By Margaret Thompson & María Suárez Toro The search for "black gold" in Costa Rica is nothing new, leading to
few results in the past. Furthermore, global discussions of the dangers
of global warming have made it clear the need to reduce fuel combustion
and emissions. Despite these circumstances, the government
of Costa Rica has recently given concessions to U.S. oil corporations for
oil exploration and possible exploitation. Pressure for new sources
of oil from the new U.S. presidential administration whose ties to the
oil industry go far back and deep have helped fuel such developments.
According to Alicia, “What oil does is allow us to take an x-ray and examine
closely the kind of society in which we live, the power of corporations,
the power of certain industrialized societies over our resources, over
our human rights and our future.”
Thus the struggle over oil in the country serves as a microcosm for what has become a power struggle in many places around the world involving transnational corporations, national governments, international covenants and treaties on the environment and climate change, energy demands and policies of industrialized nations, and efforts by local communities to establish their own autonomy in exploring models of sustainable development that often conflict with projects of these broader powers. Costa Rica's Global Image of Environmental
Protection & Sustainable Development
These international agreements such as the 1992 Declaration of Rio about the environment and development, and the Convention on Climatic Change in 1993 and its Kyoto Protocol in 1997 call for the stabilization of the global climate through the reduction of its fuel combustion. The Kyoto Protocol commits all governments to reduce their emissions by 5.7% in relationship to what they emitted in 1990. Some of the main countries that consume the most fuel such as the United States, Australia and Japan, refused to implement this measure. Governments that signed the Convention on Climatic Change, including Costa Rica, should be investing their resources in search of new forms of production and consumption of energy that do not affect the environment and the health of people. One example of efforts to develop alternative energy sources in Costa Rica are three geothermal energy production plants at the sites of some of the country's volcanoes. However, in the midst of these efforts in the country to protect the environment and the health of its inhabitants, the last three presidential administrations have put up blocks of exploration for sale to the big international companies that are desperately searching for new sources of oil despite the consequences. Likewise within this global context, the oil companies should be dedicating their multimillion dollar resources to create alternative clean sources of energy, but are instead using their power and influence over governments to continue putting their thirst for profits above those of humanity and the survival of the planet. And Costa Rica is a perfect example of this quest for profits at the expense of the local inhabitants. Image Tarnished by Government Oil Concessions
The company was in the news a lot last year during the ultimately successful campaign of George W. Bush as US President, because for many years he was a principle investor, owner and employee of Harken. This connection is just one of many of Bush's close ties to the oil industry, which was evident in his recent energy plan that calls for more exploration and exploitation of nonrenewable energy resources such as oil, thus creating a global backdrop for the struggle over oil exploration in Costa Rica. Local opposition to this latest oil exploration plan in Costa Rica has come from a wide variety of local development and tourism associations, small agricultural growers, fishermen's groups, NGOs, and other community groups, who feared the disastrous impact of this oil exploration on their lives and livelihoods. They formed a coalition called ADELA (Accion de Lucha Antipetrolera--Action of Anti-Petroleum Struggle) and organized to oppose the government and oil companies' efforts. ADELA filed a lawsuit with the Costa Rica Supreme Constitutional Court claiming that that the government had violated the local population's rights to prior consultation and participation in the process, which succeeded in blocking oil exploration in the indigenous reserves, but allowed the company to continue its exploration efforts in offshore drilling near the ports of Limon and Moin. And more recently the group received international support for its struggle including an independent assessment of Harken's environmental impact study that revealed serious flaws in that study. This report features the voices of women, the communities affected by the first private concession, the local controversy, and the regional and international exploitation of oil. Other features in this report:
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