Regional civil society body wants mandatory disclosure of monitoring and management of oil and gas impacts

Mar 04, 2023 News

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Kaieteur News – The recent catastrophic impacts of an oil spill of more than 11,000 barrels in Peruvian waters have in part led to a movement by a regional group of civil society members, calling for mandatory disclosure on the government’s management and monitoring of the socio-environmental impact from the extractive sector.

Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR)- Spanish for environmental law and natural resources- is a non-profit civil association created in 2004, which currently has more than 18 years of experience in contributing to the development of the country, based on the management and sustainable use of its natural resources, environmental management and the protection of human and collective rights.

The body in a recent statement pointed out that oil spills, water contamination and socio-environmental conflicts related to extractive activities are situations that affect thousands of residents.

In Peru, the Ombudsman has reported that socio-environmental cases account for 64.4 percent of the legal encounters.

To this end, DAR said it is critical for the Extractive Industries Transparency Institute (EITI) to improve the standards of transparency of environmental and social information on the impacts of oil, gas and mining activities.

The statement said evaluation of member countries was set to take place between March 1 and 2 in Buenos Aires.

Vanessa Cueto, Vice President of the Peruvian civil association DAR and representative of the civil society of EITI Peru said, “We believe that it is necessary that all requirement 6.4 of the EITI Standard be mandatory, thereby establishing that implementing countries must disclose information on the management and monitoring of the socio-environmental impact, the energy transition of the extractive industries, the quality of water and air, and even the impacts on people’s health”.

Requirement 6.4 of the EITI requirement addresses environmental impact of extractive activities. It encourages implementing countries to disclose information on the management and monitoring of the environmental impact of extractive activities.

The Regional group of civil society members believe that this requirement should not be optional as governments must make available to the public environmental and social evaluations and monitoring, which shows the real impact of extractive activity on ecosystems and communities.

The body said, “Also, release information on all environmental licenses and authorizations, broken down by company and project, including how the authorities monitor environmental and social commitments; on energy transition commitments, including carbon prices and taxes, disclosure of subsidies, reserves, break-even/closing prices or energy transition scenario planning; and on prior consultation agreements.”

Notably, Vanda Radzik a member of the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) of the local EITI body said she believes companies in the mining sector must provide full cost accounting of natural capital depletion in EITI reports.

According to her, “This problem must be defined as the uncompensated extraction of non-renewable and threatened resources and registered as an ecological debt”. Radzik added, “In Guyana, this weakness ends up being a major incentive for the destruction of forests and rivers by the mining sector and the widespread violations associated with oil extraction. All businesses operating in urban, rural and inland communities must be held accountable.”

In the meantime, countries like the Philippines have also embraced the need for greater environmental transparency in mining operations. Chad Llanos, civil society representative of the EITI Philippines, maintains that “The EITI is intended to reduce inequalities and guarantee sustainable development through a fair distribution of income from extractive industries. While this is very important, a glaring data gap is seen within the context of climate change and its adverse impacts on communities around extractive industries.”

DAR explained that the request for greater environmental transparency in extractive activities is a postponed, necessary and urgent claim especially since the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have suffered serious effects, such as the spill of more than 11,000 barrels of oil that occurred in the Peruvian sea last year at the La Pampilla Refinery, operated by Repsol.

The spill has left civil society and local populations denouncing the lack of transparency, and even the company was fined. To this end, the Regional body said, “To care for water resources, Amazon forests and fragile ecosystems, environmental transparency cannot be optional.”

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• Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR), Derecho, Extractive Industries Transparency Institute (EITI), Ombudsman, Regional

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