Peru’s huge Camisea gas project was not on the official agenda when the board of governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) met in Lima last month. But it drew ample attention in press conferences and side meetings organized around the IDB board session, underscoring increased criticism about extractive industry in environmentally sensitive areas. Camisea, which holds an estimated 11 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 600 million cubic feet of gas liquids, is located in the remote rainforest in southeastern Peru. Government authorities say the US$2.5 billion project is needed to make Peru self-sufficient in energy and to provide export revenue. Environmentalists and some indigenous groups here disagree, charging the project is harming ecosystems and threatening isolated nomadic groups that... [Log in to read more]