Contents 
 

General aspects

There is a proven relationship between the dependence of a country on oil production and their subsequent development. The history of the oil countries of the Third World has been to pass from crisis to crisis until dependent decapitalised, and in many cases violent economic models, take shape. 

The exploitation of oil and gas is one of the most important causes of the external indebtedness of the oil producing countries. 

The external financing of oil projects is one way to subsidise the extraction of oil in order to make it cheaper and to benefit the consuming countries, which are usually those that make the loans. The external debt is not only an economic problem, it is principally a political tool for putting pressure on natural resources. 

Even the non repayable loans have goals different from that of aid, they are, rather, a part of a package which leads to dependence and loss of sovereignty. The aid programmes for progress, the contributions for peace, or those for coping with natural disasters, have served to open markets, for example for the overproduction of genetically modified cereals in the United States, or in order to create conditions and regulations for oil exploration. 

The Ecological Debt is a new concept which explains the real flow of capital, natural resources and human beings. The Ecological Debt explains the destination and the impacts of the monetary external debt, and proposes to identify the debtors and creditors, in an unequal world, comprised of a North which consumes and which maintains its high level of consumption of the resources of the South. 

In the centre of the model of over-consumption, over-exploitation, local and global pollution, inequalities and indebtedness, the source of energy are fossil fuels. Its exploration, extraction, transport, refining, and consumption, produce the serious environmental, social and cultural impacts both on the local and global levels- as climate change -, which form an Ecological Debt. 
 
 

The scientific and social point of view on oil exploitation

The oil and gas exploitation in different parts of the non industrialised world, is not justified as the existing reserves greatly exceed the capacity of the planet to withstand the burning of this fuel. 

From the scientific point of view it is not only necessary to stop the increase in emissions, but to urgently reduce them. 

The burning of only a fraction of the existing oil and gas reserves would assure a climate catastrophe. The small island countries have demanded a reduction of at least 25% of emissions before the end of this year. 

The industrialised countries for their part are looking for ways to avoid even the ridiculous 5.5% reductions to which they are committed. Instead of that, they have increased 1% of the emissions. 

This contrasts with the responsible attitude of the different peoples of the South, who make real reductions when they stop the opening of new wells and close existing wells. 

The oil companies have carried out sustained campaigns to stop any reductions in the consumption of oil, at least until they make sure that other energy sources, such as the sun water and the wind, are resources subject to appropriation and monopolisation. To this end companies such as Shell or BP invest in solar energy, or small dams are substituted by mega dams. 

Oil activity has been shown to be one of the principal causes of deforestation and loss of biodiversity. It causes the pollution of surface and ground water, which are themselves becoming more scarce, the alteration of the water cycles, which are indispensable for the functioning of ecosystems, and pollution of the atmosphere on both the local and global level. 
 
 
 

Fundamentals of the ecological debt  due to oil 

2. The extermination of cultures and the sacrifice of the health of the communities. 

3. The loss of wild and agricultural biodiversity due to the pollution which this activity generates. 

4. The destruction of ecosystems (seas, coasts, forests etc.), and the deprivation of the services that these provide. 

5. The erosion or loss of other sources of clean, renewable and low impact energy due to unfair competition with several loans and tax exemptions. 

6. The emission of tonnes of Carbon which inevitably reach the atmosphere and overwhelm the planet’s absorption capacity, provoking the increase of greenhouse effect and climate chaos. 

7. The imposition of increased hydrocarbon exports in order to pay the growing external debt. 

8. The appropriation and control of public goods. 

9. The cornering and monopoly control of a strategic resource by means of which the basis of the productive system of industrial society is controlled . 

10. Oil and gas exports do not include their local and global, social and environmental, costs. 
 
 

In Light Of The Above We Propose: 

1.  A MORATORIUM ON OIL EXPLORATION 

Stop new areas from being affected by oil and gas explotation. The conservation of existing natural ecosystems is the only guarantee of the survival of the traditional peoples around the world. 

There are a number of legal instruments which support the moratorium on oil and gas exploration. On the one hand, there are the traditional rights of indigenous peoples and local communities to protect the integrity of their territories and cultures. On the other hand, there are procedures, in national and international law such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, convention 169 of the ILO, and others. 
 

2.  TOWARDS ENERGY SOVEREIGNTY 

The large scale consumers and oil companies traditionally have imposed the price and the only reference which is taken into account is the cost of extraction and transportation. Present energy policies prioritise the liberalisation of foreign investment and promote the increase in production of oil and gas. 

