C J Sharpe Humid montane forest on the Caribbean slope of the eastern Paria peninsula, Venezuela Zoom In

Gas threat to Venezuelan peninsula

25-03-2004

The Paria peninsula in northern Venezuela is in further trouble. The area is home to five endemic bird species, at least 13 endemic subspecies and four Globally Threatened Birds – the Scissor-tailed Hummingbird Hylonympha macrocerca and White-throated Barbtail Premnoplex tatei (both classified as Vulnerable), and the Venezuelan Flowerpiercer Diglossa venezuelensis and Paria Whitestart Myioborus pariae (both Endangered).

By mid-2003 the new road connecting Güiria, at the base of the peninsula, to Macuro, at its tip, was complete and partially surfaced. The road is expected to increase the cultivation of cash crops in the region and therefore increase the already worrying rate of local deforestation.

At the same time the Marsical Sucre (formerly Cristóbal Colón) LNG project was reactivated in June 2003. The $2.7 billion project is primarily a partnership between PDV Gas, Shell and Mitsubishi and is projected to produce 4.7 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year, mostly for export to the USA. Shell say the project will extract 10 trillion cubic feet of gas resources in the Norte de Paria fields in the Caribbean north of the peninsula, which will be piped over the mountains to a cryogenics plant on its south shore.

"Amongst these endemics are four globally threatened birds, the very survival of which will surely be jeopardised should the proposed LNG pipeline proceed without adequate safeguards for their forested home." —David C. Wege, Americas Program Manager

"The Paria peninsula is Latin America in a microcosm – unspoilt Caribbean beaches on one side, and Orinoco mangrove swamps on the other rise quickly to cloud forest along a central, mountainous spine. The forest is home to a myriad of unique species of plants and animals. Amongst these endemics are four globally threatened birds, the very survival of which will surely be jeopardised should the proposed LNG pipeline proceed without adequate safeguards for their forested home," commented David Wege, BirdLife's Americas Program Manager.

Conservationists are concerned that the project may try to pass the pipeline through the already highly threatened Paria Peninsula National Park.

So far the companies involved have not disclosed their plans, and no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been carried out.

The project is scheduled to begin production in 2007.