Battling an oil company on its home turf, 73 Colombian farmers are bringing suit against British Petroleum (BP) in the United Kingdom’s High Court, arguing that the company’s construction of a pipeline across their lands caused widespread environmental damage. The farmers, who seek 18 million pounds (US$29 million) in compensation, say that Equión Energía—formerly BP Exploration (Colombia)—was negligent in its construction of the 836-kilometer (520-mile) Ocensa pipeline in the mid-1990s. By cutting corners on hilly terrain, the company caused erosion of topsoil and build-up of sediment in water channels, reducing the land’s fertility, polluting water supplies and triggering crop failures, they contend. “BP knew the risks, and knew how to avoid them, but chose to run these risks...
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Brazilian green groups contend that the reelection this month of President Dilma Rousseff spells four more years of the government paying lip service to sustainable development while allowing environmental protections to be undermined. Rousseff, of the Workers’ Party (PT) narrowly defeated Aécio Neves, a senator from the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB), in an Oct. 26 runoff, receiving 51.6% of the vote against his 48.3%. Though green advocates credit Neves for being more specific than Rousseff on green goals, they’re skeptical these would’ve translated into significantly stronger environmental policy. “Neither of their sustainability models sufficiently encouraged the development of a viable, low-carbon economy,” says Carlos Bocuhy, president of the nonprofit Brazilian Environmental Protection Institute. “Both candidates, each of whom made agreements with and was...
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A Colombian court has ordered 11 gold companies to cease their activities in a 50,000-hectare (124,000-acre) reserve in the northwestern department of Chocó and return the land to the Embera Katío indigenous group, which had been forcibly driven from the area. The Sept. 23 decision by the Superior Court of Antioquia benefits 7,200 Embera. It requires the government to install a series of social and environmental programs to ease the group’s return. “This is an unprecedented decision in the history of the nation,” said Ricardo Sabogal, director of the government-run Land Restitution Agency. “These [Embera] communities have been victimized over many years and ... didn’t have the means to protect their territory.” Chocó, on the Pacific Coast, is one of Colombia’s richest departments...
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Two unprecedented initiatives are expected to spur growth of the fledgling solar electricity market in Brazil, government officials and energy insiders say. In August the government’s National Development Bank (BNDES) announced that for the first time, it would provide low-cost financing for solar power plants whose output is sold at government-run energy auctions in advance of the plants’ construction. Meanwhile, the state agency that manages those auctions, the Energy Research Company (EPE), was scheduled on Oct. 31 to hold Brazil’s first-ever auction featuring a stand-alone category for solar-energy projects. Experts this month were optimistic that the auction would produce Brazil’s first national-level sales of future solar power in 20-year contracts BNDES says it will offer the low-cost...
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