It used to be that people described finding oil on their land as “striking it rich”. However, for indigenous people in the Amazon living atop possible
oil reserves is nothing other than a nightmare. Oil exploration in the regions has caused massive deforestation, and dangerous
toxins being pumped into the environment and violence.

The money at stake for both oil companies and governments is so vast that human rights and environmental destruction are merely regrettable necessities en route to enormous profits. Yet the indigenous peoples residing on these oil rich lands rarely reap the benefits. Oil extraction has contaminated what were previously some of the most biodiverse areas in the Amazon Basin, has been used as an excuse to push indigenous communities off of their ancestral lands, and has made thousands gravely ill and contributed social unrest increased violence throughout the Amazon Basin.

In the earliest years of oil extraction companies frequently disposed of drilling waste directly into rivers or dug giant pits to dump their sludge. These chemicals poisoned waterways and leached into the surrounding area.