| An Ecuadorian environmentalist in the city this week to protest Calgary-based oil giant EnCana’s development in his country is scornful that the Canadian government has just given the company an award for its community development work there.
EnCana was awarded the Improvement of Physical and Social Infrastructure Award last week by the federal Ministry for International Co-operation for a community health initiative in Ecuador. The award is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency and the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.
"These are examples of successful partnerships than will help alleviate poverty and allow entrepreneurs to flourish," said Minister Aileen Carroll at the awards ceremony.
"The government of Canada is committed to enhancing existing relationships and fostering new ones to bring us closer to our goal of ending global poverty."
However, Jon Arruti an environmentalist from the province of Orellana in the Amazon rainforest where EnCana has recently started operating, says EnCana is doing more harm than good in his country.
Arruti says such awards are the Canadian government’s way of "trying to clean the face" of corporations that are only interested in making money. He says Encana’s community development initiatives are public relations exercises to foster a good reputation so the company can go into communities and extract oil.
"They want to make as much money as possible and they don’t care about the people there," says Arruti. "They don’t want to make development."
Encana first drew criticism in Ecuador for allegations of environmental damage and human rights abuses related to its involvement in the construction of a controversial pipeline.
Some farmers in the Tarapoa region claim that the company is contaminating their land and water without providing compensation. They also claim that EnCana and the Ecuadorian military are closely linked and that the military intimidates citizens on behalf of EnCana.
In the more southern part of the country, where Arruti lives, the company says it has only conducted limited seismic exploration says, but Arruti and other environmentalists are already concerned about the company’s future plans for oil and gas development within the Amazon rainforest.
EnCana spokesperson Florence Murphy, however, says the health initiative recognized by the award is only one of many community development projects EnCana has initiated that benefit the people of Ecuador.
"It has had very demonstrable results from the point of view of reduction of malaria and child health. I’m not certain (Arruti) has an understanding of the types of initiatives EnCana is involved in," says Murphy.
Murphy says the company has never been involved in human rights violations and she says EnCana operates in Ecuador according to international oil and gas standards with an emphasis on minimizing the "environmental footprint" of its operations.
Murphy says on a recent visit to Ecuador everyone she encountered was welcoming and didn’t have any complaints about the company.
"What I heard was ‘help us find work for our people,’" says Murphy.
Arruti came to Calgary this week with Nadja Drost of Toronto environmental group GlobalAware to protest at EnCana’s annual general meeting. Drost, who has visited Ecuador several times in the last few years, is also skeptical about the award given to the company.
"Creating a health centre doesn’t necessarily compensate for contaminating a region," she says.
Meanwhile Arruti says the company is exploiting his region’s poverty and low levels of education. He says people are willing to accept extremely poor compensation for oil and gas development because they’re desperate.
He also says he expects EnCana to start wide-scale exploration and development in sensitive areas of the rainforest.
"We think the impact on the environment will be very big," says Arruti.
Arruti and Drost say they aren’t protesting Encana to drive the company out of Ecuador, they only want it to change its way of operating. |
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