An unprecedented agreement has been struck between indigenous communities and the oil company that has been polluting their environment for 15 years.
Forty years of irresponsible oil production in the northern Peruvian Amazon has drastically changed the lives of hundreds of indigenous people and caused irreversible damage to one of the most biodiverse and vulnerable ecosystems in the world.
Over the years, the region’s indigenous ethnic groups have learned about their rights, demanded that they be respected, and sought remediation from the government and the company. For a long time they did not get much attention from these powerful actors.
But one of the lots, acquired in 2001 by Argentina’s PlusPetrol, is up for renegotiation this August, presenting a unique window of opportunity for indigenous groups. They have insisted that the bidding process cannot start until PlusPetrol commits to cleaning up the environment and provides remediation, reparation and compensation for using and damaging their territories.
For more than two years, negotiations between the government, PlusPetrol and the four indigenous federations of the Corrientes, Pastaza, Tigre and Marañon river basins have taken place, overshadowed by frustration. The negotiation dance took many steps back.
Then in February there was a breakthrough. An agreement was reached, and an initial investment of $33 million will go to the communities, for environmental clean-up, potable-water systems, electrification, land titles, health and education projects.
While this kind of agreement is unprecedented, indigenous communities throughout Peru continue to raise their voices against PlusPetrol. They feel the agreement does not match the wealth oil companies have extracted, nor will the initial investment repair the damage done to people’s lives. The hope, however, is that this agreement is a step towards achieving the overall objectives of Peru’s indigenous peoples: to live in a safe and clean environment.