This is accompanied by a model of deregulation and privatisation of state assets, including state companies, which results in total dependency. 

From an energy point of view sovereignty policies imply protecting assets, avoiding wasting them, and developing the capacity for autonomy at the local and national level. The best way to guarantee independence is to develop small scale, autonomous, energy projects which do not require large investments. It is necessary to reorient investments, loans and subsidies towards clean, renewable, low impact energy projects which allow for the encouragement of sustainable and decentralised energy. 
 

3.   FOOD SOVEREIGNTY 

Imported foods are injected into the national economy through the use of oil, and compete unfairly with national products. The United States, which is the world’s main oil consumer and main agricultural producer, has managed to establish a model by which it is subsidised by all the poor countries. 

For a state, food sovereignty implies the elimination of all activities which are large consumers of energy such as intensive and extensive agriculture, the cultivation of flowers, shrimp, etc., and which also threaten other activities which are net producers of energy, such as campesino agriculture, the collection of shell fish  etc. 
 

4.  RECOVERY OF THE CAPACITY FOR SUSTENANCE 

Ecological Debt Files 

• 1. Indonesia - Caltex 
• 2. Ecuador - Texaco 
• 3. Nigeria - Shell 
• 4. Colombia - Occidental 

1. INDONESIA - CALTEX 

Creditor Country: Indonesia – Province of Riau – Sumatra 

Peoples: Sakai (the most affected), Laut, Talang, Mamak, Bonai, Hutan and Akit.  A total of 4,747 families and 35,682 people. 

Ecosystem affected: Rainforest 

Length of intervention: 40 years 

History of the company: 
Caltex Pacific Indonesia, is a consortium of the Texaco and Chevron oil companies formed in order to work in a number of Asian countries. 

Extent of the Ecological damage:  
Caltex has an important presence in the Province of Riau, in Sumatra, and is the oil company with the largest presence in the country. It extracts one million five hundred thousand barrels a day, which represents 60% of national production.  At the moment Caltex operates four blocks in Riau, with two contracts which have been extended until 2020 and 2013 respectively. Caltex is the operator of 600 oil wells in the centre and east of Sumatra. 

Oil activity has destroyed the ecosystem in each one of its phases. During the drilling large quantities of formation water are produced, which contain a complex mixture of groundwater with liquid and solid materials, including crude oil, drilling fluids, drilling chemicals and geological materials. The formation water can contain dangerous quantities of toxic organic (hydrocarbons) and inorganic (traces of heavy metals) compounds. 

This water is discharged into pools in which the water is separated from the oil. A stratification of the surface oil and the formation water is produced. 
The water is subsequently dumped into the environment without any further treatment. The pools have no type of liner with which to prevent the infiltration of the pollutants. 

The average temperature of the formation water is 80 degrees Centigrade. The high temperatures are maintained for a number of miles down river which produces serious impacts in the phyto and zooplankton, as well as in the microbiology of the water. This makes the biodegradation of the pollutants emanating from the oil effluents even more difficult. 

The spills which have occurred in the oil operation, from the wells and the pipelines, is one of the principal routes by which oil enters the water bodies in the area, which can also lead to the contamination of the soil and infiltration of bodies of groundwater. 

The extension of the cultural damage:  
Oil exploitation, as well as other intensive extraction activities in the area, has put in danger the survival of the peoples mentioned above, not only due to pollution of the air and water, but mainly as a result of the appropriation of territory by the companies. This process has been supported by the Indonesian Government. 

Indirect Impacts:  
There is an immense road network which serves the oil industry, which has involved the opening of large amounts of primary forest for the installation of stations, wells and roads. 

Oil activity has functioned as the doorway for the entry of other economic activities such as forestry plantations. For a number of years the Sakai people have been subject to transmigration, i.e. involuntary resettlement, so that their lands can be used by these companies. 
 
 

2. ECUADOR - TEXACO 

Creditor Country: Ecuador – Provinces of Napo and Sucumbios 

Peoples: Secoya, Quichuas, Huaorani, Tetete (extinct), campesinos which in total are about 30,000 people. 

Ecosystem affected: Amazon Tropical Rainforest. 

Length of intervention: 28 years 

History of the company:  
Texaco is a North American company founded in Texas in 1926. 

