Oil exploitation in the Amazon basin of Ecuador: a public health emergency

Oil is a major source of income for Ecuador and since the 1970s has been the "engine" of the nation's economy.Before the 1970s oil price boom, Ecuador was one of the poorest countries in Latin America.Since then, oil production has been the primary cause of Ecuador's economic growth, which has averaged 7% annually.Per capita income rose from US$ 290 in 1972 to US$ 1 200 in 2000.Today, oil continues to account for 40% of the nation's export earnings and of the budget of the national Government (1, 2).Most of this oil comes from the northeastern part of the country, the Amazon basin.The Amazon basin of Ecuador, known as el Oriente (the provinces of Sucumbios, Orellana, Napo, Pastaza, Morona Santiago, and Zamora-Chinchipe), consists of more than 100 000 km 2 of tropical rain forest lying at the headwaters of the Amazon river network.The region contains one of the most diverse collections of plant and animal life in the world (3).The Oriente region is also the home of some 500 000 people, or about 4.5% of the country's population.These half-million persons include eight groups of indigenous people as well as peasants who, encouraged by land policies of the national Government, moved to the area from Ecuador's coastal and highland regions in the 1970s and the 1980s (4).In 1967 a Texaco-Gulf consortium discovered a rich field of oil beneath the rain forest, leading to an oil boom that has permanently reshaped the region.The Amazon of Ecuador now houses a vast network of roads, pipelines, and oil facilities.While the national Government has retained dominion over all mineral rights, several private foreign companies have built and operated most of the oil infrastructure.Current oil production activities in the Oriente region span nearly one million hectares, with over 300 producing wells and 29 production camps.The country has 4.6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, with crude production of around 390 000 barrels per day.Of this production, Petroecuador, the Government-owned company, accounts for about 55% of Ecuador's total output, with private companies accounting for the remaining 45%.Petroecuador is attempting both to attract foreign investment to the country's largest oil fields and to boost its own production from around 215 000 barrels per day today to 600 000 barrels per day by 2005 (5).Since 1967 many different companies have been involved in the oil exploitation process.There are currently 16 companies operating in the coun-