Foz do Amazonas: Exploration concerns French Guiana – 05/29/2023 – Environment

Foz do Amazonas: Exploration concerns French Guiana – 05/29/2023 – Environment


While looking out to sea, indigenous Yves Tiouka tells how fishing life and nature in his region have changed radically over the last ten years. He lives in the commune of Awala-Yalimapo, in French Guiana, 196 km from the capital, Cayenne.

Like most of the country’s residents, the little more than a thousand inhabitants of the place have fishing as their main economic and subsistence activity.

Agência Pública traveled to the region to understand how our neighbors see the Brazilian government’s oil exploration plans a few hundred kilometers off their coast.

Petrobras’ project for the Equatorial Margin, at Foz do Amazonas, comprises an extension of 2,200 km along the Brazilian coast. It runs from the far north of Amapá, on the border with French Guiana, to the coast of Rio Grande do Norte, and provides for the drilling of 16 exploratory oil wells.

“If an oil accident happens and it gets here, we won’t have anything to eat. Nobody freezes food here, we go out fishing every day, and that’s our food”, says Tiouka, who complains about the lack of information about.

In the event of an oil spill accident, the impacts in French Guiana would be felt in less than 48 hours. The country has much of the coastline covered by mangroves, which makes any protective action unfeasible.

French Guiana also does not explore for oil in its waters and does not have any concrete plans for large-scale containment in the event of an oil slick, as oil spills at sea are known.

The regional operational center for surveillance and rescue, responsible for monitoring pollution and triggering containment plans, for example, is based on the island of Martinique.

The North Brazil Current flows through the Atlantic Ocean towards the north coast of the country, where it meets the Amazon River, which directly influences the coastal region in what is the largest outflow of continental waters into the marine environment in the world.

Part of this current flows north, becoming the Guiana current, which mixes with the flow of the Orinoco River in Venezuela, creating unique environmental conditions. It is exactly where these strong currents circulate that Petrobras intends to drill.

According to the state-owned company’s budget forecast, the so-called “new exploratory frontier” will receive investments of approximately US$ 3 billion. In order to continue the project and drill in the so-called Block FZA-M-59 off the coast of Amapá, Petrobras is awaiting authorization from Ibama, which has denied the activity since the first request, still in 2014.

In a dispatch published on May 17 denying the licensing once more, the president of Ibama, Rodrigo Agostinho, states that the project has “worrying inconsistencies for safe operation in a new exploratory frontier of high socio-environmental vulnerability”.

For researcher Marcelo Soares, specialized in geoscience, oil exploration in the region would put unique and little-studied ecosystems at risk.

“We have reef environments in these deep waters that are part of a unique system that we have along the entire coast of Brazil and French Guiana, also connected with the Caribbean region”, he explains.

It is in Awala-Yalimapo, for example, that the L’Amana coastal nature reserve is located, recognized since 1993 as a wetland of international interest. With around 14,800 hectares, the reserve is made up of mangroves, swampy forests and lagoons and is always in evolution due to the progression from east to west, along the coast, of the mud banks coming from the Amazon. So impressive are these coastal dynamics that the reserve’s environments change visibly from one year to the next.

Soares also draws attention to the area set aside for exploration, on the border with French Guiana. “In the event of an accident, the problem would become international and enter the European area, which has very specific laws. From a geopolitical and conservation point of view, this could be negative for Brazil, which has been working to regain a positive role in the environment. environmental.”

Oil exploration itself greatly increases carbon emissions at global levels. The researcher points out that northern Brazil and French Guiana are already facing consequences of this, such as rising temperatures, droughts and rising sea levels, already felt by Tiouka and his neighbors in Awala-Yalimapo.
“Ten years ago, the sea did not reach this coast. It must have advanced about 300 meters. Now we see erosion along the entire coast of the community”, says the native, who fears that in ten years the village will no longer exist.

A few kilometers from Plage des Hattes, in Awala-Yalimapo, is Kudawayada, an inn and restaurant with indigenous architecture and a rustic roadside look. The owner shows concern.

The indigenous Sylvain Kilinian says that he is increasing his business, but that he is afraid of losing everything due to climate change and the degradation of species on the coast.

