinea by the United States and some European
countries fuelled by their desire to control African oil and gas resources, including their plans
to establish military bases in Sao Tome and other African countries and the expanded military cooperation with pseudo democratic regimes in Africa constitute a grave and worrying
threat and indeed a declaration of war on the region.
In the light of the above disturbing conclusions, the meeting demands:
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1. The immediate halting of the American and European military build-up and their unconditional pull-out from the region. They should equally halt military support to governments of
the region. We call on civil society groups on the continent and like minded groups abroad to
strongly condemn this latent American and European aggression in Africa and use all means
necessary to assure their complete withdrawal from the region. Civil society groups must protest and build a mass movement to build the necessary pressure to achieve this goal
2. A moratorium on exploration and development of new oil and gas fields on the continent
as a short term measure, and that efforts should be made to develop alternative energy
sources and the long term ban on fossil fuel exploitation
3. A change in the relationship between African governments, international financial institutions and governments of oil and gas resource endowed African nations
4. The restoration, compensation and sanction for the social and environmental damage as
a step to recognize ecological debt.
These demands will be pursued through the construction of effective alliances and solidarity.
chapter
FOUR
Vegetal
Weaving
our network
Cartulina
HOW GREEN WERE MY FIELDS
Did you know they took away my land
… My air, my water
Did you know they hacked away at me, made me
A stranger in my own land
I am neither country nor nation
They tore up my land, they desecrated it,
What was once worship, offering to the sun and moon
Is now idolatry, arrogance, adoration
Of wealth
My land is denied the yearning, the hope,
To begin anew
Did you know they slashed away the horizon from my very gaze,
It no longer stretches endlessly into infinity
Now against chaos stumbles my water,
My water, my landscape no longer taste the same.
My water mirrors a face as dirty as itself,
Did they sell my identity along with my land?
Does the heart of my soul need to evolve?
Does it really need to adapt?
I feel like a river forced
To leave its bed,
Departing, abandoning parched lands.
The desecrated water no longer washes me,
Nor does it quench my thirst.
I feel that the defiled air no longer whistles in my ear,
The defiled earth shall reject all offerings,
All worship.
They say God created the world,
What I know for sure is that Earth
Shelters Man.
For Tambogrande, for the Bambas, for Mount Quilish, for the lead
deposits of Callao that are poisoning us.
Anonymous poet. Peru
WHAT IS THE OILWATCH
NETWORK?
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O
Oilwatch was established in 1996 as a network of resistance to oil industry activity. It was
founded in Quito, Ecuador, with the participation of delegates from Cameroon, Gabon, Nigeria, South Africa, Thailand, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
The network emerged from the need to develop global strategies for the communities affected by oil industry activity and to support their struggles against these activities.
In Oilwatch we have confronted the oil issue from a local, national and global perspective.
We have linked environmental impacts with the loss of rights of local populations. As a
result, even though the issue of oil was something new for many of the organisations that
joined the network, it was rapidly incorporated as a major concern interconnected with
other priorities.
In our work we have strived to grant equal visibility to small organisations. We have not focused solely on high-profile cases that would generate publicity, and we have tried to ensure
that the decision-making process is open and decentralised.
We have built cases that sparked broader processes, and at the same time we have strengthened the presence of those who have been absent, such as the many small organisations
without international connections.
To a large extent our work has consisted of gathering information and spreading it among
the members in every country, building links between member groups, and encouraging
organisations to join with us in working on this crusade.
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The organisation’s efforts include the exchange of information on oil company operations in
all of the countries affected, as well as the different resistance movements and international
campaigns against specific companies.
In terms of our working strategies, one of the most valuable instruments has been SouthSouth exchanges. These have helped us to achieve important results, such as developing
direct, ongoing relationships and communication, recognising shared realities within different experiences, and learning to take advantage of the resources available to us.
When these exchanges have been between continents, the results have contributed to
changing our view of the world and consolidating the idea of international work, particularly
by strengthening South-South solidarity.
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Oilwatch has endeavoured to raise environmental awareness on a global level, by exposing the impacts of oil industry activities on tropical rainforests and local populations, while
clearly establishing the links between these activities and the destruction of biodiversity,
climate change, and the unchecked and ongoing violation of human rights.
