Following a government decision to give Doe Run Peru more time to rein in pollution caused by its smelter in La Oroya, a network of Peruvian civic and environmental groups is calling for an independent environmental authority to step in. “Decisions like this demonstrate that it is inappropriate for the Ministry of Energy and Mines to play the dual role of promoting investment and serving as environmental authority,” the Muqui Network said in a statement this month. The network, comprising some 20 environmental, human rights, church and social-action groups concerned about mining’s community impacts, wants greater attention paid to health problems in La Oroya. It advocates the creation of an “independent, autonomous environmental authority that acts with transparency and seriousness, and that has the...
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Nine years after being rebuffed in its first attempt, Colombia’s Energy Company of the Pacific (Epsa) is trying again to persuade Afro-Colombian and Nasa Indian communities in the department of Cauca to allow it to divert the Ovejas river through a tunnel to the Salvajina hydropower complex. But the project, which would boost energy output by 15% at the 285-megawatt Salvajina station, has rekindled opposition in the communities, which say the diversion would destroy the livelihoods of hundreds of people who rely on the river for fishing, farming and mining. In April and May, project opponents in three municipalities—Buenos Aires, Suárez, and Morales—held meetings and staged protests. Dozens of people were arrested. Community leaders allege Epsa is misrepresenting river-diversion impacts...
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The new director of Ecuador’s Galápagos National Park has no shortage of early challenges, a crucial one being to find alternative sources of income for artisanal fishermen, who experts believe are placing a major strain on the archipelago’s marine life. Raquel Molina Moreira, a 40-year-old biologist who took office last month, is expected to consider solutions such as allowing paying tourists to accompany and assist local fishermen. The extra income, supporters of the idea say, would ease economic pressures on fishermen—and, thus, on the archipelago’s fishery. Such pressures have contributed to the over-fishing of species including sea cucumbers and lobster. Molina, to be sure, has set other priorities as well, among them strengthening park operations. That task will be aided by...
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In a country where community groups have blocked mining and oil-drilling projects and a metals smelter has left local children with high blood lead levels, one might expect the environment to get air-time during a presidential campaign. Not so in Peru, where green issues received scant attention in the presidential race won June 4 by former President Alan García. The environment did not figure in campaign platforms, was glossed over in press conferences and drew not a single mention in the lone presidential debate. García, who takes office on July 28, has hinted about his stances on certain issues. Meeting foreign reporters this month, he said foreign companies operating in Peru must meet the standards that apply in their home countries. “International criteria...
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