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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... 1999
Releases
The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| FEBRUARY
1, 1999 10:30 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Rainforest Action Network Mark Westlund: ranmedia@ran.org Shannon Wright: amazonia@ran.org 415/398-4404 |
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| Ecuador Declares Two Sensitive Rainforest Parks Off Limits To Oil Drilling; Environmental Victory In The Oriente: Nearly 3-Million Acres To Be Protected | ||||
| "By protecting the rainforests of the Cuyabeno-Imuya and Yasuni
national parks, Ecuador is investing in its long-term economic and social
well-being. Rather than sacrificing the forests to make short-term profit for a
few multinational oil companies, these rich ecosystems will continue to provide
for Ecuador as a whole and the local indigenous peoples in perpetuity. This is
important move will need to be followed by the protection of all threatened
Amazonian lands and increased investments in the country's many renewable energy
options." -- Shannon Wright, Clean Energy Campaign Director SAN FRANCISCO - February 1 - Rainforest activists in Ecuador and the United States shared a taste of victory today after Ecuador's president Jamil Mahuad issued a decree blocking planned and future oil exploration, mining, logging and colonization in the Cuyabeno-Imuya and Yasuni national parks. Together, the parks total 2.7 million acres, an area twice the size of the state of Delaware. "If the Cuyabeno-Imuya and Yasuni national parks are indeed protected from commercial and colonial development," added RAN's Shannon Wright, "Ecuador will establish itself as the regional leader in protecting the Amazon basin." The two parks, located near each other, are near Ecuador's borders with Peru and Colombia. They contain a vast system of environmentally sensitive rivers and lakes and provide a home for some of the world's most endangered plants and animals. The two parks are the ancestral homeland of 10,000 indigenous peoples, including the Huaorani, many of whom who have steadfastly resisted outside contact. This degree also protects the homelands of the nomadic Tagaeri and Taromenare peoples from any future oil development. The parks will remain open to ecotourism. Rainforest Action Network calls for an end to new fossil fuel exploration, beginning with projects slated for fragile ecosystems, wherever the local community objects, and in areas where isolated, traditional indigenous people live. Also, RAN's campaign calls on the international community - particularly financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund - to recognize the ecological debt owed by the North to the South, and to directly support renewable energy technologies in developing countries such as Ecuador. ### |
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