Recently authorized by the Brazilian government, oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon River was criticized during the COP30 side event organized by TED House in Belém. André Guimarães, executive director of IPAM (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia) and Special Civil Society Envoy for COP30, questioned who is interested in the exploration.
“If this is the COP of truth, as President Lula says, it makes no sense to explore for oil at the mouth of the Amazon,” he said.
André Guimarães warned that more carbon in the atmosphere means more risks for agriculture, the environment and the Brazilian population, 61% of whom said that President Lula should ban the opening of new oil wells.
He also said that there is a need for a more in-depth discussion so that, before exploring for oil, we can debate what the alternatives are.
“The same science that 30 years ago began to make Brazil one of the world’s largest food producers should be working to produce alternative paths. Could it be that, in degraded areas, we can’t make food production compatible with the production of alternative fuels? We need to have this answer,” he said.
Suely Araújo, public policy coordinator at the Climate Observatory, said that block 59 is symbolic because it is the first and can determine Ibama’s future decisions.
“This license acted as a gate opening, a milestone in the government’s decision to turn the Amazon sedimentary basin into an oil exploration area,” adding that more than 700 licenses for oil and gas exploration are waiting to be approved.
As a result, Brazilian civil society filed a lawsuit in Pará to stop the license for failing to comply with basic rules on consulting the local population, among other technical issues.
The impact on the communities and traditional peoples living in the region is already being felt. Luene Anica, a Karipuna leader, said that the local population is suffering from a disorderly population increase, land grabbing and the threat to their rights. According to her, the reason is the information that the region will be a new focus of prosperity.
“They’re saying that the state will be the Dubai of the future. This logic of divide and conquer. This impact is the most serious because it affects historic organizations and begins to pit one against the other with the discourse of progress. Will compensation solve this? A historical relationship between peoples and territory?”
The event was moderated by Tzeporah Berman, founder of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Fossil Fuels, who advocated that Brazil follow the example of Colombia, which has decided to reduce oil exploration and is leading an energy transition project.