Towards a Post-Oil Civilization - May 2013 ejolt report no. 6 May, 2013 Towards a Post-Oil Civilization Yasunization and other initiatives to leave fossil fuels in the soil L. Temper, I. Yánez, K. Sharife, O. Godwin and J. Martinez-Alier (coord.) with contributions by CANA, M. Combes, K. Cornelissen, H. Lerkelund, M. Louw, E. Martínez, J. Martinez- Alier, J. Minnaar, P. Molina, D. Murcia, G. Ojo, T. Oriola, A. Osuoka, M. M. Pérez, T. Roa Avendaño, L. Temper, L. Urkidi, M. Valdés, N. Wadzah, S. Wykes, I. Yánez EJOLT Report No. 06 Towards a Post-Oil Civilization - May 2013 April - 2013 EJOLT Report No.: 06 Report coordinated by: Leah Temper (UAB), Ivonne Yánez (Acción Ecológica) Towards a Khadija Sharife (CCS), Godwin Ojo (ERA), Joan Martinez-Alier (UAB) with chapter contributions by: Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA), Maxime Combes (ATTAC), Kim Cornelissen (AQLPA), Post-Oil Helga Lerkelund (FoE Norway), Marina Louw (TKAG), Esperanza Martínez (Oliwatch Sudamérica), Joan Martinez-Alier (UAB), Jolynn Minnaar (TKAG), Patricia Molina (FOBOMADE), Diana Murcia (Instituto de Estudios Ecologistas del Tercer Mundo), Godwin Ojo (ERA), Temitope Oriola (University of Massachusetts), Asume Osuoka (ERA), María del Mar Pérez, Tatiana Roa Civilization Avendaño (CENSAT), Leah Temper (UAB), Leire Urkidi (EKOPOL), Mercedes Valdés (Savia), Noble Wadzah (Oilwatch Ghana), Sarah Wykes, Ivonne Yánez (Acción Ecológica) Cover based on image by: Yasunization AV Layout: and other Talía Waldrón (UAB) Series editor: initiatives Beatriz Rodríguez-Labajos (UAB) The contents of this report may be reproduced in whole o r in part for educational or non-profit services without special permission from the authors, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. This publication presents results of the to leave project Environmental Justice Organisations, Liabilities and Trade (EJOLT) (FP7-Science in Society-2010-1). EJOLT aims to improve policy responses to and support collaborative research and action on environmental fossil fuels conflicts through capacity building of environmental justice groups around the world. Visit our free resource library and database at www.ejolt.org or follow tweets (@EnvJustice) or updates on our facebook page (EJOLT) to stay current in the soil on latest news and events world. This document should be cited as: Temper, L., Yánez, I., Sharife, K., Ojo, G., Martinez-Alier, J., CANA, Combes, M., Cornelissen, K., Lerkelund, H., Louw, M., Martínez, E., Minnaar, J., Molina, P., Murcia, D., Oriola, T., Osuoka, A., Pérez, M. M., Roa Avendaño, T., Urkidi, L., Valdés, M., Wadzah, N., Wykes, S. 2013. Towards a Post-Oil Civilization: Yasunization and other initiatives to leave fossil fuels in the soil. EJOLT Report No. 6, 204 p. EJOLT Report No. 06 Towards a Post-Oil Civilization Abstract This Report traces the birth and growth of the idea of leaving oil in the ground. This arose after many decades of cruel conflicts caused by major oil companies, Shell and Chevron (Texaco) in the Niger Delta (involving the Ogoni and Ijaw peoples) and in the Amazon of Ecuador. Environmental justice organisations and networks (ERA, Acción Ecológica, Oilwatch) put forward the proposal to leave fossil fuels in the ground. This proposal makes much sense because of the need to combat climate change and, in many places, also to preserve biodiversity and to safeguard the livelihoods and survival of local populations. Such proposals are known around the world as Yasunization, from the name of the national park in Ecuador, Yasuní, where the government agreed in 2007 to leave 850 million barrels of heavy oil in the soil. The report analyses in detail the history of the activist-led initiatives to leave oil in the soil in Nigeria and Ecuador. It shows how the idea of Yasunization has reached other areas in Latin America (in the San Andrés and Providencia islands, in the Peten, and in the Amazon of Bolivia), and describes several examples of current local struggles against shale gas fracking in Quebec, Europe and South Africa, some of which are inspired by Yasunization. It explains how attempts are being made to resist coal mining in New Zealand, tar sand extraction in several African countries including again Nigeria, and offshore oil extraction in the Canary islands, in Ghana and in the Lofoten islands in Norway. The last chapter analyses the links between Yasunization (leave fossil fuels in the ground) and the world movement in defense of indigenous peoples, and also the difficult collaboration between Yasunization and the conservation movement. It discusses the financial aspects of the Yasuni ITT proposal, and sides against ‘carbon trading’. The final conclusions show the roots of Yasunization in local conflicts in concrete places or territories, and its decisive importance for a post-oil economy and civilization. Keywords Oil extraction Oilwatch Gas flaring Climate change policies Gas fracking Unburnable carbon Tar sands Biodiversity conservation Nigeria Indigenous territorial rights Ogoni Yasunization Ecuador Climate justice activism EJOLT Report No. 06 Towards a Post-Oil Civilization Acronyms AMEN-SD Archipelago