Los Cedros Under Threat – Film

Friends, the Los Cedros Biological Reserve is under serious threat.

The Rainforest Information Centre, with funding from the Australian Government’s development assistance bureau, helped establish the Los Cedros Biological Reservein Ecuador in 1988. We have continued to support reserve director Jose Decoux throughout the intervening 30 years, and as a result, Los Cedros is the last remaining well-forested watershed in Western Ecuador.

The Ecuadorean government has secretly signed a mining agreement covering Los Cedros and other “protected” areas with the Canadian company “Cornerstone Capital Resources inc”, a large speculative fund which doesn´t do any mining itself but employs local small time operators until the big sell off to some real mining company.

This agreement is under the “Office of Strategic Sectors” and this means no appeal is possible nor effective oversight. This office is under tight observation for the discovery of large scale theft and bribes being paid with key management people either in jail or fled the country. The people who denounced this corruption are also in jail or living underground.

Longtime director of Los Cedros Biological Reserve, Jose Decoux writes: “The mining company has made contact with me and on advice from the lawyer I have to meet with them or face administrative sanctions. Read: expulsion from the reserve without compensation.“ The first company representative visited Los Cedros last week.

Many of the international scientists who have worked at Los Cedros have signed a letter attesting to the irreplaceable scientific value of this, the last well-forested watershed in Western Ecuador.

You can support this fight by signing the petitition here: https://rainforestinfo.nationbuilder.com/save_los_cedros

Please write letters of protest to Cornerstone – email – [email protected] with cc to Catherine McKenna – email – [email protected], Canada’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change

Funds are sorely needed for legal assistance and to continue the work of bringing this to the attention of the Ecuadorean public.

The Rainforest Information has started the ball rolling with $1000 and Professor Bitty Roy from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon has sent US$1500 while Rainforest Rescue in Germany has added 3000 euros, please donate generously and help us reach our $10,000 target.

Please donate here