Lingering pollution in Ecuador's rainforests

By: Rebecca McKinsey 
Produced and edited by: Kaylyn Hlavaty

Indigenous tribes in Ecuador’s Amazon Rain Forest may have won a victory in 2011, but the toll of years of oil pollution that damaged both their environment and their health will take much longer to erase.

For almost 30 years, oil operations within the rain forest by Texaco Inc. — which Chevron Corporation bought in 2001 — caused such extensive pollution that it resulted in severe health problems, including cancer, for the indigenous tribes living there, who had no way to protect themselves, activists say.

And although a long, drawn-out legal battle between the tribes, activists and the oil company resulted in a $19 billion payout by Chevron in 2011, healing for the indigenous people within Ecuador’s rain forest is still far away.

An Ecuadorian child stands beside a Texaco barrel. Photo credit priceofoil.org

Although the battle was drawn out for years, many groups, including Amnesty International and Survival, remained staunchly in support of justice for the indigenous groups affected in the rain forest.

One group that advocates for the health rights of the tribes is punto&coma, which works toward defending the environment, human rights, economic development and the fight against poverty.

“Punto&coma is a small company dedicated to creating publications for NGOs about topics such as the environment, human rights, et cetera,” said Luisa Toribio, a representative from the organization. “On a personal level, there are topics (such as pollution in the Amazon Rain Forest) that interest us greatly, and for that reason, we follow and support them.”

The tribes, many of whose members had no access to the world outside of their lives in the rain forest, were not prepared for the pollution or equipped to deal with its effects.

“We lived upon the river of rich, clear waters, but with the arrival of the contamination, my brothers are now dead,” said one indigenous woman featured in Joe Berlinger’s documentary, Crude. “I am the only survivor of my family.”

Crude outlines the pollution problems that manifested themselves in the forests over the decades and the legal battle that continued for years.

Wildlife was not spared by the pollution, but the documentary primarily shows translated interviews with members of the tribes who came forward — described as “some of the most marginalized people on Earth” — and described the health problems they were experiencing as a result of the pollution, including one woman whose young daughter had liver cancer. Not even their drinking water was spared from oil pollution. “What was once paradise now has just been left in destruction,” one indigenous man said.

Throughout the documentary, oil company representatives were shown providing protests that the health problems were a result of poor sanitation rather than oil pollution.

“This is not contamination,” said one activist shown in the documentary. “This is industrial exploitation permitted by the law.” The National Cancer Registry for Ecuador showed more than 1,200 cancer cases in oil-producing areas in the country between 1985 and 2000, according to the Eurasia Review. The numbers are expected to be even higher because they don’t specifically pertain to the Amazon Rain Forest, the report states.

The types of cancer reported to be affecting people living in oil-producing areas in Ecuador varied widely and included cancer of the stomach, rectum, soft tissue, kidneys, cervix and lymph nodes as well as skin melanoma, according to the Eurasia Review.

Still, Chevron denies its oil production efforts caused any adverse effects.

“Chevron has thoroughly investigated the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ claims of social, health and environmental harms,” states the oil company’s website. “… There is no scientific support for the claims. To the contrary, all of the legitimate evidence presented to the Ecuadorian court demonstrates that… operations present no risk to residents’ health.”

Polluted water from oil. Photo credit  Rainforest Action Network

The book Savages by Joe Kane provides an in-depth, long-term look at one of the tribes — the Huaorani Indians — who are most secluded and were most affected by the oil pollution.

It describes them as a group of people who “so fearsome that they had driven off generations of invaders” — until oil was discovered in their region.

When a company came in to clear seismic lines and recruited members of the tribe for manpower, their treatment provided an almost shocking insight into outsiders’ views of the tribes — one activists argue also promoted the problems with the oil companies.

Enqueri, one of the tribe members profiled in Kane’s book, described the treatment to Kane:

“I worked with other Huaorani Indians; we all slept together,” he said. “There was a lot of malaria, and someone was always getting hurt — cutting off a finger or getting chopped by a machete or ax. But if you didn’t work, you didn’t get paid.

“When we asked for better treatment, the company said we didn’t deserve it, because we were uncivilized.”

Pollution in Iran's Caspian Sea

By: Chelsa Lewis-Bevel
Produced & edited by Molly Nocheck

The wonders of the Caspian Sea have ancient origins. 1.8 million years ago, early hominids roamed the coastlines, and sought refuge next to this great body of water, which supplied them their every need. Today the people of the Caspian region still rely heavily on the resources provided by the Sea. But, this safe haven is in danger. An estimated 140 million tons of pollutants are poured into the sea every year.