Movement for Ethnic Native IACHR Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Self-Determination ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social AQLPA Québec Association against Air Pollution and Cultural Rights BAPE Bureau d’Audiences Publiques sur l’Environnement IERAC Instituto Ecuatoriano de Reforma Agraria y Colonización CAN Andean Community of Nations IOC International Oil Companies CANA Coal Action Network Aotearoa IYC Ijaw Youth Council CBHE Bolivian Chamber of Hydrocarbons and Energy JTF Joint Task Force CEJ Coalition for Environmental Justice LPTAG Law Protecting the Agricultural Territory CEPE Corporacion Estatal Petrolera Ecuatoriana MEND Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta CER Centre for Environmental Rights MOSOP Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People CESCR Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights NGO Non-Governmental Organization CGY Yasuni Guarantee Certificates OBR Ogoni Bill of Rights CLAG Community Legal Assistance Group OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights CONAIE Confederacion de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries CONAMAQ National Council of Qullasusyu Ayllus and Markas OPIM Organization of Indigenous Mosetén COP Conference of Parties OSF Ogoni Solidarity Forum CPILAP Central Organization for the Indigenous Peoples of La Paz PILCOL Indigenous People of Leco and Original Communities CRTM Tsimane Mosetene Regional Council of Larecaja CSO Civil Society Organization SENPLADES Secretaría Nacional de Planificación y Desarrollo EIA Energy Information Agency TCO Indigenous Communal Territories EJO Environmental Justice Organizations TIPNIS Territory and National Park Isiboro Secure ELA ACT Earthlife Africa Cape Town TKAG Treasure the Karoo Action Group ERA Environmental Rights Action UNCSD United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development ESCR Economic, Social and Cultural Rights UNDP United Nations Development Programme EU ETS European Union Emissions Trading System WESSA Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa EUA European Union Allowance WRM World Rainforest Movement FOBOMADE Foro Boliviano sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Yasuni ITT Yasuni Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini FoEN Friends of the Earth The ISO 4217 standard is used for the currency codes (e.g. USD for US dollar or NGN for Nigerian Naira). EJOLT Report No. 06 Towards a Post-Oil Civilization I will not dance to your beat I will not dance to your beat If you call plantations forests I will not sing with you if you privatize my water I will confront you with my fists If climate change means death to me but business to you I will expose your evil greed If you don’t leave crude oil in the soil Coal in the hole and tar sands in the land I will confront and denounce you If you insist on carbon offsetting and other do-nothing false solutions I will make you see red If you keep talking of REDD and push forest communities away from their land I will drag you to the Climate Tribunal If you pile up ecological debt & refuse to pay your climate debt I will make you drink your own medicine If you endorse genetically modified crops And throw dust into the skies to mask the sun I will not dance to your beat Unless we walk the sustainable path And accept real solutions & respect Mother Earth Unless you do I will not & We will not dance to your beat Nnimmo Bassey, from Friends of the Earth Nigeria Read at the opening ceremony of the World People's Climate Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, Cochabamba/Tiquipaya, Bolivia, 20 April 2010 EJOLT Report No. 06 Towards a Post-Oil Civilization Contents Foreword 8 1 Birth of an idea: Ecuador & Nigeria 10 1.1 The Yasuní – ITT initiative from a Political Economy and Political Ecology perspective 11 1.1.1 Introduction: strategic framework of the proposal 11 1.1.2 A critique of oil capitalism 12 1.1.3 Threats to Yasuni 19 1.1.4 Principles of the initiative to leave oil underground 23 1.1.5 Taking stock of the progress achieved 28 1.1.6 What are the conclusions? 31 1.2 Nigeria, three complementary viewpoints on the Niger Delta 35 1.2.1 Against the expansion of the oil frontier: historicising civil society initiatives to Leave Oil in the Soil in Nigeria 35 1.2.2 A Season of Ogele: Repression and Resistance to Oil in the Niger Delta 47 1.2.3 Nigeria’s oil insurgency and the imperative of violence master frame 52 2 Yasunize the world 62 2.1 The ‘Amazon without Oil’ Campaign: oil activity in Mosetén territory 63 2.1.1 Hydrocarbons in the country's economy 65 2.1.2 Amazon without oil 66 2.1.3 Petroandina in Mosetén territory 68 2.1.4 Legal protections 70 2.1.5 Effects and resistance 72 2.1.6 In summary 74 EJOLT Report No. 06 Towards a Post-Oil Civilization 2.2 Oil on the archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina: the resistance of the Raizals 76 2.2.1 Introduction: Oil production in Colombia 76 2.2.2 The Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina 77 2.2.3 Territorial disputes with Nicaragua 80 2.2.4 Resistance to oil 83 2.2.5 Conclusion: local resistance 85 2.3.