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Thursday, May 16, 2013 4:10:42 PM
The Oil Industry is planning on obliterating the Ecuadorian Rain Forest
The Wauroni tribesmen, who live in the rainforest of Ecuador, are getting ready to challenge the Ecuadorian government’s plan to auction as much as 8 million acres of rainforest for oil drilling. They will challenge the decision constitutionally and also pledge to fight to the death to protect the land. Bless them in the huge fight that they have on their hands.
China has been aggressively seeking the rights to exploit oil resources, but they are not alone. In March of this year, Ecuadorian officials met with China's oil industry in Beijing.
"Ecuador is willing to establish a relationship of mutual benefit—a win-win relationship," Ecuador's ambassador to China reportedly said at the Beijing meeting. Chinese companies are also reportedly investing in a multi-billion-dollar Ecuadorian oil refinery project.
"We're looking for global investors, not just investors from China," Ecuador's secretary of hydrocarbons, Andrés Donoso Fabara, told The Guardian. "But of course Chinese companies are really aggressive. In a bidding process, they might present the winning bids."
Fabara dismissed opponents of the plan, saying: "These guys with a political agenda, they are not thinking about development or about fighting against poverty. ... We are entitled by law, if we wanted, to go in by force and do some activities even if they are against them."
Let's call bullshit on Mr. Fabara. Even the Economist thinks you are full of it.
The Economist says bullshit to that.
http://www.economist.com/node/5323394
"Unlike agriculture, the oil sector employs few unskilled people. The inherent volatility of commodity prices hurts the poor the most, as they are least able to hedge their risks. And because the resource is concentrated, the resulting wealth passes through only a few hands—and so is more susceptible to misdirection."
But there is another potential problem for Fahara in his zeal to sell out his country for economic gain to the Corporatists. Mainly the Ecuadorian constitution.
Ecuador's 2008 constitution made headlines for being the first in the world to recognize rights for the environment, namely that nature "has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution," as quoted by The New York Times.
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0806.htm
This is actually what happens when the Oil industry is unleashed on indigenous people and their lands.
Typically,
an oil company cuts access roads through the forest. These roads are followed by transient settlers who colonize and damage the surrounding forest through slash-and-burn agriculture, the introduction of domestic animals, hunting, and the collection of fuelwood. Oil companies sometimes "flare" or burn natural gas that is a by-product of drilling. The flames, which burn in the open air, contribute both to local air pollution and increase the risk of forest fires.
The oil extraction process can be messy and destructive. Spills result from burst pipelines and toxic drilling by-products may be dumped directly into local creeks and rivers. Some of the more toxic chemicals are stored in open waste pits and may pollute the surrounding lands and waterways. Oil spills can wreak havoc on rivers and aquatic ecosystems, while clean-up efforts are complicated by the complexity of tropical river systems, which may include floating meadows, swamp forest, oxbow lakes, flooded forest, and sand bars.
Indigenous and local people have historically failed to see many benefits from oil extraction, but have borne many of the costs in the form of pollution and displacement. Conflict may be exacerbated by the presence of security forces, either private or linked to the military. Lacking what they consider fair compensation, local people may resort to sabotage of oil installations to collect oil-spill compensation. In fact the current chaos in the Niger river delta in Nigeria has roots in opposition to Shell's drilling operations.
See the unedited video clip from NBC Rock Center. Beauty and tragedy all condensed in a 10 minute clip from Ann Curry.
This issue is to big for the Wauroni and to big for me and you. We all need the help of the 1% and organizations such as the Clinton Global Initiative, along with the very wealthy to pony up, Al Gore, George Soros, Bill and Melinda Gates for example.
Ecuador President Rafael Correa presented a plan to preserve the rainforest in Ecuador which sounds like blackmail--the international community can pay his country
$3.6 billion over 13 years or the rainforest gets sold to oil companies. With the global economy the way it is, climate policies have been lagging and Correa was having
difficulty getting the cash,....
Oil producing tropical countries
Primary oil production for most of these countries is offshore. Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Nigeria have substantial oil operations in rainforest areas.
World
Rank
Country Oil Production
barrels per day Date of
Estimate
6 Mexico 3,460,000 2004
11 Venezuela 2,600,000 2004
12 Nigeria 2,356,000 2004
17 Brazil 1,788,000 2004
21 Angola 980,000 2004
22 Indonesia 971,000 2003
24 Malaysia 785,000 2004
30 Colombia 531,100 2004
32 Ecuador 523,000 2004
34 Vietnam 359,400 2004
35 Equatorial Guinea 350,000 2004
39 Gabon 264,900 2004
40 Congo, Rep. of 227,000 2004
41 Thailand 225,000 2004
42 Brunei 204,000 2003
49 Peru 95,500 2004
50 Cameroon 94,000 2004
59 Papua New Guinea 46,200 2004
63 Bolivia 39,000 2004
The table include only countries with significant tropical forest.
source: CIA World Factbook
Originally posted to Pakalolo on Thu May 16, 2013 at 08:58 AM PDT.
