OILWATCH LATIN AMERICA’S STATEMENT
Within the framework of the First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels and the Conference for Fossil-Free Territories
Santa Marta, Colombia, April 24–29, 2026
THE ERA OF THE OIL CIVILIZATION MUST END
We arrived in Santa Marta with our memories alive. With wounded rivers, with territories that resist, with peoples who refuse to surrender. We arrived with the certainty that the era of the oil civilization must end.
We welcome this Conference as an attempt to open other paths to address the climate crisis and as a space where communities in struggle and social organizations will participate, adding their voices and knowledge. But we also want to state clearly that it is not enough to talk about “energy transition”. We need to take decisive and immediate steps for a profound change in this civilizational model based on the predation of life. We need to expand the spaces in which the people is who change the course of history. There is a huge risk that the energy transition will be captured by corporate powers, reducing it to a change or addition of energy sources, reproducing the extractive and mass-consumption model, and deepening historical inequalities.
For decades, the people of the Global South were told that oil was our destiny; that without it, there was no future. Our societies were lured with promises of progress and development fueled by the oil rent. But that promise was a trap; it never materialized, and this is palpable in oil-producing regions and in the majority of the oil-exporting countries.
The so-called “resource curse” is not an inevitable phenomenon, but rather the result of political decisions that have perpetuated dependency and limited the possibilities for building alternatives. The oil illusion has served to sustain the accumulation of wealth by a few, at the expense of many and everything else. Our dependency is not natural; it is political. And breaking free from it is not merely a technical option, but an act of dignity.
Turning the page on the oil era is not a metaphor; it is an ethical, climate, and post-civilizational imperative. It means acknowledging that, in less than two centuries, oil dependency has contaminated every aspect of life and left a profound mark of devastation, dispossession and inequality across territories, throughout the entire oil metabolism chain. This debt to life demands truth, justice and comprehensive reparations, which entails recognizing the permanent damage, contextualized plans for each territory, contributions to productive diversification, ecosystem restoration and a perspective of environmental and labor justice.
However, instead of a de-escalation, we are currently witnessing the reckless expansion of hydrocarbon production and consumption, and a constant advance of extreme energy sources, which we at Oilwatch have denounced for years. These include the Pre-sal deposits in Brazil, fracking in Argentina and Mexico, heavy and extra-heavy oil in the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela, oil exploitation in the Amazon, and the expansion of offshore projects, all of which generate impacts throughout the region. This expansion goes hand in hand with new exploration projects, new permits, and environmental deregulation. We see increasingly severe and frequent consequences: droughts, floods, fires, and displacements. Life itself pays the price.
This expansion would not be possible without the support of financial systems that continue to subsidize and ensure the operation of the fossil fuel industry, deepening an ecological and climate debt that falls on the peoples of the Global South.
After 30 COPs, after 30 years, these are the results, the product of partial measures and false solutions that do not address the root of the problem, are not legally binding, and do not truly involve the voices of the people. These results point to an exhausted model and the urgent need to propose new strategies for action.
To top it all off, we see how military aggressions and wars are increasing and intensifying throughout the world—as has recently occurred in Venezuela and Iran—along with new forms of colonialism, where control of fossil fuels continues to be a driving force behind violence, domination and geopolitical reshaping. These are not isolated incidents: fossil fuels have historically been at the heart of armed conflicts, territorial disputes and interventions.
OUR PRIORITY PROPOSALS AND DEMANDS
Within the framework of this Conference, and given the scenarios presented, Oilwatch Latin America expresses the following priority proposals and demands:
- The transition away from fossil fuels cannot be limited to a change in energy sources, but must be addressed from a structural perspective that transforms the existing economic, social, political and energy foundations. A transition must be just, ecological, and social, based on equity and the effective and leading participation of workers, Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, women’s organizations, and local communities. It must recognize and strengthen the role of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and peasant territories as fundamental to the protection of life and ecosystems.
- An urgent discussion must be raised that addresses the questions: Energy for what? For whom? This discussion must begin by questioning the logic of consumer societies and the imperatives of endless growth within profoundly unequal systems.
- We demand the immediate end to direct and indirect (or hidden) subsidies to hydrocarbon companies, tax exemptions, special customs and exchange regimes, public financing and insurance for fossil fuel projects and the redirection of these resources toward socio-ecological transitions that are just and territorially grounded.
- We warn of the risk of reproducing extractive and colonial practices under the guise of so-called “clean energy” and false solutions when these are imposed without the free, prior and informed consent of communities.
- For decades, Oilwatch has advocated keeping fossil fuels underground as a political obligation and a fundamental condition for climate stability and environmental justice. An immediate moratorium on new hydrocarbon exploration and extraction activities is also required. Furthermore, it is necessary to advance and strengthen the gradual dismantling of existing infrastructure, with fiscal guarantees, monitoring mechanisms and accountability assumed by companies.
- We recognize, value and highlight the many initiatives emerging from territories that are transitioning toward a post-fossil world. The moratorium on oil exploration in Costa Rica, the democratic decision to keep the oil underground in Yasuní National Park in Ecuador, the fight to legalize the fracking ban in Colombia, Oilwatch’s “Annex 0” proposal that brings together initiatives already leaving oil underground, as well as the various social resistance movements confronting hydrocarbon expansion in Latin America and other regions of the world, constitute concrete examples for moving toward post-extractivist models. We call for “Yasunizing” the world, for multiplying these courageous decisions that prioritize life over profit.
- Energy sovereignty models based on community control, decentralization and respect for territories must be promoted.
- Human rights and the rights of nature must be respected, and climate justice mechanisms must be implemented that include comprehensive reparations for territories affected by extractive activities. Human rights and environmental defenders must be protected from increasing criminalization and violence. We reject the militarization of energy-rich territories and we demand the de-escalation of conflicts linked to the control of fossil resources.
- We emphasize the importance of strengthening international initiatives aimed at the progressive elimination of fossil fuels, which engage with proposals such as the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, and which move towards binding commitments that guarantee an effective reduction in the supply and demand of these resources.
- We demand that countries of the Global North and emerging powers assume their historical responsibility through accelerated reduction, just closure and decommissioning plans, among other actions. Transition initiatives cannot involve increasing pressure for the extraction of critical minerals and the expansion of the hydrocarbon frontier in the Global South. These countries must also contribute to financing the transition in our countries, supporting restoration processes, recognition of perpetual damages, economic diversification and alternative employment opportunities for territories dependent on fossil fuel extraction, while also acknowledging the cancellation of climate debt.
- Finally, we urge the participating states and the international community to ensure that the Santa Marta Conference goes beyond declarations of intent and translates into concrete actions, with defined deadlines, monitoring mechanisms and accountability.
The Oilwatch International Network reiterates, after 30 years of our existence, its commitment to continue supporting frontline communities and contributing to building a shared future based on justice, equity and respect for life in all its forms.
