A multi-pronged campaign for reef protection

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

• Fighting Fracking with the Law

• Mitigating Extreme Weather with Wiser Policies

• Damming Rivers Risks Our Health

• Meet AIDA’s New Staff!

LEARN MORE AT: www.aida-americas.org

Aida community Update From the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense

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Camilo Thompson, an attorney in AIDA’s Marine Program, hails from Chiapas, Mexico—at the southern tip of the country. Recently, he moved with his wife and son to La Paz—at the southern tip of Baja California. Camilo wanted to be closer to the sea, and to the nearby reefs of Cabo Pulmo.

While settling into his new home, and on behalf of AIDA, Camilo has been busy serving as a member of the Cabo Pulmo Vivo Coalition. The Coalition includes non-governmental organizations, citizens, scholars, researchers, and members of the Cabo Pulmo and neighboring communities.

Cabo Pulmo is one of only three coral reefs on the American Pacific coast, and thus is an ecological treasure that Mexico declared a national park in 1995.

Not surprisingly, the park and

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surrounding area are under threat by developers, who wish to build at least two resorts near the park. These projects would almost certainly damage the pristine nature of the nearby reef. To address these threats, in recent months, Camilo and the Coalition have:

• Analyzed one resort builder’s applications for an environmental impact assessment.

• Urged the local government to complete the long-delayed Cabo Pulmo Land Management Plan.

• Collaborated on a letter of complaint to the Minister of the Environment, regarding illegal fishing on the reef, lack of enforcement, and budget cuts.

Elsewhere in his work to protect coral reefs, Camilo has been working to prevent further degradation of the Veracruz Reef—the largest coral ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico.

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In recent months, Camilo has:

• Developed arguments for an AIDA friend-of-the-court brief supporting a lawsuit filed by the Mexican Center for Environmental Law. His arguments strengthen efforts to hold the government accountable, for failing to fully analyze the impacts a port expansion project will have on the Veracruz reef.

• Urged the director of Veracruz Reef National Park to increase reef protections by improving conditions for endangered sea turtles.

• Pressed the National Wetlands Committee—on which he sits—to create a technical working group that would analyze threats to reefs.

“If the reefs are damaged, everyone will suffer,” he says. “The food we get from the sea will disappear. The tourism industry will suffer. Really, we’re all more dependent on healthy reefs than we realize.”

AIDA - Environmental law for the Americas Since its founding in 1998, AIDA has used the law to protect both the environment, and communities suffering from environmental harm, throughout the Americas. With AIDA, the 35 countries of our hemisphere are united under a common environmental flag. AIDA develops strategies to address the environmental and human rights challenges of the 21st century.

© Gustavo Danemann

Aida community update

Climate Change – A Big Contributor to 2017 hurricanes As we all know, a succession of unusually strong hurricanes have struck the Americas during the last few months. But do you know how these storms became so strong? Climate change was a big contributor.

This severe weather should be seen as a call to action. Governments and citizens alike must unite to seek solutions and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

At AIDA, we are working for better climate policies, and promoting development that is compatible with the challenges posed by climate change.

We are advising governments and international financial institutions to:

• Reduce emissions of powerful greenhouse gases that remain a short time in the atmosphere.

• Better manage and plan infrastructure that lessens the impacts of extreme weather.

• Preserve natural environments that fulfill vital climate functions, such as forests and mangroves that capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and coral reefs, which act as natural barriers against storms and hurricanes.

• Disburse economic resources for combatting climate change, based on needs identified with community input, thereby making best use of local knowledge that could lead to better decisions.

You can be part of the solution too. Responsible consumption and good habits go a long way toward building a more climate-friendly world.

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Claudia Velarde, a Bolivian environmental attorney, believes humanity and Mother Earth should not be seen as different, or isolated, beings.

“The activities that affect the conservation of nature will have repercussions in our lives as well,” she has said.

Claudia’s conviction led her to join AIDA’s team of attorneys earlier in 2017, to be part of our effort to protect the environment from extractive activities like fracking and large-scale mining.

Fracking is spreading rapidly throughout Latin America. If left to develop blindly, it could cause irreparable harm to both the environment and public health.

Through our Freshwater Protection Program, Claudia helps coordinate the work of the Latin American Alliance on Fracking. This coalition promotes public debate, awareness, and education among civil society groups. The Alliance also supports the resistance efforts of communities throughout the region.

Confirmed risks

The extraction of gas and oil through fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, could have a “nefarious effect” on the quality and availability of potable water.

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This conclusion comes from the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States (EPA), the nation that pioneered this controversial technique.

Oil and gas companies inject fracking wells with large amounts of water mixed with chemicals. The toxic solution fractures rocks to release trapped oil and/or gas. According to the EPA, these fluids can leach through soils and contaminate groundwater.

