To the dismay of environmentalists, Panama has discovered an estimated 900 million barrels in oil reserves in Darién Province near its border with Colombia and plans to open up bidding to international firms for further exploration by the end of the year. Panama’s Ministry of Trade and Industry announced Sept. 13 that it would move soon to exploit the oil find, confirmed in July and estimated by the government to be worth US$15 billion in taxes and royalties over the next 20 years. But the announcement has raised intense concerns among environmentalists, who point to the fragility of the Darién region, with its hundreds of species of birds and mammals, tens of thousands of Afro-Panamanian and Indian inhabitants and rich rainforests and wetlands...
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The Norwegian multinational Cermaq has pledged to improve its salmon-farming practices as part of an agreement aimed at ending a two-year battle with environmental groups that involved a formal complaint to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The August agreement, produced under an OECD mediation procedure called “contact point for responsible business,” featured a joint statement on “sustainable aquaculture” by the company and two environmental groups—Friends of the Earth Norway and the Forum for Environment and Development (ForUM). It includes an admission by Cermaq of environmental mistakes it made in connection with the spread in 2007 of the Infectious Salmon Anemia virus, which devastated salmon-farm production in Chile. “We acknowledge that aquaculture in Chile, including Cermaq’s farming activities, was...
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Green groups are criticizing Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for naming economist and former Colombian peace commissioner Frank Pearl as head of the country’s new Environment Ministry, complaining that he lacks the necessary environmental expertise. The new ministry was created as part of a broad cabinet reshuffle prompted by discontent over management of the country’s oil and mining boom. The shake-up also included the Sept. 20 resignation of Energy and Mines Minister Carlos Rodado, who was criticized for failing to resolve ongoing protests by oil workers and eliminate delays in the permitting process. Rodado’s departure came a week after the resignation of government oil regulator Armando Zamora, who helped spur an oil boom by auctioning oil rights to investors. Zamora had been the target...
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Though environmental issues have gained significant ground with the Argentine public in recent years, they appear to be virtually absent in the campaigning leading up to Argentina’s Oct. 23 presidential election. Inflation, poverty, crime, corruption, public education and the government’s relationship with the media are the subjects most often mentioned by candidates hoping to frustrate President Cristina Kirchner’s bid for reelection. This state of affairs has caused concern among advocacy groups that have taken part in public discussion on such subjects as the impacts of open-pit mining and deforestation and the effects that industrialized monocrop agriculture is having on the country’s soils. Two of the country’s best-known nonprofits, Argentine Wildlife Foundation and Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth...
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