For years, the Amazon rainforests of Ecuador have been at the center of a complex and ongoing struggle over land rights and the oil reserves beneath the surface. At the heart of the debate lies a critical tension between economic development and environmental protection. Proponents of oil extraction argue it offers a vital opportunity to boost national revenue, while opponents warn of the irreversible environmental damage and health impacts such activities could cause. On the latest episode of "Growing Impact," a team of Penn State researchers discusses how their seed grant project aims to identify environmental impacts from the oil extraction process.
For decades, Ecuador has drilled in the Amazon, but in 2016, the government started extraction inside Yasuní National Park, a protected area considered one of the most biodiverse places on earth. In 2019, the government expanded the drilling area, encroaching on a buffer zone created to protect uncontacted tribes, including thousands of Kichwa people, which are the communities with whom the research team is working.
"The only way to protect these pristine forests and biodiversity in the Amazon is by empowering local communities to continue to steward the land," said Belén Noroña, assistant professor of geography and principal investigator. "The Amazon still exists because the people who live there rely on and protect its resources."
The research team at Penn State is developing a methodology to assess contamination from oil spills - specifically hydrocarbons and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) - in both soil and water near extraction sites.
"The goal was to combine Belén's work with the people there and her knowledge of the geography of the region, with my expertise in chemical contamination," said Rachel Brennan, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "By linking Indigenous knowledge with scientific chemical data, we can better understand the environmental and health impacts in a way that neither approach could fully reveal on its own."
According to the team, the main goal is to build tools that enable Indigenous communities to monitor their environment using Western scientific methods, which can also stand up in court as legal evidence.
"There are continuous oil spills and frequent failures due to old oil infrastructure in the Amazon," Noroña said. "Without oversight or accountability, environmental standards go unenforced. Our goal is to help communities generate data that holds weight and can drive change."
Part of the project includes creating a map of oil spills in collaboration with Indigenous communities. Sofia Hoffman, an undergraduate student researcher working with Brennan, said collaboration between individuals with Western and Indigenous perspectives can be challenging, as worldviews, values and ways of knowing can differ.
"The Kichwa talk about how Western people are blind, and we don't understand the world as they see it - all the knowledge Westerners have and how we can choose to be blind and not appreciate the world that they know. Or we can allow them to show us," Hoffman said.
"Growing Impact" is a podcast by the Institute of Energy and the Environment. It features Penn State researchers who have been awarded IEE seed grants and discusses their foundational work as they further their projects. The podcast is available on multiple platforms, including YouTube, Apple, Amazon and Spotify.
