TROPICAL RAINFORESTS: Imperiled Riches—Threatened Rainforests
The U'wa versus Occidental Oil
In 1992 Shell and Occidental won exploration rights to the Samore oil block in Colombia. However the block lay in the territory of the U'wa tribe. The U'wa, citing a precedent set some 400 years ago in tribal lore, threatened mass suicide. The U'wa claimed they would rather throw themselves off a cliff than see their homeland degraded by oil operations. The controversy proved to much for Shell - still reeling from criticism over its operations in Nigeria - who pulled out of the project. Since then Occidental has made concessions to U'wa, though the battle still continues.Continued: Economic Restructuring