The oil and gas megaproject has a huge impact on indigenous peoples and their lands. Of all the extractive industries, the oil and gas industry is perhaps the one which has shown the most disrespect for the populations in the regions where hydrocarbons are exploited and through which they are transported.

The summary table (in excel, in pdf) shows the impacts of this megaproject throughout the indigenous territories of Colombia – impacts which begin long before the first well is drilled and continue many years after it is abandoned. These effects, as well as being long–lasting, accumulate in the same territory, making this industry a particularly destructive one.

Find out more:

Two excellent works which describe the effects of the oil and gas industry on populations which live in the production areas and the conduct of the operating companies:

Las palabras de la selva (...click here) (The words of the rainforest). A psychosocial study of the impact of Texaco’s oil installations on Ecuador’s Amazonian communities. Carlos Martín Beristain. HEGOA 2009

"This work forms part of a research project documenting the various dimensions of this impact (environmental, psychosocial, cultural) during the period of oil exploitation and up to the present day. The affected communities have lived with many of the effects for years, and these can not be demonstrated simply through chemical analyses 20 or 30 years later, as the land can not be divorced from its inhabitants, the water from those who drink it, biodiversity from the people’s way of life."

The link gives access to the full report, the expert report requested by the High Court of Nueva Loja, and the final response to Texaco’s allegations.

Nigeria: Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta (...click here). Amnesty International 2009

The report focuses on the impact of pollution and environmental damage related to the oil industry on the population of the delta of the Niger River. The link gives access to the summary report in Spanish and French, and the full report in English.

The summary table forms part of the 2nd edition of Desecrated Land 2: 04.The oil and gas megaproject (...click here)

The related maps can be consulted at the DL 2 Atlas: 04. Maps on the oil and gas megaproject (...click here).