OUR HISTORY
1996 The Oilwatch network is founded in Quito, Ecuador
1996 First South-South exchange (Peru-Ecuador)
1997 Workshop on monitoring techniques, with participants from six countries
1997 First meeting of Asian Oilwatch groups in Thailand
1998 Launching of the first campaign for a moratorium on expansion of the oil frontier
1998 Oilwatch General Assembly in Mexico
1998 Oilwatch Asia Assembly in Thailand
1999 First African Oilwatch Assembly in Nigeria
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1999 Latin American Oilwatch Assembly in Brazil
1999 Oilwatch Mesoamerica meeting in Guatemala
1999 Exchange visit from Chad and Cameroon to Nigeria
1999 Meeting with oil sector workers in Latin America
2000 Regional meeting on the West Africa Gas Pipeline
2000 Oilwatch General Assembly in Durban, South Africa
2001 Oilwatch Mesoamerica Assembly
2001 Oilwatch Africa Assembly in Nigeria
2002 Meeting in Johannesburg in the framework of the WSSD
2002 Oilwatch Asia meeting in Bali
2003 Oilwatch General Assembly in Cartagena, Colombia
2003 Oilwatch Africa Assembly in Cameroon
2004 Launching of the World Oil Atlas
2004 Oilwatch Asia Assembly in Thailand
2005 Launching of the protected areas campaign
2005 Oilwatch Africa Assembly in Nigeria
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2005 International launching of the campaign against the oil civilisation
2006 Oilwatch Mesoamerica Assembly
2006 General Assembly, 10th Anniversary of Oilwatch
OUR INTERNAL FUNCTIONING
MEMBERS
The members of the Oilwatch network are organisations in the South that:
• adhere to the Declaration of Principles
• have no employment, financial or political ties to the oil industry.
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• express their desire to be part of the network
Member organisations from the North have the role of:
• working in coordination with Oilwatch member organisations in the South to support the
campaigns of local communities
• providing lobbying support as requested by the member organisations of the South
• seeking out information
• seeking out resources
• building bridges between those who are affected in the North and the organisations of
the South in order to develop common working strategies
OILWATCH SECRETARIAT
The secretariat will always be based in a country of the South, and its functions will be:
• coordination among network members
• support for local campaigns or requests from members
• support for the functioning of the working groups
• building bridges among members in accordance with different cases or interests
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• the systematisation of information in a data bank
• facilitating the development of political positions
• drafting of documents
• organising special meetings and the General Assembly
OILWATCH INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE
The International Committee provides the Secretariat with political leadership and support.
It is made up of:
• two delegates from organisations in Africa (one English-speaking, one French-speaking)
• two delegates from organisations in Asia (one from South Asia, one from Southeast Asia)
• two delegates from organisations in Latin America (one from Mesoamerica, one from South
America)
• one delegate from North America
• one delegate from Europe
• two delegates from international networks
The member organisations of the International Committee (IC) are designated by the organisations in the regions they represent, and can be changed through a decision adopted by
these regional members. The delegates from the IC member organisations can be changed
by the organisations to which they belong. These changes must be submitted for the consideration of the IC.
The IC will meet once a year. Expanded meetings can be held with other network members
or special guests when this is approved by the IC.
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These meetings will be held in a country of the South, taking advantage of the opportunity to
participate in other activities or meetings in the host country and to combine them with the
observation of the impacts of local oil industry activity.
The meetings will be organised by the Secretariat, which will also participate in them.
NATIONAL OILWATCH NETWORKS
If there is more than one Oilwatch member organisation in a specific country, and the national members or the Secretariat consider it opportune for coordination purposes, a National
Oilwatch Network can be established, with one of the organisations from this country serving as coordinator. These will not be branch offices, but rather coalitions of organisations.
REGIONAL OILWATCH NETWORKS
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In order to carry out work on a regional level, Oilwatch Regional Networks can be established.
• The responsibility for regional offices will correspond to an Oilwatch member organisation in the region.
