Johis Alarcón

Photographer
    
Public Eyes: Lighters
Location: Ecuador
Nationality: Ecuadorian
Biography: Johanna Alarcón (1992) is a freelance photojournalist and visual storyteller based in Ecuador. Johanna´s work is focused on social justice, human rights, and gender related issues. She is a National Geographic Explorer and member of... MORE
Public Story
Public Eyes: Lighters
Copyright Johis Alarcón 2024
Updated Sep 2021
Topics Documentary, Journalism, NGO, Photography, Photojournalism, Wildlife

Oil gas burners in Amazon 


There are 447 "mecheros" that burn or release the gas associated with oil working day and night in the regions of the Ecuadorian Amazon, its inhabitants know them as "the mecheros of death". The highest cancer rates on the American continent are found in the areas where they are located. The oil appears in bags underground which, when extracted, release the gas associated with the crude. This gas can be used, as is done in other countries, to produce energy. However, the Ecuadorian government allows oil companies to burn or vent it in these lighters with devastating consequences for the environment and the communities living in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
For Panos Pictures - Public Eyes 
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