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March 2002 | Intag | By Carlos Zorrilla
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.
I. DIRECT CONSERVATION
a) Community Ecological Reserves: Our policy and personal
belief is that, in countries like Ecuador (and most of developing
countries), it is impossible to guarantee long term conservation
of natural areas without the participation of local communities.
So, we make it possible for communities to purchase forested
land for strict conservation purposes. Right now, the Junin
community has 1500 to 2000 hectares under ownership and management,
most of it primary, lightly altered primary, some secondary,
cloud forests. The area is right in the middle of the proposed
Mitsubishi Copper mine. The forest is part of the ecological
tourism project, which we funded. Where the community is now,
and had the mining project been allowed to take place, a 200
hectare tailings pond was planned, filled with arsenic, lead,
copper, chromium, cadmium and other toxic material.
In February of 2002 we helped a local young adult group
purchase a 120-hectare forest in the community of Santa Rosa
for conservation and sustainable economic activity projects
(such as eco tourism) The group's main objective is conservation,
and sustainable projects. They have been grouped as Volunteer
Park rangers since 1993.
Loma Grande is another of the communities managing their
own 200 hectare ecological reserve in the Cuellaje area. The
project is ongoing and expected to last several more years.
II. WATERSHED RESERVES
So far, nine community watershed reserves have been created
in Intag by Decoin. Again, they are owned by and managed by
the community. Decoin will help develop management plans for
these very special smaller reserves, whose may objective is
conservation of quantity and quality of water, plus the biological
diversity extant in them. They range from a few hectares,
to 40. Besides creating genetic banks for native plant and
animal species and guaranteeing the communities safe water,
one of the main objectives is to concretely show the communities
the value of conservation. Where reforestation is to take
place, native species are used.
III. MINING
Decoin led the resistance to the Mitsubishi mining project
in. By closely working with communities, and networking with
national and overseas nog's, Mitsubishi and the government
of Ecuador withdrew from the plans to develop a huge copper
mine in the Junin area, in May of 1997 (see our web page for
more details, also search the web under "Decoin and Mitsubishi")
Besides working closely with the communities, Decoin created
a significant volume of information on the real impacts of
mining, including the book, "Es un Monstruo Grande que Pisa
Fuerte" (It's a Big Monster that Stomps Strongly", and the
booklet, The 7 Myths of Mining, which was distributed to all
the congress persons. The struggle against Mitsubishi also
led us to create the community ecological tourism project
(see below) in Junin.
World Bank Claim: In December 1999 DECOIN filed the first
ever claim against a World Bank project from Ecuador. The
Bank-financed Prodeminca project sought to promote an increase
in mining activity and investment in Ecuador by mainly, 1)
producing information useful to the mining companies from
3.6 million hectares of Western Ecuador, and, 2) by modifying
existing mining legislation in order to make Ecuador more
"attractive" to mining companies. In fact, the project produced
mineralogical information from 7 national protected areas,
and dozens of private ones, and severely weakened environmental
legislation. Our claim was fully investigated by the Inspection
Panel (one of the very few cases), and was successful in exposing
an impressive number of World Bank violations incurred by
Bank employees and officials from the start to finish of the
project. Currently, this information has been purchased by
6 multinational mining companies, including Rio Tinto Zinc
(UK), and Newmont Mining (USA), and has endangered the whole
system of protected areas in Ecuador, and indeed, all natural
areas.
Currently, DECOIN is taking part in the World Bank Extractive
Industry Review, a process created by ngo's which seeks to
pressure the World Bank to stop all financing of the extractive
industries (gas, oil and mining) projects worldwide.
Manduriacu Gold Mine: Presently we are facing a very serious
potential gold mine in the Manduriacu region of our County.
The site of the mine is owned by a Ecuadorian company, many
whose members are ex RIO TINTO ZINC employees that took over
the project when RTZ abandoned the site. To help stop the
mine, we helped found the Frente de Defensa de la Vida (Front
for the Defense of Life) in the mine's immediate area, and
are the group's main source of funding and support. The members
of the group are from the immediate area of the proposed mine.
We also helped organize and finance two field trips (so far)
to areas devastated by mining, in which 60 members from different
communities saw some of the impacts of mining. They also traveled
to where communities are successfully working together in
sustainable economic activities. We will continue to work
closely with the Frente in ways to strengthen them and garner
more support from local inhabitants to oppose the mine. Additionally,
Decoin is also looking into legal measures to stop the mine
from opening.
IV. ECONOMIC/SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVES
a) We created the Organic Coffee project, now independent
of Decoin , as the Association of Small Coffee Growers "Rio
Intag". Presently there are over 300 members belonging to
the association that incorporate strong environmental objectives
in its by laws, which we took part in creating. The coffee
is shade grown, organic, and is being sold in the fair trade
market in Japan, and nationally.
b) Ecological Tourism> We helped create the first community
ecological tourism site in Intag, as a alternative to extractive
industry, such as mining (see above). The lodge was finished
in July of 2002, and has received several groups. The business
is wholly managed by 35 members of the community with some
of the profit going to a special community development fund.
Additionally, project members also help manage a 1500 hectare
reserve (3800 acres) that we also helped them acquire).
V. WOMEN'S GROUPS
We support 2 women's groups engaged in clean handicraft production
made from local fibers, and using natural dyes.
To strengthen these group involved in conservation activities,
we are in the process of establishing contacts with indigenous
groups in Ecuador's Amazon region that are themselves involved
in stopping petroleum companies from entering their territories.
The first two members of Junin travelled to the Amazon early
March 2002.
VI. MISCELLANEOUS
Environmental Education. Though limited by lack of funding,
our environmental education programs are focused on making
people aware of the importance of conserving Intag's natural
resources, and specially it's unequalled biological diversity.
To this end, in the past we have organized and funded grade
school writing and painting contests on ecological themes.
We also have created posters on bird conservation, and correct
land use. For 2002, we have decided to substantially increase
our work in this field.
VII. ECOLOGICAL COUNTY
Decoin was directly responsible for our county being declared
the first Ecological County in Latin America, in September
2000. This measure, which is backed by a legally binding Municipal
Ecological Ordinance and which affects all of the 1800 square
kilometers of Cotacachi County, seeks to re orient development
in the county by backing real sustainable activities (organic
farming, clean industries, ecological, rural, and community
tourism, etc.), that benefit communities and the environment,
and not industry. It makes the conservation of native forests
a priority. In addition, the Ordinance also prohibits environmental
destructive activities, such as mining and industrial logging,
and imposes strict environmental controls on the flower industry.
It encourages a change in attitude towards the environment,
through social and economic incentives, and institutionalizes
recycling, among many other measures. One of the main objectives
of the ordinance is the creation of a model of sustainable
development for Latin America, one in which communities are
empowered to conserve their natural resources, and use them
wisely.
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