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Two separate campaigns in Latin America undertook multi-tactical approaches to fight foreign corporate projects that threaten rare and fragile ecological resources.
In Panama, where high costs and protected reserves long kept development at bay, the Centro de Incidencia Ambiental (CIAM) stepped up efforts to address large-scale projects planned for pristine areas of the country. “All the environmental advances that occurred in Panama in the past 20 years are at risk,” said Anne McEnany, the International Community Foundation’s Senior Advisor for Conservation and Environment. A special focus is in Petaquilla, a roadless area that represents one of the last major forest stands in the Meso-American Biological Corridor. A small Canadian mining firm, Petaquilla Minerals, plans to greatly expand its gold mine near the village of Coclesito to extract vast amounts of copper. The copper concession is now controlled by international mining giants, Inmet and Teck/Cominco. Neither project has an approved environmental impact statement. CIAM began legal action to make sure Panama’s environmental laws and regulations are being followed. The organization has publicly called for a total moratorium on open-pit mining and on all future mining exploration. To expand its campaign, CIAM formed alliances with Canadian and Latin American environmentalists, and launched a public outreach and media campaign to alert Panamanians to the public health and environmental threats. A campaign relying on a more legal approach is underway in opposition to development of a liquefied natural gas receiving terminal at Puerto Libertad in the state of Sonora, Mexico. The LNG receipt, storage, and regasification facility that El Paso Corp. and DKRW Energy plan to build at water’s edge threatens the unique and rich ecosystem of the Sea of Cortez “We won a decision to force the federal government to require an environmental review,” said Fernando Ochoa, the director of Centro Mexicano Para La Defensa del Medio Ambiente, a legal organization based in Ensenada. But because the court imposed a multi-million-dollar bond, they are taking the matter to an international tribunal to argue that the bond imposes an unreasonable burden on the community that will be affected by the project. Read more related news stories: |
