Ecuador Stops Petrobras's Oil Road Into Biodiversity Treasure

[bemildred]

QUITO, Ecuador, September 8, 2005 (ENS) - Under heavy pressure from conservation groups and the indigenous Huaorani, the Ecuadorian Environment Ministry has temporarily stopped the Brazilian national oil company Petrobras from building an access road into Yasuni National Park and Biosphere Reserve, located in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Ecuadorian and international conservation groups and scientists have been fighting the oil development project for well over a year. They claim the access road and oil infrastructure and activities would significantly and irreversibly impact one of the most biodiverse rainforest regions on Earth.

The 1.7 million acre Yasuni National Park in Napo province is located both in the western Amazon near the Andes mountains and near the Equator, a combination that makes it one of the most biodiverse parts of the already incredibly biodiverse Amazon region.

Adding to this opposition, the Huaorani, who are the indigenous peoples of the Yasuni region, have been mounting an intensifying campaign against the Petrobras development.

ENS