“My whole life depends on this place, and we have to fight hard to preserve nature and not let our history disappear. What about me? What about all the life here, the endangered turtles? If an accident happens with oil in Brazil and the oil slick arrives here, it’s all over”, laments the indigenous man.

Fishermen complain about lack of information

An overseas department belonging to France, French Guiana has experienced several waves of oil prospecting since the 1970s.

In 2017, France passed Law 2017-1839, which determined the end of hydrocarbon research and exploration, prohibiting new gas and oil exploration contracts, and the closure of any and all activities in the sector in the country and its territories until 2040 .

Protected by oil spill legislation in their country, fishermen in French Guiana — who represent the third local economic sector — complain about the lack of information about the project at Foz do Amazonas.

Son and grandson of fishermen, engineer Steafne Icho, resident of Saint Laurent du Maroni, echoes Kelle’s apprehension. “We already have mercury pollution from mining and now this risk of oil spills. This is cause for concern. There is not enough information to safely drill exploration wells off the coast of Brazil, and this will certainly affect our indigenous populations, from two sides. Many people depend on fishing to survive”, he says.

70 km from Oiapoque, in French Guiana, is the village of Kaw, an ancient village located in the city of Regina. The main activity of the inhabitants is fishing and hunting. There is the Kaw Roura nature reserve, the third largest in area (94,700 hectares) and the largest wetland in France.

Cristian Lewest, a local fisherman, says he and his wife fish for subsistence and trade. He explains that the fishing practice is passed down from generation to generation.

“I learned from my parents and I’m already teaching my children, so an oil spill would be catastrophic for us”, laments the fisherman.

But it’s not just fishermen who complain about the lack of information. In an interview with Pública, the Secretary of State in charge of the sea in France, Hervé Berville, who visited Awala-Yalimapo in April, said that, from the French side, there is not much information regarding possible oil exploration on the neighboring coast.

According to him, the dialogue with the Bolsonaro government on environmental issues has always been quite complicated and the Brazil-France relationship is now being resumed with President Lula.

Petrobras has reserved entire hotels in Oiapoque until the end of 2023

The search for oil in the FZA-M-59 has been questioned for years by environmentalists and environmental defense agencies.

Petrobras’ decision to try to explore the region led to a political clash, between the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, and Minister Marina Silva. Deputies, senators and authorities in Amapá demand authorization for exploration.

Pending an opinion from Ibama, Petrobras has already reserved entire hotels until at least the end of 2023 in the municipality of Oiapoque, on the border between Amapá and French Guiana. The company is also working on adapting the city’s airfield, through an agreement with the city hall, in order to assist in oil exploration operations on the coast of the state. Sought by Pública, Mayor Bruno Almeida did not comment on the agreement.

In 2022, the year in which the state-owned company announced adaptations to the municipality’s airfield, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) in Amapá and Pará warned of the fact that the Karipuna, Palikur-Arukwayene, Galibi Marworno and Galibi Kali’na peoples will be directly affected with a possible increase of up to 3,000% in air traffic in the region.

At the time, the MPF’s recommendation showed concern about the potential for environmental damage on the coast of the Atlantic Amazon that could reach the sea of ​​French Guiana.

A researcher at the Institute of Scientific and Technological Research of Amapá (Iepa), Valdenira Ferreira coordinated the project Letter of Environmental Sensitivity to Oil Spills (Cartas SAO), funded by the Ministry of the Environment between 2011 and 2015, which allowed to identify, through cartography and database, environmental sensitivity to oil spills on the Brazilian coast.

“Whenever we think of an oil disaster, we imagine a platform, but there is a real and immediate danger that is related to us being at the gateway to the Amazon hydrographic basin, where the Solimões and Amazonas waterway is located, which connects at the mouth of the Amazon River with the Atlantic Ocean”, he explains.

On Wednesday (24), Petrobras confirmed that it intends to file a new request for Ibama to reverse the decision that barred oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon River. On Saturday (20), the president of the state company, Jean Paul Prates, stated that there is the possibility of “testing something” in Guyana or Suriname. Petrobras did not respond to several attempts to contact Pública.

This report, originally published by Agência Pública, is the result of Microbolsas Petroleum and Climate Change carried out by Agência Pública in partnership with WWF-Brasil. The 16th edition of the contest selected journalists to investigate exploration blocks in the Amazon region and their socio-environmental impacts.



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