Pristine Amazon Rainforest is Targeted for Drilling

You would think with the popularity of people wanted to change the Earth for the better, projects like these would get crushed and pushed out. How long is it going to take for EVERYONE to make a difference?


Found at New Scientist Environment
Written by Andy Coghlan

Unspoilt Amazonian rainforests covering an area almost as large as Texas have been provisionally earmarked for oil and gas exploration.

A new report reveals that the area has been divided into 180 "blocks" designated for exploration by governments of countries that own the land on the western fringe of the Amazon. Their intention is to lease the blocks to oil and gas companies for exploration and extraction, taking a cut of any revenues as a royalty. About 35 oil companies are vying for the contracts.

However, most of the blocks overlap with huge areas of rainforest that would become vulnerable to illegal hunting and logging once breached by roads to service exploration activities. (see diagram, right, for details)

Exotic species

The threatened forests in the west Amazon are still pristine in comparison with the highly-exploited eastern Amazonian forests of Brazil.

They support hundreds of undisturbed exotic species, from jaguars and ocelots to harpy eagles and river otters, as well as large populations of indigenous people who oppose oil exploration on their lands.

"The western Amazon is pretty much intact, and the reason it remains remote is that there are no roads," says Matt Finer of the conservation group Save America's Forests, which has revealed the positions of the 180 blocks. "That's why we want an immediate moratorium on new road building before any contracts are signed," says Finer.

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