{"id":50010066,"date":"2017-11-21T07:00:31","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T07:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.dialogochino.net\/?p=10066"},"modified":"2023-01-25T15:22:09","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T15:22:09","slug":"10066-sinochem-stuck-without-social-license-to-extract-oil-in-colombia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/justice\/10066-sinochem-stuck-without-social-license-to-extract-oil-in-colombia\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinochem stuck without \u2018social license\u2019 to extract oil in Colombia"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the fourth article in a special series examining\u00a0China\u2019s role in promoting peaceful and sustainable development in Colombia in the context of the peace process<\/em><\/p>\n

Though just three metres wide stretching across a small ravine, \u2018Resistance Bridge\u2019, which connects a dilapidated road in a remote rural part of the southern Colombian department of Caquet\u00e1, has become a symbol of the tension between Chinese state oil company Sinochem and local communities adamantly opposed to their project.<\/p>\n

Following three years of poor relations with the farmers of the region, in\u00a0April this year<\/a>\u00a0Emerald Energy \u2013 a subsidiary of Sinochem in Colombia \u2013 requested an environmental licence to start exploration of the Nogal block, located at the gates of the Amazon in a key area for post-conflict Colombia.<\/p>\n

However, the level of social and environmental conflict throughout Caquet\u00e1, which is higher than the Colombian government is prepared to admit, means it\u2019s very likely that the Chinese oil company will be left without a \u2018social licence\u2019 \u2013 the approval of companies and their projects by local communities. This also makes confrontations more likely.<\/p>\n

This situation represents a paradox for the government of President Juan Manuel Santos: it needs the revenues generated by extractive industries to finance the implementation of the Peace Agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), but the sector has faced increasing\u00a0social opposition<\/a>\u00a0since its signing in November 2016.<\/p>\n

From a bridge to a regional anti-oil movement<\/h2>\n

In May and June 2015, farmers in the Valpara\u00edso municipality\u00a0blocked<\/a>\u00a0the bridge allowing Emerald employees access to the settlements of La Florida and La Curvinata, where they carried out studies.<\/p>\n

The blockade, which lasted 58 days, ended badly. The Colombian riot police (ESMAD) arrived to clear the road and, in the midst of resistance from communities, pelted protestors with tear gas. This resulted in 13 injured, three of them seriously. One was hospitalised for three weeks with a cracked skull.<\/p>\n

The episode had a domino effect. Local communities in the neighbouring towns of Valpara\u00edso (11,000 inhabitants) and Morelia (4,000 inhabitants) began to organise. They created \u2018Committees for the Defence of Water\u2019, to accommodate leaders and social organisations opposed to the entry of oil companies.<\/p>\n

Videos of the bridge confrontation went viral, hence it becoming known as \u2018Resistance Bridge\u2019. In Florencia, this planted the seed for a regional movement that took shape against extractive industries \u2013 the Departmental Committee for the Defence of Water and Land, which today\u00a0comprises<\/a>\u00a0peasant, political, academic, religious and business leaders. This issue quickly became part of Caquet\u00e1\u2019s public agenda, with marches in defence of water that\u00a0brought together<\/a>\u00a0thousands of people. Local committees sprung up in almost all municipalities of the department.<\/p>\n

Why did the conflict escalate so quickly? What caused these communities to mobilise? The stories are different in each community, but the patterns repeat themselves. In Florencia, all accuse the company (in this case Emerald) of having acted with a lack of transparency in their planning, and even lying. They rely on the argument that their project is of public interest and a priority for the national Government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2014, we heard them talking about so-called \u2018socialisation\u2019 [a process of internalising the norms of a community within the planning process of a project], which we feel is an imposition,\u201d says Jos\u00e9 Antonio Saldarriaga, a slender Valpara\u00edso farmer, and one of the most visible social leaders. \u201cTheir message was that \u201cthey had the rights to the subsoil by virtue of possessing the [land] title, and that no one could reverse that. There was nothing for us to do there but to open doors for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2015, opponents say that when they met with then interior minister Juan Fernando Cristo, a document appeared claiming they had apparently collectively endorsed the project. But they claim any signatures were actually for refreshments they received that day. Also, the company insisted it had no land of their own there, despite it purchasing a 30-hectare plot in the La Curvinata area.<\/p>\n

Communities say that on one occasion, the Mayor\u2019s Office summoned them to discuss a housing project, but they were actually met by Lorena Cort\u00e9s, Emerald\u2019s director of social relations, and a representative from environmental consultancy Cyma, who tried to get their approval for the environmental impact assessment.<\/p>\n

The case of Herney Bermeo, an anaesthesiologist from Florencia whose farm is in the Yumal district, is even more noteworthy.<\/p>\n

