Oil Pollution & Health
The discovery of petroleum marked the division between two periods in the history of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Prior to the exploitation of petroleum, the natural landscape was essentially intact and populated by indigenous people and a very few colonists. The petroleum era began in 1967 when Texaco drilled its first successful oil well; roads were built, enabling colonists to move in and settle, resulting in rapid population growth and increased deforestation.
Direct impacts from oil exploitation are also high. In the Ecuadorian Amazon, each exploratory well produces wastes (drilling muds, petroleum, natural gas and formation water). These wastes are frequently deposited into open, unlined pits from which they are discharged directly into the environment. At each well, over 4.3 million gallons/ 16.3 million liters of liquid wastes are generated every day and discharged without treatment into pits, while roughly 53 million cu ft/1,500,793 cu m of “waste” gas from the separation process are burned without temperature or emissions controls. Oil leaks from wells and pipelines have been common: an estimated 20,000 gallons every two weeks.
Health studies in certain areas near oil exploitation sites have suggested that exposed communities had higher occurrences of spontaneous abortion, dermatitis, skin mycosis, malnutrition, and mortality rates. Another study suggested a higher risk of adverse effects such as skin mycosis, tiredness, itchy nose, sore throat, headache, red eyes, ear pain, diarrhea and gastritis among women living near oil fields. A later study found significantly higher incidence of all cancers in both men and women in areas where oil exploitation had been ongoing for at least 20 years.
Source: San Sebastián, M., Hurtig, A-K. The impact of oil exploitation on the health of rural populations in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador, http://www.ghwatch.org, 2003
The Huaorani territory has been subject to outside influences since 1953, they were the last of the major ethnic groups to be contacted. The initial contact came through the missionaries, and it has been said that some of these evangelists often worked closely with Oil companies to further their mutual objectives (Colby and Dennet 1995).
The discovery of oil in 1967 significantly increased these disruptive influences.
Texaco initiated oil development near Lago Agrio. Eventually several other foreign companies and Petroecuador became involved in large parts of Sucumbios and the Napo provinces. Many indigenous men were introduced to the temporary wage labor, prostitution and consumer goods during the oil exploitation phase. Woman often lived in fear of the abusive practices of the oil-workers. The routine dumping of toxic formation water and frequent oil spills into the rivers on which the indigenous communities depend created huge negative impacts on their lives.
The flood of settlers which followed the new, oil financed road network affected the locals in several ways. First it displaced them from some of the best and most accessible agricultural soils. Second, it reduced the territory available for hunting and gathering. Finally, the example of the settlers and government policy encouraged the indigenous people to increase their reliance on agriculture and lumbar extraction and to covet the land as private property rather than a communal resource.
The country´s most important source of foreign income is its oil exports, and most of the oil lies beneath the rainforests. Oil exploitation and natural resource conservation are not necessarily incompatible, as we can see in Europe and North America where there are strict environmental controls on this type of activity.
Thus community based eco-lodge maintains a way of life for the Huaorani independent of gifts and handouts from oil companies. This venture links the Huaorani to tourism as an alternative means of income, in their irreversibly changed world, enabling them to preserve their culture, heritage, traditions and at the same time conserve the land.
This community based lodge is an example towards our environmental and cultural goals of sustainable development. By facilitating a greater flow of interested Amazon visitors to this community, who manage the operation, allows the generated income to be put back into the community and conserve the natural resources.
What is more, the visitors will, through the unique experience of seeing the rainforest through the eyes of the people that live there, almost certainly gain insights which will make them a new ally in our common struggle to defend the rainforest.
