Amazon Rainforest Conservation Ecuador

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PROGRAM AREA: THE AMAZON RAIN FOREST

COUNTRY: ECUADOR, SOUTH AMERICA

REGION: ECUADORIAN AMAZON BASIN

THE CUYABENO INDIGENOUS TERRITORY AND FAUNA PRODUCTION RESERVE;
THE BUFFER ZONES OF THE RESERVE; AND
THE AGUARICO 3 REGION.

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

1.1 Biophysical characterisation of the Program area

Surface: 800,000 ha (approximately)

Life zone: Tropical Rain forest

Altitude: 180-300 Mts. above sea level

Temperature: 18/36 ¼C

Climate: Tropical humid

1.2 Flora

The Program area is principally Tropical Moist Forest. The Environmental Review (August, 1997) cites the Global Environment Fund estimate that a 2 square kilometre tract of lowland rainforest in the Cuyabeno and Aguarico region can harbour over 1,200 species of plants from 136 families. In total, botanists estimate that this region is the home to between 9,000 and 12,000 species of vascular plants, many of them endemic to the area. The forests in this area have species diversity higher than equivalent tropical forests in the rest of the world.

1.3 Fauna

Statistics drawn from GEF, 1994: Cabarle ET al, 1989: Kimerling 1991 and the WWF indicate that the Aguarico drainage basin is home to over 473 species of fish. This constitutes the highest species diversity of any equivalent drainage area in Ecuador, which may exceed that of any similar size basin in the world. 180 species of amphibians and reptiles have been registered. 493 species of birds are reported in the Cuyabeno Reserve, of which 31 bird species are endangered or vulnerable. Of these, 14 species are endemic.

In the Aguarico Region, 94 species of mammals have been identified including three species of opossum, one monkey and two spiny rats. Terry Erwin of the Smithsonian Institute calculates that each hectare of the program area contains over 41,000 species of insects (many endemic), of which Science knows only 5%. There are approximately 15 endangered species of mammals. In particular the giant armadillo, the giant anteater, the jaguar, the puma, the giant otter, the river otter, the manatee, the fresh water pink dolphin, possibly the black caiman and the harpy eagle.

2. Universal Importance

The UNESCO endorsed scientific study Ecosistemas de los Bosques cites statistics, which indicate that the highest percentage of the World's bio-diversity has been registered in this particular Reserve. This coincides with the World Bank and World Wildlife Fund conclusion that an analysis of the biological distinctiveness ratings of eco-regions by MHT, establishes that the Globally Outstanding Eco-regions are concentrated in the western portion of the Amazon and the Tropical Andes.

The Cuyabeno Indigenous Territory and Fauna Production Reserve and the Aguarico region are included in the eco-region No. 22. Namely, the Napo Moist Forests, which is categorised as being both Relatively Stable and Globally Outstanding, whereby the region comprising the Program area, acquires a "Highest Priority status" at a regional scale.

3. Threats to Bio-diversity:

The twentieth century development process in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rain Forest may be differentiated in three specific historical phases; i) the period prior to the discovery of important oil reserves within Texaco – Gulf five million acre concession (1967); ii) the oil boom between 1971-1980 - a period during which the national economy grew at an impressive annual rate of 9.1%; and, iii) the present period of economic decline (1981-present) during which population growth in Ecuador (2.8%) eclipsed economic growth (2.1%) and per capita income fell by 17% (from US$ 1,447 to US$ 977).

In turn, these three phases mark both quantitative and qualitative changes in the extension and composition of the Rain Forest, and subsequently also in the economic, political, social and cultural dynamic of . indigenous communities.

During this time span, the indigenous economies were transformed from traditional nomadic hunters and gatherers to what could be best described as mixture of partially nomadic and sedentary communities. Since 1972, these are loosely integrated into the market and dependent on monetary income to complement basic needs. In view of this process, the government of President Borja legalized, in 1992, communal reserves to accommodate and re-allocate the indigenous population.

In turn, the Rain Forest, which constitutes a mirror image of the socio-economic condition of the indigenous communities, is suffering the consequences of uncontrolled development. The present 4.1 percent annual rate of deforestation is an indicative "environmental protection thermometer" of the following forms of development:

3.1 Oil Exploration and Drilling

Judith Kimerling in "Amazon Crude" published by the National Resources Defense Council, establishes that petroleum production extends over approximately one million hectares, in which 300 active wells and 30 production stations are located. The oil (320,000 barrels per day) is transported through a pipeline, which extends over 498 kilometers. In addition, secondary pipelines cover 391 kilometers, while transfer lines and the gas pipe between Shushufindi and Quito, comprise an additional 106 and 305 kilometers respectively.

Based on the data we obtained while investigating the construction of the Maxus and City pipe lines in 1998, oil companies and their sub-contractors cut a thirty meter wide track within the Rain Forest to pass the pipe line. On the floor a "wooden bed" is laid down to facilitate connections, welding and access for heavy machinery. Each individual tree is segmented and when sunk, provides a 25 –30 centimeters horizontal base; an average of four trees are required per linear meter, whereby each kilometer of pipeline implies deforesting 4,000 trees. Consequently, the initial construction of the existing 802 kilometers of primary and secondary pipelines has utilized the astounding number of 3,208,000 trees. The impact on the bio-diversity is self-evident.