Iran borders the southern part of the Caspian Sea. Of the five littoral states, it hosts the largest Caspian Sea coastline in relation to country size. The deepest area of the sea sits in the southern region, belonging to Iranian territory. Iran’s large coastline, and water depths up to 3,200ft, provides the country with opportunities to expand its coast based industries, and its oil industry. But, these expansions come with a price. Saeed Arjmand, a student studying environmental engineering at the University of Tehran, thinks pollution in the sea can get out of control if it’s not checked soon.

Photo Credit: presstv.ir. Academic Fair Use.

“In terms of pollution, the Caspian Sea is in critical condition,” he says.

Arjmand cites three ways Iran contributes to pollution in the sea; Sewage, agricultural waste, and its oil industry. Parvin Nassir, a member of the Iranian Society of Environmentalists, agrees.

“It’s a mixture of a bunch of different factors, different types of pollutants, coming from all across the coast, makes for a messy situation. It’s hard to pinpoint who’s to blame,” she says.

Scientists at the Caspian Research Station, in Noushahr, Iran, give some insight on how Iran is contributing to the pollution. Iranian sewage is a recent concern, as it produces bacterial pollution, which threatens the sea’s marine life. The country’s agricultural industry dumps waste such as fertilizers and pesticides as well as detergents into the sea. The main pollution sources of the Caspian Sea are the daily, extractions of crude oil and the transportation of the oil by the country’s oil industry.

Photo Credit: presstv.ir. Academic Fair Use.

“The traffic of large oil tankers dumps 122,350 tons of oil pollutants into the sea each year, alone”, says Nassir.

Iran’s contribution seems heavy, in this context, but the country’s pollution only accounts for 5% of all pollution in the Caspian Sea, according to the Iranian National Institute of Oceanography (INIO). Iran has a small share from polluting point of view, but it gets an extensive part of the pollution created by the other littoral states because of the sea currents in the Caspian Sea. The pollution in the Caspian Sea seems to be taking a toll of Iran the most.

Delbar Selim lives in Sari, a city in Iran’s Mazandaran Province, about 20 miles from the Caspian Sea shore. Citizens like Selim, who live by the shore fear for the Sea’s future.

“Some people, say 10 years from now, it will be too dangerous to even swim in the sea, I can’t even imagine that,” says Selim.

Coastal inhabitants have a bond with the seashore, according to Selim. And every year, they watch it getting worse. But the pollution is jeopardizing more that, the coastal culture. The pollution of the sea is causing the country some major economic losses, which include declining fishing revenues, changes in fishing expenditure, decreased aquaculture developments and property devaluation. The area is losing much of its attractiveness to tourists, who bring in a lot of revenue for coastal businesses. The country is also facing health issues. According to recent health statistics, diseases such as typhoid, dysentery and tuberculosis are 15 times more prevalent in coastal areas than in the remaining part of the country.

However, the country could be seeing better days, when it comes to pollution in the Caspian Sea. During the 15th meeting of the Association of Universities of Caspian Sea States, the Iranian National Institute for Oceanography was appointed as the center monitoring pollution in the Caspian Sea. This may give the country an opportunity to really assess the problem of pollution and come up with solutions that will benefit all littoral states.

The Institute has many plans for waste minimization; the most important is finding the problem. A report from the institute explains how they will address the growing issue. “The first plan is to identify the point sources of pollution in the Caspian seaboard. This includes the pollution from all industries, commercial places and cities around the Caspian Sea”.

Charcoal Production Reduction

By Alex Stuckey

Edited by Hiram Foster

Every day for 10 years, Cecile Nyirabahutu trekked long distances through the Musanze District in Northwestern Rwanda—battling the heat, strenuous work and shame, she made her way into Volcanoes National Park in search of usable wood.

The wood Nyirabahutu collected each day beginning in 1997 was then sold for charcoal, which supplemented her family’s meager living — but three years ago she started a new business plan.

In 2007, members of the Art of Conservation, an organization that educates the adult population of the district, about forest conservation, discovered Nyirabahutu on her daily trek and wanted to help her, said Julie Ghrist, spokeswoman for the organization.

(Image by user BanyanTree of Wikipedia.com)

Through partnering with Nyirabahutu, the organization began a briquette initiative with the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project to reduce deforestation in the park, Ghrist said.

“This is the last habitat for the mountain gorillas (in the world),” Ghrist said. “It needs to be protected.”