• These regional networks may have a facilitator responsible for coordination and communications.
• The regional networks must interact with the entire network to avoid become cloistered
within their own regions, and should work instead to promote relations with other regions, especially in the South.
The regional networks can organise regional meetings when the member organisations
deem it to be necessary. These meetings will be attended by the IC delegates from the
region and the Secretariat.
To provide support for the Secretariat, for the members of the network and for the IC delegates from North America and Europe, offices can be established in these regions when the
IC and Secretariat deem this to be necessary.
GENERAL ASSEMBLIES
General Assemblies will be held in a country in the South, agreed upon by the IC. They will
be combined with complementary activities such as courses, conferences, field visits, etc.
General Assemblies will be held every two years.
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INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENTS
Official Oilwatch statements will be discussed by the network members in consultation processes coordinated by the Secretariat.
Other individual statements issued by one or more members in which the name Oilwatch
appears must be previously submitted to the Secretariat and the IC.
PROJECTS PRESENTED UNDER THE NAME OF OILWATCH
If projects are presented under the name of Oilwatch, they must be considered and approved by the IC.
Projects developed by members to contribute to their activities will remain under their own
institutional responsibility. If projects are put forward as part of the network, they should be
reported to the Secretariat.
If there are organisations that do not develop projects but want to promote resistance activities, they can write to the Secretariat or the regional offices to ask for their collaboration in
seeking resources for these specific activities.
PROJECTS PRESENTED BY THE SECRETARIAT
The Secretariat will keep a list of projects, reports and audits of the resources it administers
that will be submitted to the IC and available upon request to all members.
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GENDER AND DIVERSITY PERSPECTIVE
Oilwatch is a network that incorporates a gender and diversity perspective. We believe that
oil industry activity is one of the activities most heavily marked by patriarchal attitudes and
exclusion, and that in order to subvert this tendency it is essential to do so with the voices of
those who have been excluded.
We recognise that at the local level it is women and indigenous and traditional peoples who
are most violently affected by the impacts of oil industry activity, and they are also the ones
who lead up the resistance to these impacts and activities.
OUR STRUCTURE
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1. Members: the members of the Oilwatch network are organisations or individuals who
“are interested in working in a network of resistance to oil industry activity… and are in
agreement with the principles and strategies of the Network.” In each country there is an
organisation that serves as a national focal point and decides upon the admission of new
members.
2. The General Assembly is the highest instance in Oilwatch, and the only one that “can
change the structure, objectives, scope or policies of the Network.” The Assembly is supposed to be held every two years, although there have been times when this has not been
possible and as many as three years have passed between Assemblies.
3. The International Committee is responsible for providing “political leadership and support for the Secretariat.” It is made up of ten members: two representatives from member
organizations in Asia, Africa and Latin America, selected by the member organisations in
these regions, along with representatives from one organisation in North America and one
in Europe, and two representatives of kindred international networks selected by the International Committee.
4. Regional offices are responsible for the coordination or facilitation of Oilwatch activities
within their regions. There is one in Nigeria, one in Indonesia and another in Costa Rica.
They are directed by one of the member organisations in the region and have their own
budgets and programmes of action.
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5. The International Secretariat is responsible for international coordination and overseeing
the activities and political positions of the Network as a whole. Since the founding of Oilwatch, the Secretariat has been based in Quito, Ecuador, and is located in the offices of Acción
Ecológica, the focal point organisation in Ecuador. Nevertheless, the Oilwatch International
Secretariat has its own legal status for administrative purposes.
OILWATCH PRINCIPLES
1. Oilwatch is a network that builds ties of solidarity and fosters a common identity among
the peoples of the South. Oilwatch recognizes the similarities in the current pattern of resource exploitation in the countries of the South, which reflect the historical legacy of disempowerment of the peoples, and believes that respect for the peoples’ right to self-determination is key to the resolution of environmental problems.
2. Oilwatch is a network of resistance against the negative impacts of oil and natural gas
activities on the peoples of the South and their environment.
3. The members of Oilwatch support all of the initiatives undertaken by local peoples to
oppose these activities. These initiatives include monitoring of the devastation and human
rights violations that directly or indirectly result from these activities, and support for local
demands for compensation and restoration.