Emerald employees came to look for Bermeo at the hospital where he works to ask for permission to carry out studies on his farm. Bermeo told them that he was not interested in offers for his land but officials of the oil company visited without prior warning and entered the property by force, accompanied by the Army, he claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never gave them permission, nor did I sign anything. Sometime later, the groundskeeper called me and told me that they were erecting quadrants and carrying out a seismic study. I even talked to them on the phone and they told me they had a legal permit. No one notified me, nor did I see the permit. I hired a lawyer and filed a lawsuit, as a means of creating a precedent,\u201d Bermeo says, adding that this year an allocation of 1.8 million Colombian pesos (US$ 600) from the company appeared on his income tax return, a sum that he never received and which he is still trying to track.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see the company\u2019s arbitrary actions and their abuses. Their only interest is to carry out their study, regardless of whether or not you give them permission. They are a law unto themselves,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Di\u00e1logo Chino<\/em>\u00a0could not verify these incidents with other sources, but they illustrate why relations between Emerald and the communities have broken down. So much so, that since the blocking of the bridge, communities swore not to meet with the company again.<\/p>\n

Sinochem declined to be interviewed about the project and its relations with local communities: \u201cUnfortunately at this time we cannot accept your invitation [for an interview]. Perhaps in the future we will be able to do so,\u201d Juanita Latorre, their administrative coordinator in Colombia, responded to our request by e-mail.<\/p>\n

No formula for dialogue<\/h2>\n

Tensions settled somewhat when Emerald no longer had a presence in these rural areas, but are now escalating again as a result of the oil company\u2019s request for an environmental license to begin exploration.<\/p>\n

On April 19 this year, Emerald Energy asked the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) for permission to build 10 well platforms in the municipalities of Valpara\u00edso, Morelia and Mil\u00e1n, in order to find out how much oil there really is. The idea \u2013 according to their environmental impact assessment \u2013 is to build five wells on each platform to drill somewhere between 1 and 2 kilometres deep to assess quantities of ground water.<\/p>\n

The farmers of Valpara\u00edso asked ANLA for a public hearing as part of the decision-making process, which was supported by 700 signatures. The national environmental agency has already approved the hearing, which at the time of writing has no date but is expected within the next three months. A licensing process in Colombia for a complex project can take between six months and a year.<\/p>\n

Communities\u2019 main concern is water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live off the earth. We are cattle ranchers and farmers and we need water for both of these. That is what scares us,\u201d says Jes\u00fas Alfredo G\u00f3mez, a leader from the San Marcos district in Morelia, whose livelihood depends on plantain, cassava and cane cultivation.<\/p>\n

Luis Eduardo Ortiz, a farmer from Valpara\u00edso whose farm falls within the area identified in the exploration license, says: \u201cThere has never been clear information about the possible impacts. They only talked about the economic benefits: roads and schools. Wastewater management only came to the fore two years later when we demanded it, but we are still uneasy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Communities plan to carry out their own environmental study, which they feel can counterbalance the one presented by Sinochem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea was to have an alternative scientific and technical study that can be compared with the company\u2019s impact assessment and which can be presented to the ANLA to see if the company\u2019s facts are indeed realistic or if there are gaps,\u201d says Yolima Salazar, Director of the Southern Vicarage, the social branch of the Catholic Church in Caquet\u00e1, which has been involved in the process.<\/p>\n

The study, funded by Caritas, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) of the German Catholic Church which has supported several of the Southern Vicarage\u2019s projects, was carried out by Bogota\u2019s Terrae Geo-environmental Corporation and led by\u00a0Julio Fierro<\/a>, a geologist who has worked in many public bodies including the Ministry of the Environment.<\/p>\n

Fierro\u2019s involvement will surely generate apprehension in the oil sector. In the past he has spearheaded highly critical studies in previous roles at the Office of the Comptroller General under its management by prominent lawyer Sandra Morelli. Fierro has been harsh in other\u00a0writings<\/a>\u00a0on the extractive industry.<\/p>\n

A central concern in the communities\u2019 alternative study is Caquet\u00e1\u2019s \u2018pretty monkey\u2019 (also known as the Caquet\u00e1 titi monkey), a small red-haired primate, endemic to the region and only\u00a0discovered<\/a>\u00a0in 2010. It is so rare that the monkey is classified as \u2018critically<\/a>\u00a0endangered\u2019, the most serious threat level identified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature\u2019s (IUCN) Red List of Endangered Species. Last year, the International Primatological Society included it in the list of the 25 most threatened primates in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat list shows a betrayal. They are the species closest to extinction, and therefore it should be a priority for the country to prevent them from dying out,\u201d says Javier Garc\u00eda, a biologist from Caquet\u00e1 who teaches at the University of the Amazon. Garcia is one of the scientists who\u00a0discovered<\/a>\u00a0the monkey.<\/p>\n

The monkey only lives in a small triangle demarcated by the Caquet\u00e1 and Orteguaza rivers, and three smaller streams connected to each other. The northern corner of that triangle, where the Pescado River feeds into the Orteguaza is precisely where Emerald is requesting the license to build the wells.<\/p>\n