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Keeping the Amazon Green
The Amazon is in trouble again.
New roads are forging ahead into virgin rainforests, the destruction of which is subsidized by governments keen on boosting oil production and oil exports. Indigenous people are being attacked or lured into the cities where they work as poorly paid servants. International companies are extracting plants for medicinal uses without compensating the inhabitants of these territories.
A movement toward sovereignty for indigenous peoples is on the rise throughout the Amazon basin. Careless extraction of oil deposits has led to a new sense of emergency. The Amazon's fragile environment has fueled Ecuador's economy since the oil boom began in the 1970s. After 1986 the government tried to compensate for lower oil prices by increasing the volume of oil exports.
Judith Kimmerling paints a disturbing portrait of how the petroleum companies have acted in Amazon Crude. Her book documents the wide range of effects drilling has produced, including respiratory and skin diseases.
Lawyers Byron Real and Marcela Enriquez, founders of the environmental law firm CORDAVI, have filed suit against the Ecuadorian government for not protecting Ecuadorians' quality of life.
The government has responded by vocally supporting the environment and indigenous people's human rights, but so far little has been carried out.
Interest in this area is growing, as well as the number of groups fighting for its survival. There are hundreds of groups in Ecuador alone, according to a document by the United Nations.
Unfortunately, this is not a good sign, because it shows that many people prefer to work alone. As long as the environmental movement remains bitterly divided, the government has reason to abandon the status quo.
Exploring the Amazon Eco Travels in South America
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