4. Oilwatch is a decentralised network that functions more like a movement than a centralised entity.
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5. Oilwatch was created to halt the expansion of social and environmental damage provoked by oil and natural gas activities in the tropics and other parts of the global South; to support communities in the tropics who oppose the oil companies; and to create awareness
of the need for a development model that is not based on fossil fuels.
6. Oilwatch promotes the full exercise of the basic and collective human rights of the communities affected by the exploration, extraction and transport of oil and natural gas. It asserts that the communities who resist these activities at the local and global level and who
oppose the presence of oil companies and the governments who support and promote
these activities should be recognised and not repressed.
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7. Oilwatch promotes energy sovereignty, which signifies the autonomous development of
alternative energy policies for communities, nations and regions; it also implies moving
toward the abandonment of the model based on fossil fuels as energy sources. The objective of Oilwatch is to present political proposals that give substance to strategies of resistance, so as to create new alliances with other sectors and gain legitimacy within society.
OILWATCH PUBLICATIONS
OILWATCH: WORK MANUAL
1996 Published in Spanish and English
The first Oilwatch publication was a work manual with an
overview of the impacts in countries with oil industry activities, as well as the addresses of oil companies and tools for
monitoring and denouncing abuses.
VOICES OF RESISTANCE: OIL EXPLOITATION IN THE TROPICS
1997 Published in Spanish, English and French
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“Voices of Resistance” was the first step towards reinforcing the
network of organizations of the South opposed to oil industry
activities. The book provides figures and information on oil
company strategies in tropical countries, as well as a list of
Oilwatch members in these countries.
MONITORING MANUAL
1999 Published in Spanish
This manual contains information on the different stages of oil industry activity, the chemicals used, their impacts on human health
and ecosytems. The information is presented in easy-to-use tables
that provide quick access to data to be used for writing reports,
backing up denunciations or making demands for environmental
restoration.
Identifying the impacts of the different stages of oil industry activity provides us with arguments to back up resistance efforts and
proposals for a moratorium on oil industry expansion. For cases
in which the oil industry is already in operation, the book also
provides tools for monitoring the activities of oil companies.
It is essential to have step-by-step knowledge of the impacts
of oil industry activity in order to more effectively organise our
protests and counter the claims of the oil companies. It is easy for the oil companies to say the right things and do what they please, but one thing they cannot do is to hold
back the wave that forms when people start to talk and expose all their lies.
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THE OIL FLOWS, THE FORESTS BLEED
1999 Published in English and Spanish
A compilation of case studies and resistance struggles in various parts of the world. The book contains information on cases in which the
rights of indigenous peoples have been violated, on the pollution of
the seas, the damage caused by oil pipelines and refineries, and the
expansion of the oil frontier.
LA MANERA OCCIDENTAL DE SACAR PETRÓLEO: LA OXY EN COLOMBIA,
ECUADOR Y PERÚ
2001 and 2004 Published in Spanish
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This book compiles testimonies on the problems provoked by
the Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation (Oxy) in indigenous
territories in Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. It was produced in
collaboration with Aprodeh in Peru, Censat in Colombia and
Acción Ecológica in Ecuador.
The way in which Oxy extracts oil in these three countries
– which could be any countries in the global South – is
illustrative of a strategy that includes the harassment of
communities, the division of organisations, direct pressure aided by the repressive forces of the state, influence
buying, and violations of human rights and of national
and international laws.
The cases recounted in the book speak of an unequal fight, in which the power of the
company, backed by governments and military forces, is being used to colonise indigenous
lands, just like 500 years ago.
OIL FRONTIER’S ELARGEMENT MORATORIUM
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This position paper prepared for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg discusses the possibility of a moratorium on
new natural gas and oil exploration activities. The proposal for a moratorium on fossil fuel exploration is a step that must be taken, promoted
and recognised. The countries that endorse it would be effectively contributing to sustainable development.
OIL AND WAR: THE ARTIFICES
OF 20TH CENTURY HISTORY
This position paper prepared for the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg analyses war as a mechanism of
control over natural resources.
