Project secures rainforest future
Tuesday 5 June 2012
In a world first, oil buried deep in the Amazonian rainforest in
Ecuador is set to stay in the ground in exchange for help with the country’s
economic development, in a project involving researchers from The Australian
National University.
The Australian National Centre for Latin American Studies (ANCLAS) at
ANU has been awarded a $292,000 grant from AusAID under its Public Sector
Linkages Program to study the feasibility of the groundbreaking idea.
The plan, proposed by the Ecuador government, aims to leave about 850
million barrels of oil – approximately 20 per cent of Ecuador’s reserves – in
the ground to avoid the potentially devastating effects that exploitation of
the oil would have on the local environment and indigenous groups.
Dr John Minns, Director of ANCLAS, said the YasunÃ-ITT area of
Amazonian rainforest is one of the most bio-diverse areas of the planet, with
just a single hectare boasting a similar number of tree species as the whole of
North America.
“The area is extremely fragile and Ecuador has already suffered some
serious environmental problems caused by the extraction of oil. Further
extraction of oil would only cause more environmental damage, which can happen
through oil spills. Additionally, roads and townships would have to be built,”
he said.
“Many of the world’s most sensitive environments are found in
developing countries, which rely on the extraction of natural resources for
revenue. It can be an extraordinarily difficult choice for those countries to
forgo that revenue in order to preserve the environment.
“Moreover, a number of indigenous groups live in the area, but two
groups in particular have decided to remain out of contact completely. These
people are largely hunter gatherer societies and live a lifestyle which hasn’t
changed much since European settlement. They want to keep it that way and
exploitation of the oil would almost certainly disrupt that.
“This initiative is at the heart of a series of development concerns
related to resource exploitation and management, environmental and climate
change questions and issues of indigeneity and economic change. It raises the
responsibility of the developed countries of the world for the environment outside
their borders and especially in less wealthy countries,” he said.
The project is coordinated by ANCLAS and includes academics from the
ANU College of Law, the Fenner School of the Environment and Society, part of
the ANU College of Medicine Biology and Environment, and the School of
Archaeology and Anthropology, part of the ANU College of Arts and Social
Sciences.
Over three years, Dr Minns and his colleagues will develop a cost
benefit analysis of leaving the oil in the ground versus taking it out, assess
the potential damage to biodiversity in the Amazonian rainforest, and evaluate
the potential dangers to culture and health. The project will link ANU with
Ecuadorian specialists in each of these fields at Ecuador’s Instituto de Altos
Estudios Nacionales (National Institute of Higher Studies).
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Contacts:
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For interviews – Dr John Minns –
02 6125 5424 / 0407 483 952. For media
assistance –
Sarina Talip – 02 6125 7988 / 0416 249 241.
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