Latin American Governments Put Investment Over Environment, Study Shows (VIDEO)

Latin American governments are allowing destruction of forests, rivers and local communities in exchange for money from companies with ties to environmentally destructive industries, according to a new study of Latin American nations.

The study claims that as governments race to attract foreign investors eager to cash in on natural fuel reserves the countries have returned to a "colonial mentality."

"We seem to have returned to an almost colonial mentality," said Margarita Florez, Executive Director at Asociación Ambiente y Sociedad, whose study reviewed the recent activities impacts of extractive activities on lands owned by indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and other forest communities in Colombia, Panama and Guatemala.

"Our governments are being shortsighted. They are undervaluing renewable resources such as forests and water, and are putting the rights of foreign investors before those who have lived and worked the land for generations."

Florez's findings bolster a growing body of evidence that governments in the region have increased their dependency on the export of non-renewable resources such as gold, silver and natural gas.

She found that foreign direct investment in Colombia increased 500 percent between 2000 and 2010, with most of those funds doing directly to mining and related activities.

In Peru mining ranks as fourth among industries that contribute to gross domestic product.

All four countries studies showed repeated instances of forced displacement of local people, the presence of non-state security forces, large-scale deforestation, loss of both water quality and quantity, loss of access to food sources, illegal land acquisition, the weakening of the social fabric of communities, and the emergence of parallel economic activities with significant implications for traditional communities, the report stated.

The report also showed weakened regulations and poor oversight and control over the extractive industries in the region.

"Without the recognition of local rights, transparency of deals and decisions, and mechanisms to ensure accountability of governments and investors, there will be a rollback of environmental, human and tenure rights of forest communities," said Omaira Bolanos, Regional Program Director for Latin America at Rights and Resources Initiative, the organization that commissioned the study. "Foreign investors will prefer countries with weakened regulations to expand their investments."

"Governments, citizens, civil society and business-people must work together to address the risks and opportunities of advancing the economic development and prosperity all Latin Americans," she added. "But this must be done without harming the human and tenure rights of rural, indigenous and Afro-descendant communities."