OIL COMPANIES: THE NEW PARTNERS OF THE UNITED NATIONS
2002 Published in Spanish, English and
French
This position paper prepared for the
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg addresses the new “partnership” initiatives between the United Nations and private enterprise. These initiatives are presented as a solution to problems like
poverty, the lack of clean water, and the urgent need to develop
alternative energy sources, among others.
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In reality, however, these partnerships allow the corporations to clean up their image as
destroyers of the planet and portray themselves as its purported saviours, while profiting
from poverty.
WORLD OIL ATLAS
The World Oil Atlas is a compilation of texts, diagrams and maps
illustrating resistance struggles around the world, oil and gas infrastructure, natural resources, indigenous peoples, and so on.
It is a tool that Oilwatch members can use to situate their own
important struggles within recent world history.
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Oilwatch members have compiled some 500 cases of resistance against oil industry activities and projects.
Africa, Latin America and Asia are the regions with the highest
degree of biodiversity in the world, and are also home to the
largest number of cultures and peoples. They additionally share many common problems, and a history of colonisation, plunder and subjugation.
These cases are gathered in the World Oil Atlas.
PROTECTED AREAS – AGAINST WHOM?
This publication was jointly produced by Oilwatch and the World Rainforest Movement (WRM). It addresses numerous problems involving
protected areas, particularly the conflicts between conservationists,
indigenous peoples and resource extraction industries.
ASSAULTING THE PARADISE: PETROLEUM COMPANIES IN PROTECTED
AREAS
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This book aims to back up the legitimacy of the demand for a moratorium
on hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in protected natural areas on
the grounds of international law.
It also addresses the specific cases of oil industry activity in the Yasuní
Biosphere Reserve in Ecuador, Banc d’Arguin National Park in Mauritania
and Lorentz National Park in Indonesia.
CHEVRON, THE RIGHT HAND OF THE EMPIRE
The Chevron Corporation (formerly ChevronTexaco) is the
world’s fifth largest oil company in terms of assets, but
ranks near the top when it comes to aspects like environmental destruction, the extermination of peoples,
violations of human rights, and so on.
This book describes the scars left on our lands by this
corporation, as well as its policies, discourse and ways
of doing business.
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TEGANTAI
The Tegantai newsletters (1997-1999) were published in Spanish, English and French, and provided an analysis of the oil industry and its
impacts, and the acts of resistance against them.
MAILING LISTS
Oilwatch has a number of different e-mailing lists which can subscribed to on the Oilwatch website.
ALERTS
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Alerts is a multilingual mailing list used to send out messages on
alerts and urgent actions around the world. Several messages are sent
out every week.
Petroleo_al is a Spanish-language mailing list used to send out alerts
and information regarding oil and gas industry activities in Latin America.
Oilwatch-sea is an English-language mailing list used to send out
alerts related to activities in Asia.
REPSOL
A closed list (not public) is maintained for participants in the anti-Repsol campaign.
TEXACONUNCAMAS
A list used to spread information about the campaign against Texaco in Ecuador and the
suit filed against ChevronTexaco.
OIL IN PROTECTED AREAS
An e-mailing list that specifically addresses issues related to oil exploitation in protected
areas. It is used above all for distribution to international negotiators on the Biodiversity
Convention.
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RESISTANCE BULLETIN
The Resistance bulletin is published electronically every month in Spanish, English and sometimes French. It includes news on the activities of the oil industry and the different forms
of resistance adopted by the people who oppose them, as well as specific themes related
to hydrocarbons.
OILNEWS BULLETIN
The internal bulletin of the Oilwatch network, with information on the worldwide network
and news from the Secretariat, the regional offices in Africa, Asia, Mesoamerica and Latin
America, and member organisations.
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WEBSITES AND CONTACTS
Oilwatch International
Secretariat
http://www.oilwatch.org
[email protected]
Oilwatch Mesoamerica
http://www.oilwatchmesoamerica.org
[email protected]
Oilwatch South East Asia
http://www.oilwatch-sea.org
[email protected]
Oilwatch Africa
http://www.oilwatch.org/africa
[email protected]
MEMBERS OF THE NETWORK
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Oilwatch has close to 100 members. In many cases there are numerous members in the
same country, which has led to the establishment of focal points in each one of these countries for coordination purposes.
