Ecuador: A Court Admits Claim Against Pollution in the Amazon

The Sucumbios Supreme Court accepted an appeal filed by nine indigenous girls who demanded the elimination of over 400 gas flares linked to crude oil production in the Ecuadorean Amazon. 

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The plaintiffs demanded actions by the State to eliminate the oil industry burners in the Amazon, including the non-authorization of new installations of this kind. 

Noting the State's negligence "by not providing or promoting the use of environmentally clean technologies", the sentence ordered oil companies to undertake "clean and safe" procedures to avoid pollution. 

Case lawyer Pablo Fajardo pointed out that the sentence opened the way for a comprehensive reparation while noting that the oil industry has not accepted or effectively counteracted the environmental and social damage generated by its activity in the region in the last 53 years.

At least 447 gas flares operate in the Ecuadorian Amazon, causing pollution and severe health problems such as an increase in Orellana and Sucuprovinces' cancer cases. 

"With this sentence, Ecuador gives oil companies that have been violating human rights and nature, with their backward practices, an opportunity to change their ways of production and become more responsible with human beings and nature," the Plaintiffs said.

With estimated oil reserves of over 8 billion barrels, Ecuador produces about 530,000 barrels of oil per day (BPD).