Talisman AGM in Calgary Statement by Gregor MacLennan Amazon Watch Peru Coordinator | Amazon Watch
Amazon Watch

Talisman AGM in Calgary Statement by Gregor MacLennan Amazon Watch Peru Coordinator

April 29, 2009 | Campaign Update

Good Morning Chairman Manzoni, Board of Directors, Shareholders,

My name is Gregor MacLennan, and I represent Amazon Watch, a human rights and environmental organization that has 15 years of experience working with indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We are also shareholders in Talisman.

We have expressed, both in discussions with the company and in written correspondence, our profound concern about your company’s current operations in the Peruvian Amazon.

While we welcome Talisman’s commitment at last year’s Annual General Meeting to “not work in Peru in areas in which it does not have an agreement with the community,” we are concerned about the great divide between rhetoric and reality on the ground. Talisman holds rights to 32,000 square kilometers of highly biodiverse Amazon rainforest in northern Peru.

I would like to draw attention to oil block 64 in the northern Amazon in the Pastaza and Morona river basins. The Achuar have asked Amazon Watch to convey to Talisman today their continued opposition to oil drilling within their territory. Four different companies over the last 10 years have held rights to oil Block 64, have eventually chosen to respect the Achuar’s decision, and have withdrawn.

Currently, 84% of communities (that is 27 out of 32 communities) within Block 64 whose territories cover the majority of the surface area of the block are steadfastly opposed to Talisman’s oil operations. Many are directly affected by the current exploratory drilling in the sensitive and biodiverse wetland ecosystem between the two river basins on which they rely on for fresh water, hunting and fishing to support their families and children. Talisman is neither acknowledging or respecting the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Achuar have firmly rejected the project. Talisman is choosing to only listen to the communities directly adjacent to its current well sites. Even so, we’d argue that Talisman has not received their consent.

In the Morona river basin, there are two communities located directly adjacent to Talisman’s wells that have repeatedly voiced their opposition to Talisman’s presence in the region, most recently in a community assembly in January. We have video documentation of this meeting upon request.

Across the Amazon right now and for the last two weeks thousands of indigenous people have blockaded roads and river traffic, closed down airports, and occupied petroleum installations in protest against a model of development based upon the extraction of natural resources and disregard for the environment and their rights.

The time is now. Talisman has an opportunity to demonstrate its respect for indigenous rights and the environment, its moral and ethical values, and importantly, its own business acumen. Is your company, Mr. Manzoni, ready to be a leader in corporate social responsibility? If so, the path is clear: recognize the Achuar peoples longstanding opposition to oil operations in their territory, and commit to suspend operations in Block 64, and begin preparing a strategy for withdrawal.

Thank You.

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