The Oilwatch International Secretariat is located in Quito, Ecuador.
Coordination for Africa is based in Nigeria; for Asia, in Indonesia; for Mesoamerica, in Costa
Rica; and for Latin America, in Ecuador.
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LATIN AMERICA, ANTILLES AND THE CARIBBEAN
ARGENTINA
Organizacion Mapuce “Lonko Puran”
Catriel 819 Cutral Co CP(8322) Provincia de Neuquen
Werken Relmu Ñamku
Tel (+54) 299 4969254
[email protected]
[email protected]
BELIZE
Godsman Ellis and Cany Gonzalez
BELPO- Belize Institute for Environmental Law and Policy
Cuenca Trinacional ( Estor)
tel (+501) 804-2032/3264
Cel (+501) 603 4885
[email protected]
[email protected]
BOLIVIA
Patricia Molina
FOBOMADE
Av. Abdon Saavedra 2370
Casilla: 5540
- La Paz
Tel: (+591) 2 422105 fax: (+591) 2 421221
[email protected]
www.fobomade.org.bo
BRAZIL
Julianna Malerba
Rede Brasileira de Justiça Ambiental
Rua das Palmeiras, 90 - Botafogo
cep: 22.270-070 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brasil
tel: (+21) 2536 7350
[email protected]
Address Book
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www.justicaambiental.org.br
www.brasilsustentavel.org.br
Tel.: (+21) 286-1441
[email protected]
www.justicaambiental.org.br
www.brasilsustentavel.org.br
COLOMBIA
Asociación CENSAT Agua Viva
Tatiana Roa
(Member of the International Committee)
Diagonal 24 No. 27A - 42
A.A. 16789
Tel/Fax: (+57 )1 2442465 / 3377709 / 2440581
[email protected]
www.censat.org
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COSTA RICA
Oilwatch Regional Office in Mesoamerica
Apartado 622-2150 Moravia Costa Rica
Tel (506) 2836128 / 283 6046
Fax (506) 225 76 06
Alicia Casas
[email protected]
[email protected]
CURACAO
Lloyd Narain
FoE Curacao
PO Box 4688
Curacao
[email protected]
www.amiguditera.org
ECUADOR
Acción Ecológica
Alexandra Almeida
Alejandro de Valdez N24-33 y La Gasca
Casilla 17-15-246-C
Quito
Telf-fax: (+593) 2-2547516
[email protected]
http://www.accionecologica.org
EL SALVADOR
CESTA- Centro Salvadoreño de Tecnología Apropiada
Ricardo Navarro
Ana Raquel Cruz
Apartado Postal 3065
3065 Km 4 ½ Carretera San Marcos,
San Salvador
Tel: (+503) 2 200046 / 206480
Fax: (+503) 2 203313
[email protected]
[email protected]
GUATEMALA
Madre Selva
Magally Reyrosa
(Member of the International Committeel)
7 ave. 13-012.9
Tel-Fax: (+502) 332 2690
[email protected]
[email protected]
HONDURAS
Edgardo Benitez Maclin
Alianza Verde
Brus Laguna, Cabo Gracias a Dios,
Honduras
Tel (+504) 238 8892/ 220 1564
[email protected]
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MEXICO
Asociación Ecologista Santo Tomás
José Elías Sánchez
Ave. 27 de febrero No. 1017 Col Centro
Villahermosa
C.P. 86000/01
Tabasco
Tel/Fax: (+52) 01 (993) 3126743
[email protected]
[email protected]
NICARAGUA
Henry López Ampié
Centro Humboldt
Barrio Costa Rica, semáforos El Colonial 2c. al oeste, 2c. al norte.
Apartado Postal 768,
Managua,Nicaragua.
