Large expansion of oil industry in the Ecuadorian Amazon: biodiversity vulnerability and conservation alternatives

Abstract

Ecuador will experience a significant expansion of the oil industry in its Amazonian region, one of the most biodiverse areas of the world. In view of the changes that are about to come, we explore the conflicts between oil extraction interests and biodiversity protection and apply systematic conservation planning to identify priority areas that should be protected in different oil exploitation scenarios. First, we quantified the current extent of oil blocks and protected zones and their overlap with two biodiversity indicators: 25 ecosystems and 745 species (whose distributions were estimated via species distribution models). With the new scheme of oil exploitation, oil blocks cover 68% (68,196 km2) of the Ecuadorian Amazon; half of it occupied by new blocks open for bids in the southern Amazon. This region is especially vulnerable to biodiversity losses, because peaks of species diversity, 19 ecosystems, and a third of its protected zones coincide spatially with oil blocks. Under these circumstances, we used Marxan software to identify priority areas for conservation outside oil blocks, but their coverage was insufficient to completely represent biodiversity. Instead, priority areas that include southern oil blocks provide a higher representation of biodiversity indicators. Therefore, preserving the southern Amazon becomes essential to improve the protection of Amazonian biodiversity in Ecuador, and avoiding oil exploitation in these areas (33% of the extent of southern oil blocks) should be considered a conservation alternative. Also, it is highly recommended to improve current oil exploitation technology to reduce environmental impacts in the region, especially within five oil blocks that we identified as most valuable for the conservation of biodiversity. The application of these and other recommendations depends heavily on the Ecuadorian government, which needs to find a better balance between the use of the Amazon resources and biodiversity conservation.

Energy development reveals blind spots for ecosystem conservation in the Amazon Basin

“…; Lessmann et al . ). Furthermore, most of the current knowledge about the effects of oil spills and remediation measures derives from marine environments and temperate countries; the variable water chemistry, seasonal flooding regimes, and clay soils typical of many Amazonian lowland ecosystems make the research approaches commonly applied elsewhere unsuitable for Amazonian environments (Fraser ).…”

“…Health impacts associated with oil and gas drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon include elevated rates of miscarriages, diarrhea, gastritis, and various forms of cancer (San Sebastián and Hurtig 2004). In addition, road building, pipeline construction, and infrastructure development facilitate colonization, logging, hunting, and agricultural expansion, which further degrade and destroy forests beyond the site of extraction (Finer et al 2008;Suárez et al 2013;Lessmann et al 2016). Furthermore, most of the current knowledge about the effects of oil spills and remediation measures derives from marine environments and temperate countries; the variable water chemistry, seasonal flooding regimes, and clay soils typical of many Amazonian lowland ecosystems make the research approaches commonly applied elsewhere unsuitable for Amazonian environments (Fraser 2018).…”

Incorporating phylogenetic information for the definition of floristic districts in hyperdiverse Amazon forests: Implications for conservation

“…However, there are some caveats to consider. For example, 45% of Yasuní National Park, located in the Napo‐Tigre watershed, overlaps with existing oil concessions, and meanwhile, 22% of the Cuyabeno Reserve in the Aguarico‐Putumayo‐district is currently also open for oil concessions (Lessmann, Fajardo, Munoz, & Bonaccorso, 2016). Even more alarming is the fact that 19 of the 25 ecosystems of lowland Ecuador Amazon are found within areas that are open for oil exploration, particularly toward the southern portion of the Pastaza fan watershed and Cordillera del Condor lowlands where Ecuador's greatest amount of evolutionary distinctiveness and phylogenetic endemism is concentrated.…”

“…However, there are some caveats to consider. For example, 45% of Yasuní National Park, located in the Napo-Tigre watershed, overlaps with existing oil concessions, and meanwhile, 22% of the Cuyabeno Reserve in the Aguarico-Putumayo-district is currently also open for oil concessions (Lessmann, Fajardo, Munoz, & Bonaccorso, 2016 Recently, Lessmann, Munoz, and Bonaccorso (2014) assigned a low-to-medium range in conservation priority to areas that correspond to the southern floristic districts we described here as regions containing both unique and geographically restricted evolutionary information. The approach used by these authors to define conservation priorities areas included richness maps based on species distribution models and maps of environmental vulnerability.…”

Conflitos e negociações entre a indústria do petróleo e a conservação da Mata Atlântica no Litoral Norte de São Paulo, Brasil

“…Embora a indústria de petró-leo e gás seja uma atividade de risco em qualquer região, as áreas tropicais são particularmente mais vulneráveis (Carter, 2005). Em razão da alta correlação entre áreas de alta biodiversidade e formações geológicas que contêm hidrocarbonetos, muitas áreas almejadas por essa indústria se sobrepõem com áreas sensíveis, ecossistemas ameaçados e territórios indígenas (Lessmann et al, 2016).…”