Oil

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Oil A case study of International Environmental
Justice

• Carolyn Stephens
• Senior Lecturer in Environment Health Policy
• London School of Hygiene Tropical Medicine
• Profesora Titular, Universidad Nacional de
  Tucumán, Argentina

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Dear Editor

• Why do environmentalists only give us problems
  and not solutionsI am getting sick of their
  pessimism. Why cant they invent an aeroplane
  which runs on water?
• Annoyed of London 2007

Holloway Road London 2007
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This discussion

• What is EJ now
• International EJ and Oil
• Impacts who benefits, who gets hurt?
• Policies
• Challenges

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What is Environmental Justice?

• The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of
  all people, regardless of race, ethnicity,
  income, national origin or educational level with
  respect to the development, implementation and
  enforcement of environmental laws, regulation and
  policies. USEPA 1994

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Oil changing dimensions of Injustice?

• Scale
• Nationally
• Regionally
• Internationally
• Generations
• Within
• Between
• Social/political
• Education/class
• Ethnicity

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Oil the distribution of justice

• Impacts
• Isolated indigenous communities in Latin America
• Ecosystems
• Future Generations

• Benefits
• Household Oil users
• Transport
• Energy
• Domestic products
• Economy
• Industry
• Transport

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More energy not less

• The modern energy supply has liberated us from
  worrying about where energy comes from.
  Electricity at the flip of a switch has freed us
  to concentrate our own human energy on more novel
  plans. But for many environmentalists today this
  itself is the problem. What if those novel plans
  include flying the world, which might disrupt
  fragile ecosystems or destroy local cultures?
• Joe Kaplinsky The Future of Energy
  http//www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/debates/rc
  uk_article/2216/

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Net imports of Energy
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Projected non-OPEC oil production 1999-2020
Energy Information Administration US Government
2002
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http//www.ukooa.co.uk/issues/economic/econ01/econ
01_contribution.htm
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Oil and Transport - Scotland on Energy
Energy Use by Fuel Type - Scotland 2002
Energy consumption by sector - Scotland 2002
http//www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/06/13
161455/1
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The scale of the issue Oil, Gas and Health
studies in Latin America

• Studies first in Ecuador (2001) then Peru (2003-
  present)
• 2001 - Ecuadorian communities sue Texaco
• 2004-date Companies try and destroy the studies
• 2003 Nanti study on impacts from Gas-oil
  exploitation in Peru
• 2005 60 scientists defend LSHTM studies
• 2006 Peruvians ask for help from LSHTM to sue the
  global consortium

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Timelines

• 1992-6 Community studies in the Amazon
• 1997 Miguel approaches LSHTM
• 1999 Yana Curi
• 2000- 2005 studies published in peer reviewed
  journals
• 2005 Scientists recruited to discount evidence in
  context of court case in Ecuador

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Yana Curi (San Sebastian Chasco 2001)

• Spontaneous abortions in women 15-45 in
  comunidades contaminada
• Results OR 2.47 95 CI

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Peru and Camisea
We have this deep fear for our children and for
the heritage that will be left behind. Because
our children will have children and our
grandchildren will too. But maybe we won't exist
anymore. Marianeli Mantaro Ortega, Shivankoreni
Community, June 2003
http//www.amazonwatch.org/amazon/PE/camisea/index
.php?page_number5
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Epidemics in isolated indigenous populations
Nanti (Napolitana Stephens 2006)
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Next steps

• International Environmental Justice studies
  provide evidence
• Publications disseminate
• Communities come together
• Class Action lawsuits hold companies to account
• BUT

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What are the key shifts of policy and practice
internationally that drive new environmental
health policies?

• Changing international laws
• Hard Laws General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs
  (from 1947) new laws under WTO, particularly
  TRIPS AA SPS.
• Soft(er) Laws Arhus, Human Rights conventions

• Changing community philosophies
• shifts in democracy
• shifts in activism
• disillusion with science
• disillusion with corporate control of policy

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Where are we going?
I am worried that rising costs will take the wind
out of the sails of the manufacturing recovery
       Digby Jones, CBI director general
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Where are we going 2

• After all, in a hundred years when oil and gas
  resources have dwindled and we have inflicted
  further damage on our planet, can we imagine
  renewables not playing a major role in sustaining
  our societies?
• ..bioenergy holds out the longer-term promise of
  fuels which will break the iron link between oil
  and transport.
• Jim Skea The Future of Energy 2007
  http//www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/debates/rc
  uk_article/2293/

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Tony's carbon footprints Follow these simple
steps, Prime Minister, and you too can save the
planet The Independent Jan 16 2007