Page 31 - 2019 Sustainability Report

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Environmental Remediation:
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Colombia is faced with many orphan oil spills resulting from armed activities during the decades-long conflict in the country. In the Suroriente block, where GTE began operating in 2019, the company is remediating a significant amount of impacted land. GTE’s approach to this large-scale environmental remediation effort focuses on manual extraction and cleaning by local workers which minimizes environmental waste and maximizes economic benefits to affected communities.
Over 300 workers from 10 towns in the area are currently working to clean up several water bodies from crude oil spills that were caused by the conflict near their town. The jobs are rotated to ensure that all families in the villages have a chance to benefit financially from the work. The work is being implemented by a cooperative, Ecotransvias, comprised of a team of community leaders working together with GTE to make the cleanup a reality.
The environmental remediation work has been endorsed by the Cabildo Nasa Kiwe Nxusxa, a local Indigenous community that provides supervisors who survey the area daily to make sure none of the polluted waters run into a nearby creek.
I would like to thank GTE for the work it has done here. It has been heartening to see that there is an operator that is willing to work with us, and we now have access to clean water.
Jon Jairo Rocha,
President of La Cabana JAC
and Board Member, Ecotransvias
HECTARES
of illegal third-party spills have been cleaned to date
We used this water for our rituals, but it’s been lost spiritually because of the pollution. The company understands our rights and culture and built water wells so that we can again access clean water.
Leonardo Acosta,
Mayor, Community Action Board of Cabildo Nasa Kiwe Nxusxa
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