La Hora Ecuador

Quito - Jueves, May 26, 2005

National

Amazon. They Are Damaging the Waters and the Forests

Huaroanis Appeal for Protection in the United States

WASHINGTON, AFP

This week, representatives from the indigenous Huaorani community made an appeal to members of the U.S. Congress, and officials of the IMF and UN for a moratorium on oil extraction in the Ecuadorian Amazon, particularly in Yasuni National Park, which has the greatest biodiversity on the planet.

With their crowns of colored feathers, and noisy necklaces of large seeds, the indigenous people, Alicia Cahuiya, 32, and Moi Enomenga, 38, visited Washington, DC and New York City this week to try to find a solution to the deforestation and contamination which threatens their ancestral lands.

When they came, the oil companies and loggers did damage to the waters and the forest. Our food is contaminated and our children have become sick. The companies steal our natural resources and leave us poor." Cahuiya said to the AFP.

The Road, a Threat

The Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation, the largest organization of scientists that conducts research on tropical areas, as well as various scientists of the Smithsonian Institute, are also opposed to the construction of the Petrobras road.

"The road is a very serious threat to the ecological viability of Yasuni. What is the purpose of establishing a protected area if it can continue to be violated through the construction of highways through its area?" stated scientist William Laurance, a president and member of the aforementioned Smithsonian Institute.

Forest

High Biodiversity

Yasuni is the largest national park in Ecuador and contains some of the highest recorded levels of biodiversity in the world in terms of trees, amphibians, birds, insects, and other animals.

Scarlet Macaws, Ocelots, Yellow Bellied and Spider Monkeys, Blue-headed Parrots, Amazonian Tapirs, and Giant Otters are among the endangered species that make their home in Yasuni.

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