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Bolivia
Report on OPIC'S Compliance With Board Conditions
for the Bolivia-Cuiaba Pipeline Project
Prepared by: Amazon
Watch
September 20, 1999
The following lists instances of non-compliance with conditions that
OPIC's board stipulated must be met prior to making a final commitment
to Enron's Bolivia-Cuiaba project.
OPIC CONDITION STATUS OF COMPLIANCE WITH EACH CONDITION
1) Project meets all of OPIC's environmental requirements
§ Scientific consensus (including determination by WWF and the other
four conservation groups involved in the Protocol ) affirms the prevalence
of primary tropical forests along the route. OPIC staff is unwilling to
accept scientific consensus in the interpretation of the primary forest
definition. This project violates the intent and the spirit of the Primary
Forest Prohibition.
2) Supplemental Environmental Assessment (SEA) Phase II on the secondary
impacts provides practical and effective means of addressing all issues
identified in the report
§ The SEA- Phase II provides a very cursory and superficial analysis
of the long-term secondary impacts of this project. The report does not
deal with the issue of "out-takes", upstream impacts (additional
oil and gas exploration to supply the pipeline), nor the unsustainable
development that the available energy will encourage in and around the
protected area. The recommended mitigation measures are too general and
do not include long-term programs for controlling colonization, vehicular
traffic, hunting, fishing, and poaching in the protected area and along
the right of way.
§ No independent monitoring or grievance mechanism has been proposed
with the exception of allowing for stakeholders to take part in occasional
fly-overs.
§ Indigenous organizations have sent a letter to OPIC regarding their
concerns for the secondary impacts in the protected area of Chiquitano
including the observation that logging and mining concessions that to
date have been in a dormant state are beginning to seek means to operate
in the protected area (OPIC and ENRON's investments directly stimulate
this trend) contributing to conflict over land use.
§ Concerns have been expressed about the recent fires in the region
which engulfed nearly 100,000 hectares of Chiquitano and Chaco forests
in the nearby Guarayo indigenous area. The right of way through the Chiquitano
will make the dry forest more vulnerable to major fires.
3) SEA-Phase II is widely distributed in English and Spanish and comments
on the report are taken into consideration in the preparation of the final
plan; NGOs and indigenous organizations who have signed the various agreements
with the sponsors have had an opportunity to review and comment on the
plan
§ According to civic leaders from Taperas, San Jose, and Buena Vista,
the SEA Phase II did not get distributed directly to local populations
most affected. Project sponsors consulted and informed municipal authorities
which in this case are 50 km from the towns where construction camps and
pipeline storage areas are located.
§ The consultations came late in the process-- consultations held
after Enron crews had built camps, moved in the equipment, and cleared
50 km of the route. PROBIOMA asks what is the point of consultation if
it comes after the construction is well underway?
§ To date, information such as Worker Code of Conduct or Mitigation
Plans are not available at the community level. It is difficult if not
impossible for most to travel 50 km to a government office to learn about
mitigation measures that are supposed to take place.
§ The Provincial Environment and Development Forum reports that written
comments, inquiries or complaints of misconduct are not taken into account
in the reports and have not been responded to.
4 ) The Environmental and Social Management System has been developed
that will provide a) implementation of the Environmental Management Plan
and Indigenous Peoples Development Plan; b) oversight including daily
monitoring of construction process;c ) assure the route is altered to
avoid any areas of critical habitat or primary forest
§ To date there has not been an adequate environmental and social
management system to avoid or mitigate many of the social and environmental
impacts. Final copies of the EMP have not been distributed; meanwhile
construction is rapidly progressing.
§ It is clear from instances such as those listed in number 5 below,
that daily environmental monitoring of the construction process is inadequate.
§ Leading scientific experts and local NGOs agree that the route
alterations proposed under the current scenario will not spare the critical
habitats and primary forests rather the alterations will lead to a longer
route -- by zig zagging -- and the degradation of a greater area of primary
Chiquitano Forest. In some cases, the alterations of the route improve
access for the mining and logging camps in the protected area.
5) adequate environmental training program for employees of the project
and arrangements to minimize and effectively mitigate impact on local
communities
§ The contractor Bol-Inter built the construction camp 200 meters
from the main plaza of the town of San Jose even though the requirement
of the Vice Ministry of Sustainable Development had been for the camp
to be 5 km away and Gas Oriente Boliviano had agreed to 1.5 km distance
from the town.
§ On August 24, 1999 a formal complaint was made regarding the Lourdes
construction camp by the owner of a ranch down river from Lourdes that
waste and trash from the camp were being dumped along the riverbanks.
§ Local civic groups who work with the Santa Cruz Forum for Environment
and Development have reported that contractors and subcontractors transporting
tubing from Taperas to Lourdes and Taperas to San Matias via San Jose
de Chiquitos are having the following serious impacts on the region: destruction
of streets of Taperas, continuous dust clouds, fuel spills, excessive
obstruction of the road to local vehicular traffic; and the degradation
of the Taperas-San Jose road.
6)The protocol with the five conservation organizations have been signed
creating the Chiquitano Forest Conservation Consortium (CFCC); creation
of a steering committee; and legal establishment of the CFCC trust fund
§ World Wildlife Fund, one of the five signatories to the CFCC has
withdrawn support and refused to sign the final Protocol agreement.
§ Indigenous organizations, local community organizations, local
and national non-governmental organizations as well as Bolivian government
(Ministry of Sustainable Development) have all sent letters to OPIC objecting
to the lack of local participation in the negotiation of the Protocol
and in the proposed management structure of the Fund and have charged
that the Protocol is in violation of Convention 169 of the International
Labor Organization (ILO).
7) Judgements regarding primary tropical forest by Gonzalo Navarro from
Phase I SEA have been independently confirmed as reasonable judgements
§ In response to a Freedom of Information Act Request, OPIC has refused
to release the results of Pinard's report--the independent consultant
hired to review Gonzalo Navarro's report-- stating that the report is
only a draft and not available for release. This raises questions about
OPIC's attempt to influence the results of the report. OPIC needs to allow
full public review of Pinard's report prior to a final commitment to the
project in order to allow for verification of compliance with this condition.
Meanwhile ENRON is beginning construction in the protected area.
8) The governments of Bolivia and Brazil endorse and support conservation
efforts in the areas around the pipeline and have committed to participate
in the conservation plans and to promote their implementation § OPIC
has failed to respond to several letters sent by the Bolivian Government
Ministry of Sustainable Development regarding the outstanding permit for
the San Matias protected area; and requesting information on the Conservation
Fund and inquiring about why SERNAP (agency in charge of the protected
areas) was not included as a party to the agreement since it is in charge
of the management of all protected areas in Bolivia. To date OPIC has
not replied to these letters. The Bolivian Government does not recognize
the Protocol Agreement as an officially sanctioned Conservation Plan for
the region.
§ The Bolivian Ministry of Sustainable Development (the environmental
authority) has not given ENRON the final clearance for entering the San
Matias Protected Area since a number of conditions for the permit are
still outstanding including sign off on the Conservation Plan for San
Matias. To date, the permit has not been authorized. However, local monitoring
committees report that ENRON construction crews have begun entering the
protected area.
Sources: PROBIOMA, CIDOB, FOBOMADE, FODEMADE, World Wildlife
Fund, Friends of The Earth, Amazon Watch
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