Last week, Achuar [2] leaders traveled from deep in the Peruvian Amazon to Calgary, Canada to attend Talisman Energy’s Annual General Shareholder Meeting and demand that the company cease all oil development on their territory, immediately withdraw from their Amazonian homeland, and respect the collective rights of the Achuar people. The Achuar know first-hand the damaging effects of oil development on their land and their communities, which is why they are resisting Talisman’s attempts to further exploit their land. 

The Achuar are just one of the many indigenous communities living in the northern Peruvian Amazon whose livelihoods and lands are threatened by oil development.  Since 1971, when US-based Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) arrived on Achuar territory to develop a concession known as Block 1AB [3], indigenous communities have witnessed the darker side of development [4], including environmental destruction, lead and cadmium poisoning, oil spills, and loss of livelihood. Oxy's legacy is the subject of on-going litigation [5] brought by EarthRights International on behalf of the Achuar against Oxy in U.S. Federal Court.

The threat posed by oil development to indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon has only become more serious as the government continues to encourage investment in oil and natural gas projects. Last year, the Peruvian government passed legislative decrees to open up the Amazon to increased oil, natural gas, mining, logging and hydropower development, ultimately leading to countrywide strikes by Amazonian communities, and a violent clash [6] between police and protestors on a blocked highway in Bagua Province, resulting in deaths on both sides and leaving hundreds of protestors injured. 

Unlike Oxy, Talisman Energy is still in the early stages of drilling new exploration wells on Achuar Territory, and it's not too late to stop it. This is not the kind of development indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon want, which is why the Achuar communities are doing everything they can to keep Talisman Energy off their land.

We are supporting the Achuar in their legal case against Oxy. We encourage you to help their voices be heard and support their campaign against Talisman by sending a message to Talisman's CEO through Amazon Watch [7].