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April 2000 | Intag | By Carlos Zorrilla
Requesting Urgent Action To Pressure Ecuadorian Officials
Not To Make Public the Mineralogical Information from Protected
Areas
Print and fax the
following letter to
Fax: (011) 593 2 565 809
or Email: rrendon@pi.pro.ec
(note: faxes are much more efficient)
As most of you know, DECOIN (Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica
de Intag) has been fighting for the past 5 1/2 years to stop
the development of mining in the native forests of the Intag
area of NW Ecuador - part of one of the world's Biodiversity
Hotspots.
Our latest efforts have focused on stopping the release
of mineralogical information gathered in protected areas in
Western Ecuador as part of a World Bank financed mining project,
called Prodeminca (Mining Development and Environmental Control
Project). Among the areas the project prospected for minerals
in was the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve - one of the
world's most biodiverse protected areas.
The fundamental objective of the project is to promote and
support the development of Ecuador's mining industry - especially
in Western Ecuador. This is to be accomplished by, mainly,
1) "Modernizing" Ecuador's mining and environmental legislation
to make it more attractive to foreign investors, and
2) by creating and disseminating a series of maps containing
mineralogical information indicating the likely location of
precious minerals (including, platinum, gold, silver, copper,
cadmium, molybdenum and 29 other elements).
In early April of this year, the World Bank's Inspection
Panel came to Ecuador to investigate the claim DECOIN had
filed against the Prodeminca project. This claim is the first
one ever filed against a World Bank financed project in Ecuador,
and only the fourth one originating in S. America. Briefly,
the Inspection Panel is a (supposedly) independent entity
created by the World Bank to investigate projects financed
by the Bank that could cause harm to communities or which
have seriously violated World Bank policies.
At this time, Inspection Panel members are deliberating
on their visit to Ecuador (which included meetings with government
officials and Decoin, and visits to the Intag area), and we
are not sure of the result or the recommendations their report
may contain regarding our claim. We contend that making this
information public will very likely promote mining activities
in the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve and other protected
areas in Western Ecuador and will impact our communities and
dozens of species facing extinction. Their report is due at
the end of April or early May of this year. (During the Inspection,
we also denounced a series of grave World Bank policy violations,
and Ecuadorian laws)
However, the new Minister of the Environment, Mr. Rodolfo
Rendon Blacio, recently met with representatives of environmental
ngo's in Ecuador and stated his determination to make the
information available to the public (some of the information
for southern Ecuador is now on sale). Mr. Rendon contends
that the persons or corporations purchasing the mineralogical
information will be made to sign a document wherein they agree
not to mine in protected areas. However, we are not aware
of a single measure undertaken by the government that has
successfully prevented or stopped small miners from invading
or abandoning areas harboring precious metals. Indeed, this
is the case right now in the Podocarpus National Park, a protected
area invaded by small miners for the past 11 years. Furthermore,
if mining is not allowed in these areas, then why publish
information that was gathered with that specific goal in mind?
We at Decoin feel that this could be the very first test case
to eventually open up all protected areas to mineral extraction.
In order to try and save the biodiverse Cotacachi-Cayapas
Ecological Reserve, conserve some of the last Western Ecuadorian
forests, and help keep our communities free of mining, we
are asking for your help to pressure the Minister of the Environment
not to make public this information.
Please send
a fax expressing your concern or outrage of the government's
intention of releasing this potentially devastating information
to:
Mr. Rodolfo Rendon Blacio
Minister of the Environment
Ministry of the Environment
Quito, Ecuador
Print and fax the
following letter to
Fax: (011) 593 2 565 809
or Email: rrendon@pi.pro.ec
(note: faxes are much more efficient)
Decoin request that you also send us a copy of your letter
to: decoin@hoy.net
Please feel free to get in touch with us for more information,
or review the other information available on www.decoin.org.
We hope that you can distribute this letter to as many people
and organizations as possible.
Thank You
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