Pollution in one of Peru’s oldest Amazonian oil fields is so dispersed that cleaning up contaminated sites would not eliminate the risk of exposure to toxic substances. That’s the conclusion of a new study that was funded by the Peruvian government but conducted by independent researchers organized by the U.N. Development Program (UNDP). Pollution from 50 years of oil production in the concession area, known as Block 8 and located in Peru’s northeastern Loreto region, has degraded local ecosystems, according to the study. That, in turn, has affected the livelihoods and possibly the health of people in more than 100 communities, creating a high degree of anxiety and triggering conflicts. “It’s going to be practically impossible to eliminate 100% of the contamination,” says Fernando Morales of Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar University, an expert on remediation who participated in the study. “There must be a long-range means of addressing the issue... [Log in to read more]