Environmental Efforts Can't Curb Social Impact of Amazon Pipeline | Amazon Watch
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Environmental Efforts Can’t Curb Social Impact of Amazon Pipeline

June 7, 2005 | Mario Osava | Inter Press Service News Agency

Manaus, Brazil – While Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras has taken great pains to limit the environmental impact of gas pipelines in the Amazon region, it has proven more difficult to curb the social repercussions of large-scale projects in the midst of dire poverty.

The discovery in 1986 of natural gas in Urucú, in the heart of the Amazon jungle, was considered a potential boon for both the economy and the environment, since it would stimulate local industries while providing a cleaner, less costly replacement for the diesel fuel brought in from southeastern Brazil or shipped in from abroad.

However, taking full advantage of this natural gas source will require the construction of a pipeline from Urucú to Manaus, the capital and industrial centre of the northwestern state of Amazonas, where Petrobras has a refinery. The finished pipeline will stretch 650 km, crossing jungles, rivers and floodlands and running through isolated communities along the area’s rivers.

The construction of a 285-km pipeline that carries both oil and cooking gas from Urucú to the port of Coari, completed in 1998, has already had negative repercussions, particularly as a result of uncontrolled migration to the area, said Marta Valeria Cunha of the Catholic Church’s
Pastoral Land Commission.

The population of Coari has more than doubled since 1993, when it was home to 38,000 people, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. By 2004, the population had soared to 80,500, and it is now estimated at around 100,000.

People have been drawn to the town by the belief that the natural gas industry will promote prosperity – an idea that has been encouraged by the local authorities, Cunha told IPS.

Last month, around 2,000 newcomers suddenly moved into an area on the town’s outskirts, sparking clashes that left several people wounded and over 50 in jail, she reported.

The main source of employment is the task of clearing a 15 to 20-metre-wide swath through the jungle, along which the pipeline will be installed, 1.5 metres underground. Although these jobs are temporary and low-paying, they are nonetheless attractive to potential labourers from
impoverished communities considerable distances away, Cunha explained.

This sudden influx of migrant workers and the tent cities that have sprung up to house them have led to an upsurge in malaria, child prostitution, violence, drug use, AIDS and teen pregnancies, she added.

In addition to a malaria epidemic, the inhabitants of nearby Vila Lira have complained that the draining and filling of lagoons in the area have reduced fish stocks to one quarter of previous levels, according to the personal accounts of local people videotaped by journalist Andre Muggiati.

“The environmental impact will be overcome by nature’s ability to recover, but the social impact is permanent,” warned Cunha.

Her goal now is to ensure that the 365-km pipeline from Coari to Manaus – to be completed by the end of next year – will benefit the people in the riverside settlements along its path, “and not just Manaus and its industrial and business communities.”

The secretary of the environment of the state of Amazonas, Virgilio Viana, admitted that there were “a few mistakes” made between Urucú and Coari, but stressed that these are being corrected. A lengthy process of consultations with the area’s residents and a team of scientists from the local university preceded the construction of this new section of
the pipeline.

Furthermore, the state government and Petrobras launched a programme last year to bring medical and dental care, legal documentation services, environmental education and credits to promote sustainable development to 131 communities near the route followed by the pipeline, reported Viana.

Other projects including the construction of schools, sports programmes for young people and efforts to combat malnutrition have been undertaken to serve settlements near Petrobras facilities, noted Giovanni Paiva, the Amazon region director of Transpetro, the transport subsidiary of
the state oil company.

The pipeline running from Urucú to Manaus will be extremely safe, with electronic controls and valves every 30 km that will automatically close in the event of an accident, thereby limiting the potential damage, he said. Three types of protection will slow down corrosion and allow for the pipes to be replaced before they have deteriorated.

In addition, the pipeline is being installed underground and underwater, to prevent vandalism and environmental damages. The pipeline also avoids the need for shipping the oil by river.

The drilling facilities and pipelines are located in sparsely populated areas and will not require the construction of highways. All transportation in the region is by boat along its abundant rivers, and
in some cases by air.

Moreover, Urucú does not have an indigenous population, because its forests provide little fruit, explained Ken Araujo, the Petrobras marketing manager for the Amazon region.

However, the Urucú-Coari pipeline crosses the lands of the Miranha people, who are demanding “compensation” from Petrobras in the from of social benefits, Jecinaldo Cabral, coordinator of Association of Brazilian Amazon Indigenous Organisations, told IPS.

The problem is that the land in question has not been legally demarcated as indigenous territory, and Petrobras negotiated the pipeline’s passage with a landholder who had proof of ownership dating back to 1914, noted Giovanni Paiva.

With regard to issues that affect the country’s indigenous peoples, Petrobras must follow the guidelines set by the National Indigenous Foundation, an official government agency.

Petrobras has never experienced serious accidents in the Brazilian Amazon, and its efforts to reduce environmental impact and openness to dialogue are recognised by local environmental activists. However, the state-run company is facing considerable national and international opposition to another Amazon region project, in Ecuador.

Petrobras was awarded the concession to explore for oil in a section of Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park, an area rich in biodiversity and inhabited by the Huaoroni indigenous people, who have already been adversely affected by the activities of a number of other transnational oil companies.

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