Human Rights and the Environment

Case Study: Camisea

Country: Peru

Region: Central & South America

Issues: Indigenous People, Public Participation, Resource Extraction, Water, Fossil Fuel, Fisheries/Marine Ecology, Infrastructure

The Camisea Gas Field Project is an effort to build an infrastructure to extract and transport natural gas from the Camisea gas field in Peru to the Pacific Coast.[1] The field has an estimated 8.7 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and 600 million barrels of oil and liquid gas reserves. Project plans call for production of 400 million cubic feet of gas and 20,000 barrels of liquid petroleum per day to be transported by two trans-Andes pipelines to processing plants on the Pacific Coast. The international consortium responsible for the project has a 40-year concession to exploit gas and a 30-year concession to extract oil. The lengthy duration of this project is likely to guarantee ongoing environmental damage to delicate ecosystems and indigenous communities.[2]

Environmental and human rights groups concerned about these impacts celebrated a victory in August 2003, when the U.S. Export-Import Bank voted to deny financing for the Camisea project. The Bank rejected an application for a $214 million loan guarantee on the basis that Camisea did not meet the Bank's environmental standards. Non-profit organizations and community organizers applauded the Bank's decision to deny U.S. taxpayer support of the massive overseas environmental destruction that this gas development project would cause.[3] However, a month later, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved financing, committing $75 million in direct loans and $60 million in syndicated loans for the project. By supporting Camisea, the IDB and other funders paved the way for the destruction of one of the world's most pristine rainforests and threaten the physical survival of isolated indigenous populations.[4]

Under scrutiny from civil society and indigenous organizations, IDB delayed the Camisea loans in March of 2004.[5] Unfortunately, this presented only a small set-back for the pipeline project, which began operating in August 2004.[6]

[1] See Planet Ark, Peru's Camisea – Economic Boom or Environmental Bane? (Dec. 4, 2002), at http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18873/story.htm (last visited Feb. 18, 2005); see also Amazon Watch, The Camisea Natural Gas Project, at http://www.amazonwatch.org/amazon/PE/camisea/ (last visited Feb. 18, 2005).

[2] See Amazon Alliance, The Impacts of the Camisea Gas Project on the Isolated Indigenous Peoples of the Nahua Kugapakori Reserve, at http://www.amazonalliance.org/camiseaimpact.html (last visited Feb. 12, 2005).

[3] See Project Underground, Drillbits and Tailings: Camisea Gas Project Denied Funding by US Ex-Im Bank (Sept. 4, 2003), at http://www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/drillbits/8_06/2.html (last visited Feb. 15, 2005).

[4] See Amazon Watch, Inter-American Development Bank Blasted for Backing Risky Camisea Project in Peru (Sept. 10, 2003), at http://www.amazonwatch.org/amazon/PE/camisea/view_news.php?id=721 (last visited Feb. 15, 2005).

[5] See Amazon Watch, Associacion InterEtnica de Desarollo de la Selva Peruana (AIDESEP) Amazon Watch – Environmental Defense (Mar. 24, 2004), at http://www.amazonwatch.org/view_news.php?id=760 (last visited Feb. 14, 2005).

[6] See Institute of the Americas, News and Events, at http://www.gotech.net/GoTouch/newsletter.cfm?ID=6769&PV=1#Section1 (last visited Feb. 14, 2005); see also Tenaris, Camisea Pipeline Starts Up (Dec. 8, 2004), at http://www.tenaris.com/comunes/view.asp?idarticulo=448&category=51 (last visited Feb. 14, 2005).

Last Updated: 09/09/05