It’s official: Latin America’s biggest shale reserve will never be fracked

The State Assembly of Paraná has banned fracking forever from its territory. It’s official!

Together with a community of volunteers, teachers, faith groups, farmers, politicians, and people engaged in the struggle to protect life and reject fossil fuels, we won! Paraná had previously passed a temporary ban on fracking, but now it’s gone for good.

This means:

• The biggest shale reserve in the Southern Hemisphere ever auctioned (roughly 3 times larger than Marcellus) will be kept in the ground.
• 12.5 million people in the state are safe from the direct impacts of fracking

This is the result of a campaign that started six years ago when COESUS (the Brazilian Coalition Against Fracking) was founded by local environmentalists. Today that campaign is national with 425 organizations and members. COESUS is managed by 350 and our partner Arayara and is proud to have contributed to the victory in Paraná.

The law, signed into force by the Governor after an almost unanimous legislative vote, makes the state a pioneer in the history of Brazil – protecting our waters, our health, our food and our ways of life. We chose to say yes to life and water and we hope other states  will also say no to fracking!

Continuing our campaign across Brazil is for tomorrow. Today we celebrate!