Tel (505) 2498922,2506454
Fax 2506452
[email protected]
www.humboldt.org.ni
PANAMA
PAT- Defensa Ambiental
José Gonzalez
Apartado 10771- Republica de Panamá
[email protected]
Tel (+507) 9983564
PARAGUAY
Elías Peña
Oscar Rivas
SOBREVIVENCIA
Isabel la Católica 1867 - CC 1380
Asunción
Telefax: (+595) 21 480 182
(+595) 21 425 716
http://sobrevivencia.luismagar.com/
Address Book
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PERU
APRODEH
Raquel PALOMINO
Jr.Pachacútec 980
Jesús María. Lima 11
Tel:(+51) 1 431 0482 / 1 424 7057
(+51) 1 936 5779
Fax:(+51) 1 431 0477
[email protected]
www.aprodeh.org.pe
AFRICA
URUGUAY
Ricardo Carrere
WRM International coordinator
Maldonado 1858 CP 11200
Montevideo
Tel: (+598) 2 403 2989
Fax: (+598) 2 408 0762
[email protected]
CAMEROON
Samuel NGUIFFO
Centre Pour l’Environnement et le Développement
B.P. 3430
Yaoundé
Tel: (+237) 2 223857
Fax: (+237) 2 223859
[email protected]
[email protected]
WRM International Secretariat
Maldonado 1858 CP 11200
Montevideo Uruguay
Tel: (+598) 2 413 2989
Fax: (+598) 2 410 0985
http://www.wrm.org.uy
VENEZUELA
Red Alerta Petrolera - Orinoco Oilwatch
AMIGRANSA - Sociedad de Amigos en Defensa de la Gran Sabana
Apdo. Postal 50460
Caracas 1050-A.
Tef: (+58) 212 992 1884
[email protected],
[email protected]
ANGOLA
Juventude Ecologica de Angola
Sr. Abias Huongo
Avenida Revolucao de Outubro, 2 No.3-2°
C.P. 542
Luanda
Tel. (+244) 222 355715
[email protected]
CHAD
POINT FOCAL OILWATCH AU TCHAD
Nadji NELAMBAYE
CPPL - Commission Permanente Petrole Locale
BP 35 Moundou,
Tel: (+235) 626 78 84/ 69 1179
Chad
[email protected]
[email protected]
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GABON
CIAJE - COMITE INTER-ASSOCIATIONS DE JEUNESSE POUR
L’ENVIRONNEMENT
Emmanuel BAYANI NGOYI
B.P. 6652
TEL.(+241) 07;16.63.11/76.61.82
FAX(+241) 73.80.56
[email protected]
[email protected]
GHANA
Third World Network - Africa
9 Ollenu Street, East Legon
Box AN19452
Accra
Tel: (+233) 21 511189 /503669 / 500419
Fax: (+233) 21 511188
[email protected]
EQUATORIA GUINEA L
Asociación de Vigilancia y Gestión Ambiental (MAYSSER)
José NGUEMA OYANA
Calle NASSER,
Malabo Bioko Norte,
República de Guinea Ecuatorial
Tel (+240) 274 679
[email protected]
MOZAMBIQUE
LIVANINGO
Mauricio SULILA
Ave. Patricio Lumumba 448 R/C
Maputo
Tel: (+258) 1 308925
[email protected]
[email protected]
Address Book
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NIGERIA
Oilwatch Regional Office Africa
Mike KEANIA KARIKPO
13, Agudama Ave. D-line
P.O. Box 13708
Port Harcourt
Tel: (+234) 84 236365
E-mail: [email protected]
Nnimmo BASSEY
ERA - Environmental Rights Action
214 Uselu-Lagos Road
Ugbowo - Benin City
P.O.Box 10577
Telf/fax: (+234) 52-600-165
eFax: (+1)520-844-8482
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
http://www.eraction.org/
Asume (Isaac) Osuoka
Social Action / Gulf of Guinea Citizens Network
P. O. Box 13708 Port Harcourt
Tel (+234) 8033 099494
[email protected]
NIGERIA
REPUBLIC OF CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE)
Jean Aimé Brice Georges MACKOSSO
Justice et Paix (of Catholic Church)
BP 659 Pointe Noire
Tel /fax (+242) 94 99 17,
Cel (+242) 557 90 81/ 541 36 06
[email protected]
SOUTH AFRICA
Siziwe KHANYILE
Bobby PEEK
GroundWork (Focal Point in South Africa)
191c Burger Street
Pietermaritzburg
Box 2375
32000
South Africa
Tel: (+27) 33 342 5662
Fax: (+27) 33 342 5665
[email protected]
[email protected]
http://www.groundwork.org.za/
ASIA
Arakan/ BURMA
Jockai KHAING
The Arakan Oil Watch
PO.Box 184, Mae Paing Post Office,
Chiang Mai 50301 Thailand
Tel (+66) 4 046 5813
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.shwe.org
INDONESIA
Andryie S. WIJAYA
Oilwatch Regional Ofice in Asia
JATAM - Jaringan Advokasi Tambang
Jl. Mampang Prapatan II No. 30
RT 04 / RW 07 -- Jakarta 12790
Tel. (+62)21-794 1559
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Fax. (+62)21-791 81683
E-mail: [email protected]
