Indigenous peoples have been warning us for decades that expanding fossil fuel production is not a long-term solution that will guarantee us a habitable planet. This is even more serious if we intend to expand the oil frontier in regions of high biodiversity such as the Amazon

The Achuar People of the Pastaza River, the Wampis Nation and the Chapra Nation, whose territories overlap or are affected by Lot 64 in the Peruvian Amazon, have opposed oil extraction for decades and have so far been successful. Their territories are now under a new threat because the Peruvian State inaugurated the controversial Talara oil refinery and plans to impose oil extraction in Lot 64, which continues to devastate ecosystems, their indigenous communities and the climate.

Peruvian oil exploitation has been linked to territorial dispossession, oil spills, violations of health and environmental rights, deforestation, water pollution and reduction of habitat for its amazing fauna and flora, both on the coast and in the Amazon. In a recent publication by Dr Roger Merino, sponsored by Amazon Watch, the set of violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples that must be repaired by the Peruvian State and the operating companies have been identified, for these 50 years of “slow expulsion” that the Amazonian peoples have suffered.

In addition, the AmazonWatch and Stand.earth research show that the “modernization” of the Talara oil refinery was financed through a syndicated loan in which banks such as Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and BNP Paribas participated. To pay these debts, Petroperú plans to maximize profits and keep Talara in production as long as possible. For the Peruvian government and Petroperú, this means increasing oil extraction in the Peruvian Amazon, including Lot 64. Financial institutions must take responsibility for these rights violations, related to their loans.