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Oil and Gas Projects in the Western Amazon: Threats to Wilderness, Biodiversity, and Indigenous Peoples
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The western Amazon is the most biologically rich part of the Amazon basin and is home to a great diversity
of indigenous ethnic groups, including some of the world’s last uncontacted peoples living in voluntary isolation. Unlike
the eastern Brazilian Amazon, it is still a largely intact ecosystem. Underlying this landscape are large reserves of oil and
gas, many yet untapped. The growing global demand is leading to unprecedented exploration and development in the
region. Without improved policies, the increasing scope and magnitude of planned extraction means
that environmental and social impacts are likely to intensify. We review the most pressing oil- and gas-related conservation
policy issues confronting the region. These include the need for regional Strategic Environmental Impact Assessments and
the adoption of roadless extraction techniques. We also consider the conflicts where the blocks overlap indigenous peoples’
territories