| DECOIN
Weblog
For our most current updates, please read the DECOIN weblog available on
the
homepage.
Brief
History on the Presence of Mining Companies in
Junín
Ecuador and the Current Threat of Ascendant Exploration
June 22, 2004
In May 2004 we learned that Ascendant Exploration is claiming to hold a mining
concession in Junin that they intend to sell to foreign investors. During
the past 7 years, local opposition to mining has dramatically increased and
Ascendant is doing everything possible to destroy that opposition and create
a false impression that local communities favor the mine. Please read the
history of mining in Junin to learn more about our current struggle against
Ascendant. More...
Update
on Junin: Yet Another Travesty of Justice, and What You
Can do About It
12 January 2004
On December 23, 2003 Ecuador's Constitutional Tribunal
ruled 5 to 4 against a measure that sought to protect the
community's constitutional rights to be consulted over projects
that might impact their social or natural environment. In
order to improve the odds of Intag's communities and Cotacachi
County standing up to an inherently unjust legal system and
powerful interests, DECOIN has established the Intag Solidarity
Fund. The Fund's main objectives will be resisting mining
activities by funding further legal work, extending our environmental
awareness programs, and supporting and creating new economically
sustainable initiatives. More...
DECOIN
Update
9 December 2003
A few weeks ago DECOIN organized a trip to the Constitutional
Tribunal to let the 3-judge lower Constitutional Tribunal
court know our opposition to mining in Intag, as our
mayor
and lawyer was presenting more proofs of our opposition,
and strengthening our case. Though we only had
one day to organize the trip, we were able to get with
30 folks from
Intag , including a local afro-Ecuadorian dance group,
that danced outside the Court's doors, as the rest of
our us were
making sure the judges, who were 5 floors up on the building,
heard our protests (they did). More...
Take
Action Now!
13 October 2003
DECOIN is asking your support in helping save one of the world's
great biological jewels and set a legal precedent that would
help communities and local government permanently protect
their natural resources and communities from the blight that
is industrial mining. More...
Anti-Mining
Campaign Update
23 April 2003 |
en español
Despite pro-mining forces doing their utmost to threaten and
intimidate DECOIN and other ecological groups in the Junin
community, work continues to prevent the sale of the Junin
Mining consession and promote eco-friendly businesses and
tourism in the area. More...
DECOIN's
Current Work
23 April 2003 |
en español
DECOIN elects a new Board, is helping local communities raise
funds to purchase watersheds, assisting women's groups to
develop and sell eco-friendly products, and is working toward
opening a store in Otavalo to promote products and services
from Intag and the rest of Cotacachi County. More...
Watershed
and Biodiversity Conservation in Intag
19 March 2003
Bit by bit, hectare by hectare, we are helping to protect
community water and biodiversity resources in the degraded
hills, and formerly forested landscape of the Intag region
of Norhtwestern Ecuador. The work is not easy, but it is satisfying.
The scale is small, some will say minute, but the impact is
nothing short of amazing. More...
Next you read
the New York Times...
November 2002
Please review the many inaccuracies, falsities, 'excluded'
information reported or not reported, and the obvious slant
of the article "Ecotourism Is All Very Well, but $3 a Day
Isn't"which appeared in the New York Times on November
13, 2002: More...
Illegal Auction
of the Junin Mining Concession
August 2002
On August 15th the Junin mining concession in the Intag region
of northwest Ecuador was auctioned off by the Ministry of
Energy and Mines to a private individual, who offered $18,005.00
for 7,000 hectares of some of the most biodiverse forest in
the world. This individual was the only one to show up for
the auction and to make an offer. Not a single mining company
made offers. This was only one of the irregularities connected
with the auction. The auction was not made publicly known,
and not a single community or local government was made aware
of the government's plans. More...
DECOIN Projects
Update
March 2002
DECOIN was founded in January 1995 as a grass-roots environmental
organization to find ways to conserve the unique biodiversity
in the Intag area of northwestern Ecuador. The area is part
of two of the world's most important biotic regions, the Tropical
Andes, and the Choc—-Darien Western-Ecuadorian Biological
Hotpots. The area of influence of our work encompasses several
life zones, including tropical rain forests, and cloud forests.
Compra
de Selvas en el Ecuador
27 February 2002
Por Klaus Schenck, Agosto del 2000. Desde hace años apoya
"Rettet den Regenwald e.V." (RdR) a los conservacionistas
ambientales de "Defensa y Conservación Ecológica
del Intag" (DECOIN) en el Ecuador, en contra de compañías
mineras internacionales. La compra de bosques en Intag ha
resultado un éxito. El accionista de RdR Klaus Schenck
visitó las comunidades de Intag en Agosto del 2000.
More...
Mining:
The New Threat to Biodiversity in the Andes
17 December 2001
Andean Biodiversity has not fared well in the presence
of man. It has fared even worse in recent history, as the
onslaught of so called "progress" of modern society and its
multifaceted aspects of development, reached ever deeper into
the pockets of diversity. The Andean tropical montane forests
found on the outer flanks of the Andes, has, by in large,
retained important areas of its forests intact. Now, industrial
mining, backed by such players as the World Bank and other
international "development" organizations, are threatening
to push into these remaining jewels of biodiversity.
Carlos Zorrilla
denouncing World Bank mining project PRODEMINCA
7 September 2001
The World Bank mining project PRODEMINCA poses an immediate
threat to Ecuador's forests - one of the most bio diverse
areas in the world. DECOIN asks for your support in stopping
this project. Please view the video to learn more. Quicktime
4 is required.
Inspection
Panel Report Discovers Major Violations of World Bank Policies
in the Prodemenica Mining Project
22 June 2001
Decoin initiated a claim in December of 1999 against the Prodeminca
mining project because one of its primary objectives was to
promote mining in Ecuador. We felt the project would threatened
our livelyhood, the local agricultural based economy, and
the environment. Furthermore, we felt the project violated
World Bank policy by gathering mining information in protected
areas. The project collected geochemical data from 36,000
square kilometers of Western Ecuador, INCLUDING 7 national
protected areas (National Parks, Wilderness Areas), and DOZENS
of private and public legal forest reserves. In several cases,
the sample collecting was done illegally, without the consent
of the land owners.
DECOIN Projects
Update
December 2000
Updates on the Prodeminca Campaign and the World Bank, Community
Forest and Watershed Reserves and more.
DECOIN Projects
Update
November 2000
Updates on the Prodeminca Campaign and the World Bank, Community
Forest and Watershed Reserves and more.
The Agony
of the Ecuadorian Choco
28 April 2000
The Choco is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet.
Of the original forest extension, estimated at 80,000 square
kilometers, only 6 percent is left
Letter
Writing Campaign: Protected Areas in Ecuador Imperiled by
World Bank Project
April 2000
Protected Areas in Ecuador Imperiled by World Bank Project
- Requesting assistance for a Letter Writing Campaign
World Bank Update
18 February 2000
DECOIN's claim against the World Bank prospecting project
in the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve was judged to
be valid!! They will be traveling to the Intag to investigate
in person.
Mitsubishi
Update: The Struggle to Save Intag's Forests And Communities
from Mitsubishi
12 February 2000
The Struggle to Save Intag's Forests And Communities from
Mitsubishi
World
Bank Update
14 December 1999
An update on DECOIN's campaign to try to stop the World Bank-financed
prospecting project in the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve.
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