Analyst Urges Broader Look at Amazon Oil Resources’ Local Impacts

Increasingly disruptive protests are likely if oil, gas, and mining companies and national governments don’t pay closer attention to indigenous populations’ needs as Western Amazon basin resources are developed, an expert warned.

“They usually are ignited by past grievances that have not been resolved,” said Patricia I. Vasquez, an independent analyst who previously was a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the US Institute for Peace, at a Mar. 21 launch of her new book, “Oil Sparks in the Amazon: Local Conflicts, Indigenous Populations, and Natural Resources.”

“The Amazon is obviously a very challenging place with a unique environment and lack of infrastructure,” Vasquez said during the event at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “There also are large numbers of indigenous people who are poor and marginalized, especially compared to the nonindigenous population. A strong political commitment is required to resolve these conflicts....”

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“The people can take their claims to it easily and for free, which is very important,” she said. “It also is immune from prosecution, and can present cases in the inter-American judicial system which has helped protect indigenous populations’ rights and interests.”

The problems deserve more attention, three other experts agreed. “I think this is one of the most defining issues in social and economic development right now,” said Christopher Sabatini, senior policy director at the Americas Society and founding editor of Americas Quarterly.....

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