Members of the Wampis community of Mayuriaga in the northern Peruvian Amazon seized a grounded military helicopter March 6, holding crew members and eight officials who were on board to press for inclusion in the emergency response plan to last month's devastating oil spill in the region. The eight officials, from state company PetroPerú, were released two days later, after the government agreed to a meeting to discuss indigenous demands, including to improve electricity and other services for the remote area. The Wampis were angered that Supreme Decree 012-2016, instating the emergency response plan, did not actually include their community in the clean-up zone. Some  1,000 barrels spilled when PetroPerú's trans-Andean pipeline rupturted Feb. 3 at Mayuriaga, which lies in Morona municipalty, Datem del Marañón province, Loreto region. Nine days earlier, a second leak further west on the pipeline spilled some 2,000 barrels. The Oleoducto Norperuano is 40 years old, and has been repeatedly cited in recent years by environmental regulator OEFA for poor maintainence. (TeleSur, March 8; RPP, Reuters, March 7)

The city council of Ibagué, capital of Colombia's Tolima department, voted Feb. 29 to a approve a popular "consulta" on a proposed mineral project for the municipality—two months after Mayor Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo proposed the ground-breaking move. AngloGold Ashanti hopes to develop an open-pit gold mine at La Colosa in neighboring Cajamarca municipality, which could impact the Río Coello that flows into Ibagué and provides much of its water supply. Another downstream municipality that depends on the river, Piedras, declared against the project following a similar popular consultation in 2013. But the upcoming Ibagué vote marks the first time a departmental capital will hold such a process on a development project. Jaramillo cites Law 136 of 1994, which gives municipalities the right to determine the development of subsoil resources within their territories. (El Espectador, El Espectador, El Tiempo, Feb. 29; El Tiempo, Feb. 25)

The Hague Court of Appeals ruled Dec. 18 that Royal Dutch Shell can be sued in a Dutch court for their involvement in oil spills in Nigeria. The ruling stems from a suit brought by four Nigerian farmers that claimed Shell and its Nigerian subsidiaries were responsible for oil leaks leading to their lands being damaged. In a statement explaining their reasoning for their decision, the Court of Appeals said, "It cannot be established in advance that the parent company is not liable for possible negligence of the Nigerian operating company."

The U'wa Nation claimed a victory Oct. 15 as it received an admissibility report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) allowing its case against Colombia to move forward, recognizing that the indigenous group can seek the Commission's help in defending its traditional territory. Although the U'wa have successfully defeated multiple oil and gas projects in the nearly two decades since they first filed their complaint with the Commission, the report recognizes that winning these battles does not end the overall complaint with the Colombian government, which does not fully recognize the U'wa people's rights to their territory. In a statement released after the decision, the U'wa organization Asou'wa said: "Our U'wa Nation has been heard by the natural law, our ancestors and gods that guide and govern our thinking to safeguard, protect and care for our mother earth; while there are U'wa people, we will continue resisting in defense of our ancient rights."

This year has seen the rise and fall of Shell Oil's plan to begin offshore Arcitc drilling in Alaskan waters. Now, the Interior Department has announced the cancellation of two pending Arctic offshore lease sales that were scheduled under the current five-year offshore leasing program for 2012-2017—Chukchi Sea Lease Sale 237 and Beaufort Sea Lease Sale 242. Additionally, the Department announced denial or requests from Shell and Statoil for extensions that would have allowed for retention of their leases beyond their primary terms of 10 years. DoI stated that "the companies did not demonstrate a reasonable schedule of work for exploration and development under the leases, a regulatory requirement necessary for BSEE [Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement] to grant a suspension." But in justifying the decisions, Secretary Sally Jewell openly stated that in light of "current market conditions, it does not make sense to prepare for lease sales in the Arctic in the next year and a half." (Alaska Native News, Oct. 16) This amounts to a virtual admission that the idea here is "banking" the oil under the sea, until currently depressed prices start to rise again.

Thousands of protesters again mobilized in Quito on Sept. 16—this time without violent incidents. The march, concluding in the city's Plaza Santo Domingo, was again called by the Unitary Workers Front (FUT) and the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), to oppose President Rafael Correa's proposed labor reforms and "extractivist" economic model based on natural resource exploitation. CONAIE president Jorge Herrera said a new demand is "freedom for the political prisoners" who were detained during last month's larger protest campaign, which saw street clashes in Quito and elsewhere in the country.

Argentina's state firm YPF was at the point of completely shutting down oil and gas production throughout Neuquén province after indigenous Mapuche residents blocked access to to wells for 48 hours to press demands over territorial rights. The blockades were lifted Sept. 4 after a hectic days of dialogue with Mapche leaders. The blockade was undertaken by the Mapuche community of Paynemil to press authorities to complete a demarcation of traditional indigenous lands in the area, as mandated by National Law 26.160 of 2006 but still not carried out. Hundreds of wells at the Loma La Lata, Rincón del Mangrullo and Loma Campana fields were affected by the action, supposedly costing YPF millions of dollars. July saw similar protests, when the Loma Campana field was blocked by members of the Mapuche community of Campo Maripe. The issue has been outstanding for years, but the new blockades marked the first time that hydrocarbon production throughout the province was affected. (InfoBae, InfoBae, Cronista, Sept. 4; Cronista, Diario Norte, July 30)

In new protests over the Bloc 192 oil-field in the north Peruvian Amazon, some 20 indigenous Achuar and Kichwa warriors occupied the local air-strip of multinational Pluspetrol, in Trompeteros, Loreto region. They also seized a pumping station at nearby Pavayacu. The protesters are demanding better compensation for the use of their lands, and opposing the new contract for development of the field to Canadian company Pacific Stratus Energy, a subsidiary of Pacific Rubiales. A civil strike was also declared in Iquitos, the region's principal city, where barricades were built on major streets, paralyzing traffic. The Iquitos protesters, supported by the region's president, want the oil bloc to be taken over by state-owned PetroPeru. "The only thing foreign companies have done is pollute and foment distrust among local populations," said Loreto president Fernando Meléndez. "We don't see any benefits and remain an impoverished region." The bloc has been exploited for more than 40 years, most recently by Pluspetrol, an Argentine company whose contract expired Aug. 29. The 48-hour paro or civl strike was jointly called by Loreto Patriotic Front (FPL) and the Federation of Native Communities of Alto Tigre (FECONAT). (TerraPeru, Sept. 3, La República, Reuters, Sept. 2; El Comercio, Peru21, Sept. 1; Andina, Aug. 21)