Extension of the ecological damage:  
Texaco extracted close to 1.5 million barrels of oil. It built 22 stations, drilled 339 wells in an area which presently represents 42,9656 hectares and, dumped tonnes of toxic material and maintenance waste, and more than 19,000 million gallons of production water into the environment. In its approximately 200 burners it burned 2 million cubic feet of gas daily. The production water is a large quantity of liquid waste which generally contains hydrocarbons (including Benzene and PAHs), heavy metals, and salts at toxic levels. 

The emissions to the atmosphere include gases which produce the greenhouse effect, precursors of acid rain and other contaminants which in the majority contain dioxins. 

As well as the routine and deliberate discharges and emissions to the environment, the accidental spills were very frequent. During the period in which Texaco operated the Transecuadorian oil pipeline, the amount of the spills which occurred reached approximately 16.8 million gallons of crude. 

The malnutrition due to the pollution and destruction of resources in the area is the highest in the country, the number of cancer cases is the highest in the country and is growing, due to the chronic pollution. 

Extension of Cultural Damage:  
The Tetete culture was wiped out and the indigenous populations of the zone reduced to ethnic minorities. The cultural and patterns of life and nutrition were affected. 

The traditional systems of health, decision making and organisation were weakened. 

Indirect Impacts:  
The presence of Texaco lead to a number of colonisation processes which increased deforestation and intervention in the area. 

Five hundred kilometres of roads, main and secondary pipelines, were constructed. 

Oil cities were created, which are noted for being centres of violence, prostitution and consumption of alcohol. 

After Texaco, dozens of oil, agro-industrial, mining and logging companies entered. 
 
 

3. NIGERIA - SHELL 

Creditor country:  Nigeria - Niger Delta 

People: Ogoni and other ethnic minorities. There are 5 000 Ogoni’s people and 30 000 of other indigenous people. 

Affected ecosystem:  Mangrove’s forests among others. 

Length of intervention: 40 years 

History of the company:   
Royal Dutch Shell, an English and Dutch transnational corporation. 

Extension of the ecological damage:  
There are 349 sites of perforation, 700 km of flow’s lines, 400 km of pipelines, 22 stations and one terminal. Shell produces 800 000 barrels daily.  It produces permanent, routine and accidental discharges into the environment. 

Only in 1989 Shell burnt 613 billions cubic feet of gas, introducing 35 millions' tons of CO2, and almost 12 millions' tons of methane. From 1982 to 1992 there were spilled 1.6 millions' gallons on the sites operated by Shell in 27 separated incidents.  The pools discharge directly into the Niger Delta. 

One of the most critical aspects is the dredge and the channelling because they have interfered with the natural flow of the tides and the exchange between salt water and sweet water, affecting the crops' lands.  The destruction of mangroves is causing that the changes in the sea level, a result of the Climate Change, have an uncontrollable impact on the local villages because of the loose of the natural barrier. 

Shell has numerous breaks in its pipeline, which is in very bad conditions.  However, Shell says that the breaks are caused by sabotages.  The sabotage in Nigeria is paid with the death.  This fact has determined the chase of the people of the region. They never could prove the sabotages. 

The construction of roads has caused deforestation and the temporary halt of the water, so the forests dry or wither because of water’s excess.  Once the exploitation of oil is done, the mangroves that have survived, die because of the pollution since the oil enters the reproductive organs of the mangroves. 

Any attempt of protest is put down strongly.  There are special forces of security.  The wastes are routine.  The mangroves are vulnerable to the oil, the chemicals and the sedimentation. 

Cultural extension of the damage:  
In the zone the people used to practice sustainable activities of extraction, agriculture and fishing.  These activities are an essential part of the culture of the traditional villages.  The mangroves are the origin’s site of millennial cultures.  Currently the Ogoni people are subdued to the violence, discrimination and poverty. 

The presence of Shell is a prolongation of the British Imperialism.  Shell maintains a colonialist style so that it destroyed en 1991 a hospital built by the communitary effort. 

Indirect impacts:  
The presence of Shell has determined that in the zone appear other enterprises like Agip, Texaco, Chevron, Mobil and Elf, and that all of them use very bad standards. There are built hundreds of kilometers of roads, which have induced the colonization and the pressure to the Niger Delta forests. The oil zone is a region with more violence.  The mangroves are today sites of pollution and massacres. The oil extraction has caused ethnic conflicts as the Biafra’s war. 
 
