Oil Drilling - a New Threat

Oil Drilling: A new attack began in 2008 on the territiorial integrity of Hoktek T'oi - oil extraction. Without informing the community, a road-building unit broke onto the village's land about 5km away. They dismantled a fence, built by the community to protect themselves against illegal loggers and other intruders. They then cut a new side road into the forest. This was followed by a perforation team with heavy duty equipment, which began drilling. A small oil reserve was discovered at a depth of 3.400 metres. Legal action has been taken to stop these incursions on the grounds of trespass and damage. It is thought that a Chinese company in this case holds the concession, but it is never easy to get this information as to the perpetrators. Since then we continue to be very concerned about the illegal oil drilling taking place on the lands of the ‘Our Forest’ communities and we are persisting, through the law courts, in attempting to protect the forest from such invasions.