FORESTS, INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES AND OIL
The oil industry has destroyed
Colombia's forests, as well as the culture
and subsistence of its Indigenous Peoples.
A major part of the country's territory has
been affected by oil-related activities,
including colonization. Some Indigenous
Peoples, such as the Yariguies, have been
exterminated. Others, like the Motilones,
the Cofanes and the Guahibos, have been
decimated. Nowadays, the U'wa people find
their ancestral lands threatened by oil
exploitation that could destroy their
forests, their lives and their culture.
The process of territorial occupation by
oil companies has been stimulated by
Colombian legislation, which has provided
large incentives for oil projects. Oil
companies are allowed to occupy the
five-kilometre area surrounding an oil
well, thus displacing Indigenous and
farmers' communities and destroying
biodiversity-rich forest zones.
Currently, seven million hectares of
Colombian land are occupied by oil
operations, and ten million more have been
awarded to oil companies over recent years.
Thus, 17 million hectares of forested land
is currently at the disposition of
transnational oil companies.
Pipelines and Forests
At the beginning of the twentieth
century, US oil company Texaco exploited
timber in the Magdalena region of Colombia,
paving the way for intensive cattle
ranching. Texaco's occupation also caused
Colombia's agricultural frontier to shift,
and within a few years the areas "claimed"
by the colonialists were turned into
enormous ranches.
Later oil exploitation not only
destroyed the forests, but also salinized
soils and streams. Furthermore, oil
exploitation is accompanied by the
construction of infrastructure, including
roads, oil wells, camps, refineries and
pipelines, necessitating changes in land
use. The results are forest destruction and
violations of the lives of Indigenous
Peoples.
The construction of the Andean Pipeline
which traverses Colombia by a Standard Oil
daughter company provides an ugly example
of the impact of pipelines upon forests.
The oil company received absolute control,
at no cost, of a 3,060 metre-wide strategic
corridor along the 500-kilometre length of
the pipeline, and the ownership of 60
metres of land on either side of the
pipeline. With this gift, the Colombian
government gave away more than 150,000
hectares of land to the oil company. The
construction of this pipeline not
surprisingly led to the colonization of the
area and the destruction of existing
forests.
Lipa Lake and the Guahibo People
Another example that should not be
repeated is the case of Oxy's oil
exploitation in the Cano Limon oil site.
Occidental Petroleum and its associates
built an oil exploitation installation on
top of the Lipa Lake, which is considered a
sanctuary and spiritual and cultural centre
by the Guahibos, Macaguanes, Betoyes and
other Arauca Indigenous Peoples. Plentiful
fish, birds, aquatic animals and plants in
the area formed the main food source for
these Indigenous Peoples. The oil
installation led to the virtual
disappearance of about 715,000 hectares of
tropical forest, equally rich in
biodiversity, as well as 100,000 hectares
of wetlands. The supposed economic benefits
cannot be compared to the invaluable
ecological and cultural loss suffered by
the Auracans.
An End to Oil Exploitation
Oil exploitation creates a cycle in
which everything that benefits the industry
has negative impacts upon the region. Oil
companies obviously owe a large ecological
debt in Colombia for environmental
deterioration in various areas and the
destruction of forests and Indigenous
cultures.
Currently, oil prospectors plan to
invade the country's most protected forest
areas: the Choco Biogeografico, the Amazon
and the Orinoco. These forest sanctuaries
are moreover the setting for the wars that
terrorize the country. Many social
conflicts are related to the past, present
and future of Colombia's forests. The
forests house a major part of our
biodiversity, and the great majority of the
country's 82 Indigenous Peoples groups live
there. The forests are part of the future
that Colombia is defining as part of the
ongoing peace process. This demonstrates
the importance of ensuring their
protection.
Tatiana Roa, FoE Colombia
