Overview of Conflict Assessment Process
This class attempted to evaluate stakeholder conflict in relation to the Camisea pipeline. There were three steps to this process. The first was to determine stakeholders. For the purposes of this study, we found the primary stakeholders to be non-governmental organizations, indigenous groups, the extractive industry, development banks and government agencies. The second step was to identify the relevant issues. We split these into two groups, conflict issues and process issues. Conflict issues are short-term, immediate positions held by stakeholders and process issues are principles based on long-term goals and ultimate outcomes. In the context of the Camisea pipeline, we decided that two sets of conflict issues needed to be addressed, one set for the pipeline’s upstream component and one for the pipeline’s downstream component. The extractive industry refers to upstream areas as those where the extraction and/or fractionation is actually taking place and downstream as the areas through which the pipeline itself traverses. Consequently, different conflict issues had to be identified for both upstream and downstream components of the pipeline. Both the conflict and process issues are derived from stakeholder interviews, reports, evaluations, and articles. Please see below for a complete list of issues. The final steps in this conflict assessment have been to 1) construct a matrix of relevant stakeholders and their positions and principles, and 2) revise and improve the matrix with stakeholder feedback. These steps are not yet complete. In gaining feedback, we will ask the following questions: Do the positions and principles expressed accurately reflect the organization or agency? What are your top priorities? Is there anything we have not addressed that you feel is especially important? These questions and others will help to clarify stakeholder positions and principles. Please click here for a current version of the Business matrix or here for the NGO and IDB matrix. In the end, we hope to find overlapping conflicts and agreed upon issues between and among stakeholders. If we are successful, we will have set the stage for reducing conflict between these stakeholders, an important development given the continued extraction of oil and gas in the Amazonian region and around the world.
Upstream Conflict Issues: |
Downstream Conflict Issues: |
Process Issues: |
Ecological: |
Ecological:
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Ecological:
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Economic: Camisea funds Job opportunities |
Economic: Camisea funds |
Economic:
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| Social: Health Indigenous food sources Immigration Non-contact policies Waste accumulation Noise Alteration/restriction of local customs |
Social: Health Immigration Alteration/restriction of local customs |
Social: Indigenous sovereignty Legitimacy of representation Migration patterns |
| Political/Legal: Independent monitoring and evaluation Political transparency Future gas/oil expeditions |
Environmental Impacts and Conflict Issues
As another approach to understand the conflict dynamics, we compared and analyzed the issues that protest groups have raised about the environmental risks this project has taken. This part focuses on the environmental impacts of the project, focusing on the operation stage because the main construction has been finished.
The first step was to identify all the possible environmental impacts. These are based on the interviews with class speakers, environmental impacts assessment from IDB and reports from other groups. All the environmental impacts and risks are dispersed in IDB documents. See below for a brief overview.
Secondly, we compared those environmental issues with the conflict issues presented above. Two findings are worth further consideration. 1) The finished construction seems to be the end of the whole campaign for the protest groups and the risks at the operational stage are ignored to some extent. 2) Compared with the environmental issues presented in IDB documents, the issues protest groups raised are broader, more difficult to monitor, and need additional evaluation and measurement.
Besides protesting before the pipeline is built, some efforts should be put into the operational stage, the measurements to reduce the environmental impacts and their long-term implementation. Considering the life span of a pipeline and the number of existing pipelines, it is very important to be realistic and have some independent monitoring groups.
Environmental Impacts at the Operation Stage |
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Overall long-term indirect impacts |
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Direct Impacts |
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Click here for a detailed summary of the environmental impacts at the operational stage. |
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The isolated indigenous peoples are especially vulnerable to impacts of the Camisea Project. The Camisea region is home to numerous indigenous peoples who have chosen to remain isolated from modern society due to terrible contact experiences since the early 1900s. These indigenous peoples do not have adequate immune system responses to common viral diseases. Contact with infected outsiders can result in an epidemic and the decimation of a community. Also, the isolated indigenous peoples rely on the natural resources of their territories for sustenance. Changes to the ecology of their land can reduce their ability to survive and necessitate migration, resulting in conflict with other groups in the region.
The harms experienced by the indigenous peoples as a result of the Camisea Project are violations of Peruvian, international and US law.
- Peru's Constitution guarantees the right to "life,…moral, psychic and physical integrity,…free development and welfare" and "to ethnic and cultural identity."
- The American Convention on Human Rights and its Additional Protocol of 1988 guarantee the right to property and the rights to health and a healthy environment, respectively.
- The International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 169 safeguards indigenous peoples' rights to determine their own priorities for development; to the improvement of the conditions of life and health; to the use of land traditionally occupied, paying extra care to nomadic peoples; and to not be removed from traditional lands.
- The Alien Tort Statute of the US Federal Code makes US companies liable for human rights violations committed abroad.
For a detailed analysis of the indigenous peoples' legal situation, read the full report here.
A Financial Analysis of the Camisea Pipeline Project
Many people stand to profit from the natural gas reserves of the Camisea project. Many have criticized the environmental polices of lending banks, and
the motives and connections of the American oil companies involved. This is an
attempt to put together a picture of all the companies and organizations
involved in the finances of the Camisea Project.
This work is an incomplete picture. So far, we have identified over 60 companies who
have or continue to have some financial stake in the project. Many are
subsidiaries of other companies, thus taking the picture out of focus even
further. We hope that this work will be continually updated and that the end
product can be a graphic representation of the "money trail" of the Camisea
pipeline.
Much of this information comes from the following reports (online), from news
articles, and the websites of the companies and organizations involved. As we
continue to develop this research, we would appreciate additional feedback and information.
Click here for the detailed table of the fiancial stakeholders involved.
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