 

4. COLOMBIA - OCCIDENTAL 

Creditor country: Colombia 

People: Guahibos (including Sikuani, Betoyes, Macahuanes, Hitanu, Dome Jiwi), Saliva and campesinos of Arauca. 

Affected ecosystem: Laguna del Lipa. 

Length of intervention: 20 years 

Background of the company: 
US company, one of the 10 biggest in the world. Cano Limon and Samore are of big importance for the company, due to the actual reserves found in 1,400 millions of barrels for Samore  and 1,200 millions of barrels (Caño Limon) and also because the geographical position base on the interest of regional possession. 

Extension of the ecological damage:  
The contract signed with Occidental was on the base of exploitation of 5,000 million of hectares. The company started in the Laguna del Lipa, which legally was considered a sanctuary of flora and fauna in Arauca, a Department close to border of Venezuela. The technical and scientific reason was because comprised canals, dumps and river bands (100,000 hectares) and also a big area of untouched tropical forest (715,000 hectares). Up to date in that area only we can find an enormous artificial lake named Lagoon of the Drague (50 hectares and 10 meters depth). 

The company enforced an aggressive process for the occupation of territories, constructed roads, dikes, contention walls, camping areas without any legal permission. As part of the land occupation done, they expropriated the campesinos land. Indeed, the work done by the company resulted in the total alteration of the natural ecosystems of water resources, in many areas the superficial water collapsed and in other cases the running water was damned (the Sarabena-Arauca road was build as a dike because the lack of sewage). 

All this heavily affected the survival economies of the local campesinos and indigenous communities whose main activities were agriculture and fishing. Due to the characteristics of the crude oil the pollution is strong on aromatic hydrocarbons due to the evaporation of benzene and xylene, which have the main characteristics of being carcinogens. For the construction of the oil pipeline (1,000 kilometres) from 1985-1986, many small farms of small campesinos were barred as well as some small natural forests. Then the oil pipeline was object of many sabotages as an effect of this the permanent pollution of those areas is seen. Since then there have been 2.1 millions of barrels spoiled to the environment in 750 explosions. 

The pollution has different sources, provoked, routinely and accidentally. The water coming from the production is directed versed into the rivers and other water sources. Recently in 1998, a 1.5000 millions of barrels were discharged everyday. For more than ten years, Occidental discharged to all the nearest ecosystems the formation water (60 degrees) without any pervious treatment. In fact Occidental has discharged more than 5 billions of barrels. 

Cultural impacts:  
The Lagoon of Lipa was a sacred of the Ohaivos people. The presence of the company resulted in the extinction of this people who included to the Sikuani, Betoyes, Macahuanes, Hitanu, Dome Jivi. These people from being owners of the Sabana to begg in the oily capitals. After 20 years of oil activities Macahuanes lost 75% of their territories due to colonisation and the Hitanus and Dome Hivis lost 95% of their territory. 

The Huajivo today lies on alcoholism behaviour, prostitution, sickness and bad nutrition. They lost the activities of fishing, hunting and collection habits. 

Indirect Impacts:  
Occidental weakened the legal framework for conservation of the protected areas, by influencing the elimination of that protected area. The oil activity in Arauca, influenced the growing of violence becoming later that area in one of the most social conflictive area. 
 
 

Confronting The Meeting Of The IMF And WB 

The role, constitution and policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been strongly questioned at the international level due to the social and environmental impacts they have caused in non-industrialised countries. 

The governments and the social, environmental and human rights organisations of the Third World, have criticised the decision making processes of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and have exposed them as the vehicle by which their economies are condemned to progressive de-capitalisation. 

One of the ways these institutions have of imposing their policies on the Third World, is by accusing them of having corruption problems, overlooking the fact that corruption is a two way relationship, where there are just as many who corrupt as those who are corrupted, and that this problem will not be solved while the roots of the problem are not addressed. 

In the Third World countries the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are presently promoting the liberalisation of investments and commercial competition as part of globalisation process. These policies have given rise to an increase in oil production and have imposed an energy sector deregulation and privatisation model that have lead to an intensification of environmental, social and economic problems in the Third World. 

The energy policies initiated by these institutions have played a central role in the destruction of local resources, due to the promotion of export based economic activities that have severe social and environmental impacts, and the promotion of models based on large scale infrastructure. 