By contaminating groundwater, fracking affects the lives of the people, animals, plants, and entire ecosystems that depend on these sources of waters.

Ignoring the danger

For AIDA’s Claudia Velarde, fracking is an emerging environmental issue that Latin Americans need to be aware of.

As she sees it, “Dependence on fossil fuels is leading us to an unprecedented environmental and climate crisis. Fracking has serious impacts, so it’s important that people have real and complete information on the policies and procedures related to it.”

Claudia and AIDA believe that before any fracking operation is authorized, an Environmental Impact

HOW TO FIGHT FRACKING WITH THE LAW

Colombians are part of the growing resistance to fracking in Latin America. Credit: Esperanza Proxima

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Assessment should be prepared. A proper assessment includes an evaluation of possible environmental damages, and the identification of measures that will mitigate those harms. Also, the assessment should include an analysis of the impacts the project will have on our climate.

In Latin America, corporations—not the governments—prepare the environmental assessments. This is different from the United States. Unfortunately, other governments allow companies to skirt this procedure.

In Argentina, the environmental authority granted a permit to Petrolera El Trebol in February 2017, allowing the company to “conventionally” explore and exploit—without using fracking—four oil wells near Llancanelo Lagoon. The lagoon is a 650-square-kilometer wetland located on the eastern flanks of the Andes, some 1,100 kilometers west of Buenos Aires. It has been designated as a Wetland of International Importance under an international treaty focused on the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands.

Months after initiating these conventional exploration methods, Petrolera El Trebol decided to begin using fracking techniques. Through an abbreviated review process, the government authorized this change without requiring a new Environmental Impact Assessment.

Faced with this dangerous reality, this past August Argentina’s Foundation for the Environment and Natural Resources (FARN) filed a civil suit, requesting an injunction until the government’s authorization is invalidated.

FARN’s suit argues that, in addition to violating the obligation to require a new Environmental Impact Assessment, the government also failed to respect

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the affected communities’ right to give their free, prior and informed consent to the project.

“We’re appealing to justice to put a stop to this outrage, so the people have an opportunity to discuss, with adequate information, whether or not they approve of these types of activities that cause irremediable environmental damage,” explained Santiago Cané of FARN. “If they do accept fracking, it must be done with the utmost care, using the measures and regulations designed to avoid or mitigate damages.”

AIDA is supporting FARN’s legal work with arguments from international law, including the precautionary principle, which holds that where any uncertainty exists about the risk of serious harm to the environment and human health, the most stringent precautions should be applied.

As Claudia explains, “given that there is no study with sufficient technical information about the possible harms from fracking, this principle should be applied to prevent impacts in this and other cases.”

Despite scientific evidence showing many harmful consequences of fracking, the use of the technique is expanding throughout Latin America.

Faced with this worrying trend, AIDA will continue working with our partners, to find legal solutions with widespread impacts throughout the region. This includes coordinating the Latin American Alliance on Fracking, and supporting communities in their efforts to slow the expansion of fracking in the region.

damming rivers risks our health By Aida Navarro, Communications Team

Some of my most treasured childhood memories happened in or near a river. I can still feel the cold water on my feet, and the current that pulled me smoothly past rocks and branches.

I remember vacations with my cousins, throwing ourselves into the river near my aunt and uncle’s country house, leaping from the tops of rocks or swinging from the branches of a tree. I remember summer road trips, driving down seemingly endless bridges over the great rivers of southern Mexico.

I’ve always thought of rivers as the arteries of our planet. In their waters, the rivers and their tributaries carry nutrients to wetlands, lakes, and the sea. They carry oxygen and host thousands of species. Rivers supply drinking water to millions of people in small towns and big cities. They give us food, entertainment, transportation, and life.

Recent natural disasters have reminded us that—despite our best attempts—there are no limits, dams, dikes or pipelines that can control the water. Yes, it’s true that, properly implemented, dams can have benefits. However, in many cases, particularly those of large-scale development, the damages dams do far outweigh any benefits.

Dams stop the river's natural flow, throwing the natural world out of balance. This is an excerpt. Read Aida’s entire blog on our website.

THANK YOU for your support.

Because of you, we are able to provide free legal support

to communities across the Americas.

AIDA community update FALL 2017

GET TO KNOW them and the rest of our team: www.aida-americas.org/staff

Follow us on: Facebook.com/AIDAorg and Twitter @AIDAorg For more information, contact us at: aida@aida-americas.org or 415-217-2156

50 California Street, Suite 500 San Francisco, CA 94111

AIDA

Please join us in welcoming to the AIDA team:

Juana HofmanJanet Ávila Liliana Ávila Tom Skeele Emilia Carrara