It's unbelievable!
Tambopata - Perú
Tambopata - PerúIt's been over a month since I first heard of this. It all began as a rumour of a project of law in Peru to reduce the size of the National Park Bahuaja Sonene, and it's heart Candamo, to let oil companies search for the black gold.
After some more reading I found out that it wasn't only a rumour, if they pass this law, the park will be reduced in 209,000 hectares! The Agriculture Ministry let former INRENA excecutive Luis Alfaro go because he wouldn't accept the proposal.
Madre de Dios is the peruvian region where Tambopata and Bahuaja Sonene are located, and as I found out, there are 615 listed birds in that area alone!
Ecotourists arrive to Madre de Dios every year to view the incredible spectacles of hundreds of parrots and macaws at clay licks. This is also one of the last strongholds of the world's largest otter (the Giant otter), jaguars, and other large wildlife.
I really recommend reading more about the subject on oil companies and conservation, like the info on Oil Crisis, and more specifically on these parks at sites like Amazon Watch or Park's Watch 2002 report to have an idea of what is this all about.
I tried to learn more about it and to find info on the other side of the coin, but it wasn't easy. I only found a few articles on the news mentioning president Alan Garcia's plans to overcome poverty on BBC News.
Please take your time to get informed and leave your mark in the world, personally I don't believe money (for just a few pockets) instead of life is a fair trade. I am not an expert, but I do care.
There are two sites that are currently collecting signatures to stop this project to become a law: Salvemos Candamo (with a section for foreign voters with more information on the laws, links to news, maps, etc) and on Care2 Petition Site.
4 comments:
If my memory is correct, I believe a decade ago or more, part of Candamo was recovered from oil companies to be added to the National Park, it sounds so stupid to take a step back and do it all over again.
Could you confirm if that's true?
On 1996, when the Ley to create the National Park was approved, it said that the size of the park was 537 053,25 ha, with land to be added from the non used territory from the agreements with PERUPETRO S.A. and the companies Mobil Exploration and Producing Perú, Inc., Elf Petroleum Perú B.V., and Esso Exploration and Production Perú Limited, increasing the size to what it is now: 1 091 416 ha.
I found a copy of the project of law, sorry, but it's in Spanish.
Hope it helps!
http://www.google.com.ar/search?q=ley+candamo&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:es-ES:official&client=firefox-a
Not surprisingly, this is not getting any coverage here in the U.S. Thnks for bringing it to my attention. I will try to help spread the word.
Thank you John! (as usual!)
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