Also republished by Gulf Watchers Group.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/16/1209520/-The-Oil-Industry-is-planning-on-obliterating-the-Ecuadorian-Rain-Forest
The Wauroni tribesmen, who live in the rainforest of Ecuador, are getting ready to challenge the Ecuadorian government’s plan to auction as much as 8 million acres of rainforest for oil drilling. They will challenge the decision constitutionally and also pledge to fight to the death to protect the land. Bless them in the huge fight that they have on their hands.
China has been aggressively seeking the rights to exploit oil resources, but they are not alone. In March of this year, Ecuadorian officials met with China's oil industry in Beijing.
"Ecuador is willing to establish a relationship of mutual benefit—a win-win relationship," Ecuador's ambassador to China reportedly said at the Beijing meeting. Chinese companies are also reportedly investing in a multi-billion-dollar Ecuadorian oil refinery project.
"We're looking for global investors, not just investors from China," Ecuador's secretary of hydrocarbons, Andrés Donoso Fabara, told The Guardian. "But of course Chinese companies are really aggressive. In a bidding process, they might present the winning bids."
Fabara dismissed opponents of the plan, saying: "These guys with a political agenda, they are not thinking about development or about fighting against poverty. ... We are entitled by law, if we wanted, to go in by force and do some activities even if they are against them."
Let's call bullshit on Mr. Fabara. Even the Economist thinks you are full of it.
The Economist says bullshit to that.
http://www.economist.com/node/5323394
"Unlike agriculture, the oil sector employs few unskilled people. The inherent volatility of commodity prices hurts the poor the most, as they are least able to hedge their risks. And because the resource is concentrated, the resulting wealth passes through only a few hands—and so is more susceptible to misdirection."
But there is another potential problem for Fahara in his zeal to sell out his country for economic gain to the Corporatists. Mainly the Ecuadorian constitution.
Ecuador's 2008 constitution made headlines for being the first in the world to recognize rights for the environment, namely that nature "has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution," as quoted by The New York Times.
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0806.htm
This is actually what happens when the Oil industry is unleashed on indigenous people and their lands.
Typically,
an oil company cuts access roads through the forest. These roads are followed by transient settlers who colonize and damage the surrounding forest through slash-and-burn agriculture, the introduction of domestic animals, hunting, and the collection of fuelwood. Oil companies sometimes "flare" or burn natural gas that is a by-product of drilling. The flames, which burn in the open air, contribute both to local air pollution and increase the risk of forest fires.
The oil extraction process can be messy and destructive. Spills result from burst pipelines and toxic drilling by-products may be dumped directly into local creeks and rivers. Some of the more toxic chemicals are stored in open waste pits and may pollute the surrounding lands and waterways. Oil spills can wreak havoc on rivers and aquatic ecosystems, while clean-up efforts are complicated by the complexity of tropical river systems, which may include floating meadows, swamp forest, oxbow lakes, flooded forest, and sand bars.
Indigenous and local people have historically failed to see many benefits from oil extraction, but have borne many of the costs in the form of pollution and displacement. Conflict may be exacerbated by the presence of security forces, either private or linked to the military. Lacking what they consider fair compensation, local people may resort to sabotage of oil installations to collect oil-spill compensation. In fact the current chaos in the Niger river delta in Nigeria has roots in opposition to Shell's drilling operations.
See the unedited video clip from NBC Rock Center. Beauty and tragedy all condensed in a 10 minute clip from Ann Curry.
This issue is to big for the Wauroni and to big for me and you. We all need the help of the 1% and organizations such as the Clinton Global Initiative, along with the very wealthy to pony up, Al Gore, George Soros, Bill and Melinda Gates for example.
Ecuador President Rafael Correa presented a plan to preserve the rainforest in Ecuador which sounds like blackmail--the international community can pay his country
$3.6 billion over 13 years or the rainforest gets sold to oil companies. With the global economy the way it is, climate policies have been lagging and Correa was having
difficulty getting the cash,....
Oil producing tropical countries
Primary oil production for most of these countries is offshore. Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Nigeria have substantial oil operations in rainforest areas.
World
Rank
Country Oil Production
barrels per day Date of
Estimate
6 Mexico 3,460,000 2004
11 Venezuela 2,600,000 2004
12 Nigeria 2,356,000 2004
17 Brazil 1,788,000 2004
21 Angola 980,000 2004
22 Indonesia 971,000 2003
24 Malaysia 785,000 2004
30 Colombia 531,100 2004
32 Ecuador 523,000 2004
34 Vietnam 359,400 2004
35 Equatorial Guinea 350,000 2004
39 Gabon 264,900 2004
40 Congo, Rep. of 227,000 2004
41 Thailand 225,000 2004
42 Brunei 204,000 2003
49 Peru 95,500 2004
50 Cameroon 94,000 2004
59 Papua New Guinea 46,200 2004
63 Bolivia 39,000 2004
The table include only countries with significant tropical forest.
source: CIA World Factbook
Originally posted to Pakalolo on Thu May 16, 2013 at 08:58 AM PDT.
Also republished by Gulf Watchers Group.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/16/1209520/-The-Oil-Industry-is-planning-on-obliterating-the-Ecuadorian-Rain-Forest
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