www.jatam.org
www.oilwatch-sea.org
Address Book
MALAYSIA
Third World Network
Yin Shao Loong
228 Macalister Rd.
10400 Penang
Fax: 604 226 4505
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
SRI LANKA
Hemantha WITHANAGE
Center for Environmental Justice
20A,Kuruppu Road, Colombo 08, Sri Lanka.
Telephone/ Fax: 0094-11-268 3282
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected];
http://www.ejustice.lk/
THAILAND
Pipob UDOMITTIPONG
29/2 Moo 3, Rongwuadaeng,
Sankampaeng,
Chiang Mai 50130 Siam (Thailand)
Home (+66)53-394849
Cel (+66)9-7007171
[email protected]
189
190
1O years oilwatch
CAIN
Campaign for Alternative Industry Network
Penchom Saetang
801/8 Ngamwongwan Rd., Soi 27, Muang
Nonthaburi 11000
Tel/Fax: (+662) 952 7371/952 7606
[email protected]
EAST TIMOR
La’o Hamutuk
East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring
and Analysis
Santina Soares
Charles Scheiner
Tel.: (+670) 3325013
Cel: (+670)-7234330
Post Address P.O. BOX 340
Dili, Timor-Leste
[email protected]
[email protected]
http://www.laohamutuk.org
WEST PAPUA
Gun Nugros
Perdu Manokwari
[email protected]
Tel. : (+61) 986 211486
WEST PAPUA
MIDDLE EAST
Bahram GHADIMI (Iranian exile)
Andeesheh va Peykar Publications
Postfach 600132
60331 Frankfurt
Germany
[email protected]
www.peykarandeesh.org
EASTERN EUROPE
Manana KOCHLADZE
Regional Coordinator for Caucasus
CEE Bankwatch Network
Rustaveli avenue. 1. entrance I. floor 4
Chavchavadze 62, Tbilisi, Georgia, 380062
tel: (+995)32 93 24 03
[email protected]
www.bankwatch.org
NORTH AMERICA
Clayton THOMAS-MULLER
Indigenous Oil Campaign Organizer
IEN - Indigenous Environmental Network
2507-1529 West Pender ST
Vancouver British Columbia Canada
V6E 3J3
Tel. (+1) 604 683 4702 office
[email protected]
http://www.ienearth.org/
WHEN THE EARTH BLEEDS
I heard that oil
Makes things move
But in truth I see that oil
Makes life stop
Because
The oil only flows
When the earth bleeds
A thousand explosions in the belly of the earth
Bleeding rigs, bursting pipes
This oil flows
From the earth’s deathbed
Because
The oil only flows
They work in the dark
We must lift up the light
Quench their gas flares
Expose their greed
Because
The oil only flows
From the Garden Court, Marine Parade
We talk and talk in a garden of stones
The ocean waves bathe our eyes
But in Ogoniland we can’t even breathe
Because
The oil only flows
What will we do?
What must we do?
Do we just sit
Wail and mop?
Arise people, let’s unite
With our fists
Let’s bandage the earth
Because
The oil only flows
The oil only flows
Nnimmo Bassey

Untitled - Oilwatch

Transcription

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