Like Nyirabahutu, about 94 percent of the nearly 11.1 million Rwandans rely on wood as their main source for heat and fuel because they lack modern electricity. The overuse of wood for charcoal has left the country, roughly the size of Massachusetts, with only about 7 percent of its original forests left, according to the Ecosystem Restoration Associates website.

The deforestation within Rwanda has caused an increase in run-off and flooding, which spreads diseases such as Malaria. It also has environmental effects, including a loss of an estimated 1 million tons of soil per year because of erosion, as well as longer drought periods, which threatens food security, according to the ERA.

However, efforts by both the Rwandan government and organizations are underway to reverse the problem.

Fuel Briquettes

Many organizations in Rwanda are replacing charcoal with fuel briquettes, which are made by mashing biodegradable materials together, pressing it into a tightly packed mass and setting it out to dry for several days, said Ben Beck, spokesman for Great Ape Trust, an organization working to reduce deforestation in Rwanda.

With the use of a wooden press provided by the conservation, Nyirabahutu manufactures briquettes made of shredded paper or other available materials, Ghrist said.

Convincing members of the Musanze District to use briquettes over charcoal is a slow process because most residents turn to the park for all of their wood and charcoal needs, Nyirabahutu said.

Despite this, the sale of briquettes still earns Nyirabahutu money for her family, Ghrist said.

“It will be sustainable for Cecile’s cooking,” said Innocent Uwizeye, the organization’s alternative cooking fuel consultant. “It will be a good income generator for her children and husband.”

Currently, a sack of briquettes costs about 6,000 Rwandan Francs, or about $10, Ghrist said.

What began as a pilot project to help Nyirabahutu’s family has expanding to surrounding villages, where she visits to demonstrate the technique, Grist said.

Administrators from the Rushubi Primary School in Kinigi, about 9 kilometers Northwest of the district, also expressed an interest in briquettes for cooking teachers’ lunches, Ghrist said, adding that an industrial sized stove was donated from Mercy Corps in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“We hope (the school) purchases briquettes from Cecile,” she added.

The conservation is not the only organization promoting the use of fuel briquettes to reduce charcoal production.

Another organization promoting fuel briquettes in Rwanda is the Cincinnati Chapter of Engineers without Borders. The chapter teaches villagers in Muhororo, about 80 kilometers west of the capital city of Kigali, how to recycle excess agricultural waste into briquettes, said Lee Hite, spokesman for the chapter.

The area has an abundance of bananas so briquettes are constructed out of decayed banana leaves, Hite said.

Hite and several other engineers created a wooden biomass press villagers can use to make briquettes, he said, adding that the chapter implemented the presses in the village to help reduce deforestation.

“So much of the rainforest has gone away, to be harvested for fuel,” Hite said. “Something needs to be done.”

Hite’s press has been duplicated in South America, Korea, India and other areas of Africa, he said, adding that the blueprints are available online and accessible to anyone.

Materials used to build the press can cost between $15 and $75 if materials are purchased in the US, Hite said.

Members of Great Ape Trust also promote the use of fuel briquettes as an alternative fuel source, not only to save the forests but also to save the apes living there.

The organization is focused on the Gishwati Forest, about 150 kilometers west of Kigali, which is 99.4 percent deforested, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observatory website.

“(The organization) is trying to reduce the demand on the forest and its wood products,” Beck said. “Education is our main strategy to help people better understand the connection between livelihoods and saving the forest.”

Government Initiatives

In an effort to curtail deforestation, Rwandan government officials made it illegal for citizens to cut down trees native to the country, Beck said, adding that pine and eucalyptus trees planted throughout the country were not native and could be cut down.

Officials also set a goal to increase electricity accessibility for its citizens. The target is to connect at least 35 percent of the population to electricity by 2020, as part of the Vision 2020 proposal, according to the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA).

Through increasing accessibility, the intention is to decrease wood usage to 50 percent from 94 percent by 2020, according REMA.

Health Problems Associated with Deforestation

Reducing charcoal usage will not only save the environment and the apes — it can help save people as well.

Burning charcoal creates high levels of indoor air pollution that can imbed soot particles in a person’s lungs, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

As of 2004, nearly 2 million people per year died from this kind of pollution. Some illnesses related to inhaling these pollutants include pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer, according to the organization.

“Charcoal is making indoor air pollution a big problem,” said Elaine Fletcher, spokeswoman for the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland.

The WHO currently is working with sub-Saharan Africa to reduce air pollutants and better address associated health problems.

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