Some of the world’s most promising oil and gas deposits lie deep in tropical rainforests. Unfortunately oil and gas development often takes a heavy toll on the environment and local people. Oil and gas development in rainforest areas causes displacement of local people, air and water pollution, deforestation, and construction of roads that open previously inaccessible areas to deforestation. High energy prices in recent years have spurred increased exploration of rainforests for oil and gas. The western Amazon--including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil--has seen a lot of activity. More than 70 percent of the Peruvian Amazon--including indigenous territories and conservation areas--is now under concession for oil and gas.
Dams are also a big threat to rainforests, particularly in the Amazon, the Mekong (Laos and Burma or Myanmar), and Malaysia. Dams disrupt river systems, flood rainforest, displace forest people, and support activities that cause more deforestation. In Sarawak, which is part of Malaysian Borneo, more than a dozen dams are being planned. These will force thousands of forest-dependent people to move and will inundate important rainforest areas. The power generated by the dams will be used for large-scale mining activities, causing further destruction. Similarly, in Brazil, Belo Monte dam will block the Xingu river, a tributary of the Amazon, flooding more than 100,000 acres of rainforest and displacing more than 15,000 people. Electricity from the project will power mining activities and industrial agriculture that will destroy yet more rainforest. Indigenous people, scientists, and environmentalists strongly oppose the project.
PICTURES OF MINING IN THE RAINFOREST
Río Huaypetue gold mine in Peru