The World Bank is supporting the construction of a series of oil and gas pipelines that will cross fragile and forested areas, such as the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, the West Africa gas pipeline, the gas pipelines to be constructed in Indonesia, and the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline. All of these have been strongly questioned for social and environmental reasons. 

Additionally, the World Bank development programs spring from a false concept of poverty. They disregard the fact that the countries of the Third World are rich in biodiversity, resources, and culture, and that they are decapitalised owing to the economic measures imposed by these institutions, measures which involve the intensive extraction of raw materials and the reduction of the state budget in education, health, and other social fields. 

Moreover, they disregard the fact that that the industrialised model is not a model to follow, as it presupposes the occupation of the environmental space and the use of the resources of other countries or regions of the world.  It is exactly this model that has been building up and increasing the ecological debt which the Northern countries have with those of the South. 

Social, clean energy, and local development policies should be addressed in situations in which there is an equilibrium between countries, and where the interests of the Southern countries are adequately represented. 

These are the conditions needed in order to resolve energy problems, over and above technical considerations, from an energy sovereignty perspective, and related to sources of energy production, equitable distribution and control of the entire energy process. 
 
 

The member organizations of Oilwatch demand

• Of the World Bank: 

2. Suspension of all projects connected to the use or transportation of fossil fuels, as well as all projects which justify an increase in exploration for fossil fuels. 

3.  That the World Bank establish participatory systems with which communities can freely establish their decisions, with the capacity of veto. The consultation process cannot be turned into a process of harassment of the organisations and local communities that have declared that they do not want the projects in question. The World Bank should respect the sovereign right of the communities to maintain their own development model based on their own proposals. 
 
 

• Of the International Monetary Fund: 

2. Not to require any country to expand its oil activities, to lower its barriers to new investments in the oil sector, to the detriment of national companies, or to eliminate protection of community and sovereignty rights with the objective of increasing oil activities. 

3. To recognise the illegitimacy of the external debt and furthermore, the existence of the ecological debt, which is increased with the flow of resources from the South to the North. 

4. To assume responsibility for the damage caused to ecosystems, and for the economic and social situation of the local populations. It is therefore necessary to carry out a study of the impacts that their energy policies and structural adjustment policies have had on the countries of the Third World.  Based on the results of these studies funding should be allotted for the restoration of the affected zones. 
 
 

• Of the governments of the Third World: 

2.  To reformulate all the loans for projects that use fossil fuels as a source of energy, or for their extraction or transport. 

3.  To commit themselves to develop a legislative and institutional base for a national energy transition to a system based on sustainable, clean, and decentralised energy. 

4.  To stop subsidies and other incentives for those who pollute, and in their place to support local communities, small farmers and indigenous people, who are net producers of clean energy. 

5. To begin the elimination of oil activities in fragile areas, indigenous territories and in those areas with proven environmental impacts. 
 
6. To differentiate the responsibility for the restoration of ecosystems affected by climate change and the funding of contingency plans to confront these events. The industrialised nations, the multilateral agencies and the companies have a greater responsibility, because they have induced, or have increased the intensity of, climate change through the promotion of fossil fuel use and the excessive consumption of energy. 

7. That the governments of the Third World must act together with the goal of achieving substantial changes in international policies so that they direct the third world towards sovereign control of their heritage. 
 

• To the communities and organisations of the North committed to the environment: 

2. To lower consumption and to join the struggle for the recognition of the ecological debt that the North has with the South, due to the high standards of living in the North which are based on the historical flow of natural goods and financial resources from South to North. 

3. To overcome some concepts that stigmatise and subordinate the South, such as: they are countries which are corrupt, poor, lacking technology, handicapped etc. The policies of the World Bank are justified based on these concepts. Policies for the elimination of extreme poverty should also be complemented with those for the elimination of the extreme concentration of wealth. 
 
 

• To the communities and organisations of the South committed to the environment: 

2. To carry out the moratorium against the exploration of new oil wells and the construction of pipelines, exercising the supreme right to resistance, as these affect the earth, sustenance and territorial integrity. 

3.  To fight for energy sovereignty with renewable, clean, decentralised, independent and low impact energy projects. 

For the planet and it's people...  

OILWATCH INTERNATIONAL NETWORK 
(oilwatch@uio.satnet.net) 

Oilwatch is an international network of 120 environmental, human rights, religious and local community organisations, which support resistance to oil and gas activities in the tropics, and denounce the local and global impacts from a Southern Country perspective.