United Nations Development Programme in Colombia Announces Agreement with Oil Company GeoPark | Amazon Watch
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United Nations Development Programme in Colombia Announces Agreement with Oil Company GeoPark

April 27, 2021 | Press Statement


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Download the denunciation: English | Original Spanish

On April 21, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Colombia announced an agreement with Chile-based oil company GeoPark, called “United for Territorial Reactivation.” The initiative would be implemented in three Colombian departments where GeoPark operates, including Putumayo.

This Monday, April 26, two groups from the Putumayo Amazon – the Siona Indigenous Reserve of Buenavista and the Association of Sustainable Integral Development of the Perla Amazónica (ADISPA) – issued a scathing public denunciation addressed to the Colombia Country Representative of the UNDP, Jessica Faieta Mejia.

The denunciation states that “We consider this Alliance to be an act that undermines the legitimacy and trust in UNDP, since it is incompatible with the effective possibility of environmental and territorial protection since it is being agreed with the Company that most threatens the fragility of the Amazon.”

Amazon Watch Advocacy Director Andrew E. Miller made the following statement in response to the agreement:

“Partnerships between UN agencies and oil companies seriously undermine the United Nations’ moral authority on climate and environmental issues. But UNDP Colombia isn’t just partnering with your run-of-the-mill oil company polluting the Amazon Rainforest. In Colombia, the UNDP is working with GeoPark which local communities have consistently accused of collaborating with the Comando de la Frontera paramilitary group that is threatening their leaders – including Amnesty International priority case Jani Silva – with assassination.

“The risk against leaders dates back years and these accusations of collusion with killers have been public for months, and yet the UNDP decided GeoPark’s money is more important than the protection of Amazon forest guardians. UNDP Colombia should immediately sever ties with GeoPark and publicly apologize to the communities for this egregious error.”

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