A 25,000-barrel oil spill in the northwestern Ecuadorian province of Esmeraldas on March 13 has polluted three rivers, fouled a coastal protected area, compromised drinking water supplies for some 500,000 people, and caused disruptions for farmers and fishers. Authorities said the cause was the rupture of a 50-meter section of the government-operated SOTE crude-oil pipeline, which transports crude oil from Ecuador’s Amazon oilfields to its Pacific coast. The 52-year-old line has suffered nearly 80 spills since its construction. Though several of the spills have been larger than that of March 13, experts say the latest one has had the broadest impact on people—mainly due to the contamination of drinking-water supplies—and stands out for its contamination of the coastal protected area, the Esmeraldas River Estuary Mangrove Wildlife Refuge. Officials report a mudslide undermined the pipeline during heavy rains, causing a rupture that...
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A four-lane highway being carved through 13 kilometers (eight miles) of protected Amazon rainforest in Belém, Brazil, has sparked outrage eight months before the city hosts the global climate summit in November. Amid heavy criticism in Brazil and abroad, the Brazilian government this month stated the road was not part of the 33 planned infrastructure projects being carried out for this year’s U.N. climate summit, known as COP30. The highway, which is being built by the government of the eastern Amazon state of Pará, is intended to alleviate vehicle-traffic congestion in Belém, the state capital. Traffic will worsen exponentially during COP30, which is expected to draw 50,000 attendees, among them world leaders. Pará authorities are touting the project as “sustainable” development. The plan to build the road, dubbed Liberty Avenue, was announced in 2020; but a UN climate committee’s approval in December 2023 of Brazil’s proposal to host...
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Peru’s coastal desert is punctuated by numerous wetlands that have long served as food sources for many among the country’s human inhabitants, flyway stops for migratory birds, regulators of the hydrological cycle and natural filters of contaminated groundwater. But the relatively narrow strip of coast is also home to more than half of Peru’s human population, and the activities of those humans increasingly threaten these wetland sites potentially undermining the environmental services that they have traditionally provided. In an analysis of 172 studies published from 2000 to 2020, scientists at the Scientific University of the South in Lima identified two main types of activity that have altered 22 wetlands on Peru’s northern, central and southern coastal regions. In some cases, chemical pollution from fishing boats infiltrates wetlands. In addition, the drivers are urban sprawl and the expansion of farming and livestock operations. Growing cities with inadequate waste management pollute nearby...
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