Oil Sparks in the Amazon: Local Conflicts, Indigenous Populations, and Natural Resources
Speaker:
Patricia I. Vásquez, Author and energy expert
Commentators:
Christopher Sabatini, Senior Director of Policy, Americas Society; editor-in-chief, Americas Quarterly
Roger-Mark De Souza, Director, Global Sustainability and Resilience Program, Wilson Center
Robert E. Maguire, Director, Latin American and Hemispheric Studies Program, The George Washington University (invited)
Moderator:
Cynthia J. Arnson, Director, Latin American Program, Wilson Center
In Oil Sparks in the Amazon: Local Conflicts, Indigenous Populations, and Natural Resources (University of Georgia Press, 2014), Patricia Vásquez explores the potent mix of grievances, identities, and structural constraints that have given rise to conflicts between investors in the hydrocarbons sector and local communities in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Over a period of fifteen years, Vásquez conducted hundreds of interviews with stakeholders on all sides, identifying short- and long-term strategies for preventing or mitigating conflict.
Copies of the book are available for purchase.
Event Sponsors
Speakers
Independent Energy Expert, Former Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace
Vice President, Sustainable Markets, Pact
Hosted By
Latin America Program
The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action. Read more
Environmental Change and Security Program
The Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) explores the connections between environmental change, health, and population dynamics and their links to conflict, human insecurity, and foreign policy. Read more