Alaska: Traditional way of life of the Gwich’in Indians threatened by oil drilling

The decision of the US House of Representatives, to include after all an item in the budget for oil-drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was sharply criticised on Tuesday by the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV). "This is a death threat for the traditional culture of the Gwich’in Indians who live there”, said the GfbV expert, Yvonne Bangert. "We are shocked at the tricks the Republican representatives are prepared to go to in search of raw materials when it is a matter of opening up the nature paradise protected for decades.” The item was linked with the passing of expenditure for the Ministry of Defence, including funds for military operations in Iraq and assistance for the victims of the hurricane.

Although the oil project has been rejected by the Democrats and is also very controversial among the Republicans, many parliamentarians evidently do not want to lay themselves open to the charge of being unpatriotic, so that the supporters of the drilling for oil have managed to secure the necessary majority. Only in November they failed in both houses of Congress.

"We are most concerned about the Gwich’in Indians, whose way of life is still dependent on the caribous. They hunt animals of the porcupine caribou herds, which nurture their young in the nature reserve. The animals will be so disturbed by the construction of the infrastructure necessary for the drilling for oil that they will change their trails and thus become inaccessible to the Indians”, fears Bangert.

The "Serengeti of the Arctic” has been a nature reserve for the approximately 130,000 animals of the porcupine caribou herds since 1957. The animals provide the economic and cultural means of existence for the 7,000 Gwich’in, who live in 15 settlements along the trails of the caribou. For decades the indigenous people have opposed the destruction of their way of life together with environmentalists and supported by the Democrats and many Republicans. The GfbV has also conducted several campaigns for the protection of the ANWR.

For US President George Bush the opening up of domestic sources of energy provides the key to gaining independence from the necessity of importing oil from "rogue states”. Following the devastating cyclones of recent weeks petrol prices have risen sharply in the USA as well. For this reason the pressure has increased enormously on those who want to save the nature reserve as a legacy for the whole of humanity. The oil from the ANWR would not even cover the US demand for six months according to the findings of independent studies. It would also take years for the first drop of oil to come onto the market. Environmentalists fear that an opening of the ANWR could provide a precedent for the withdrawal of the status of other nature reserves in the interests of the raw materials industry.