The statistics within the proposed project area are particularly alarming. Each hectare, according to the Profors Program (German Scientific co-operation with Ecuador), within the Cuyabeno Indigenous Territory and Fauna Reserve and its buffer zones, contains 243 species of trees; the highest number of species registered per hectare in the world to this date.

Gentry (in Balsev et al 1987), Palacios (1991) and ongoing FSVSF research confirms that each hectare in the area is comprised by between 167 to 1,947 trees with a DBH of less than 10 cms. and between 90-230 trees with a DBH greater than 10 cms. The secondary pipe lines – such as Lago Agrio – Tarapoa – Cuyabeno – deforest per hectare between 100 - 680 trees of a DBH of less than 10 cms. and between 90 – 230 trees with a DBH greater than 10 cms. Topographic studies tracing the pipeline fail to consider endemic and endangered tree species.

Exploratory oil perforation and seismic studies account for further deforestation. For example, the French company "Compagnie GŽnŽral de Geophysique" (CGG) and the US Firms "Geosource" and Seiscon Delta" open an average of 36 seismic tracks (3 meters wide) per concession of 200,000 hectares, which cover 1,200 kilometers. In the Arco concession, CGG cleared 1,176 hectares for seismic studies and perforation platforms.

Deforestation exemplifies the underlying contradiction in Ecuador that environmental standards largely continue to be dependent upon the working practices self-enforced by the oil companies. An Environmental review undertaken by Shell International Exploration and Production BV mentions numerous examples of bad practice. In particular "the routine release of production waters into watercourses; the dumping of production wastes into unlined oil pits which commonly overflow into nearby watercourses during heavy rains; and extremely poor monitoring and inadequate maintenance which has resulted in frequent spills from wells and pipelines".

Within the program area such practices are specially negative, in view of the fact that the Aguarico region is an important watershed and fresh water source. The Aguarico river is one of the principal tributaries forming the Amazon river basin which transports 18% of the fresh water which falls on the surface of the Globe. Researchers tested eight sources of river water in the project area, for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These substances cause cancer in humans, and levels ranging from 2 to 500 times the maximum level accepted by the United States Environment Protection Agency were found; ref. The New York Times, September 26th 1993.

Up to 1990, economic interests of the Ecuadorian State largely determined a "laissez faire" attitude towards the ecological impact which oil exploration in the Oriente. Oil and its derivatives accounted for 55 percent of state income, and represented an average of 60 percent of total exports between 1981-1990, 15% of the PIB. In 1996, Ecuador exported US 1,776 million in oil and oil products, representing 36 percent of total exports and contributing to over half of government revenue.

Optimistic state sources in 1990 estimated proven oil reserves in the province of Sucumbios between 900-1,000 million barrels, while modern techniques of injecting CO2 could plausibly recuperate an additional 500 million barrels. Nevertheless, and unless major new reserves are discovered, these would be depleted between the years 2,005-2010 given the present average rate of 200,000 barrels per day in the province. These statistics, provided by the Direcci—n Nacional de Hidrocarburos, coincide with Kimerling's updated research in which she concludes that between 1975-1992, Ecuador exported 1,500,000,000 barrels, the equivalent of total national reserves. At an average annual rate of 100 million barrels, which Ecuador is presently exporting, reserves would be exhausted, by 2005.

Furthermore the Ecuadorian economy continues to be vulnerable to foreign markets and price fluctuations, particularly as the country has adopted the policy of securing credits using oil as collateral, and in so doing is accumulating an enormous foreign debt. For example prior to the oil boom in 1970, the foreign debt was calculated at 217 million dollars. By 1990, this had increased to 12.4 thousand million dollars, and since 1989, the country has only been able to meet a third of the US 40 million monthly debt payments. Presently 20 percent of public expenditure covers interest payments on the foreign debt, while 22 cents per dollar exported services the debt itself.

The only "positive" impact, so to speak, which depleted reserves and economic crisis has had since 1995, is the closer scrutiny under which oil production is being placed. Ecuador's inability to protect the natural environment and to minimize adverse social impacts is increasingly being questioned by NGOs, indigenous communities, the tourism sector and by members of the scientific and political community. In particular, emphasis is being given to the concern that the nature of development in the Cuyabeno Indigenous Territory and Fauna Production Reserve and in the Aguarico region would appear to contradict government commitments ratified under international law. In particular concerning issues such as:

Recognizing that the lands of indigenous people should be protected from activities that are environmentally unsound;
Global climate changes;
Controls of gas emissions;
The protection of non fossil fuel carbon and zinc reserves.

Independently of the ecological contradictions inherent in oil development in Ecuador, a profound impact from oil production, has been the influx of colonists and the expansion of the agricultural frontier. This is stimulated by oil-company built roads, which gave access to previously inaccessible primary forests, and by the oil induced economic growth of the region.

Expansion of the Agricultural Frontier

Colonization of the province of Sucumbios and the expansion of the agricultural frontier follow the classical cause and effect pattern evident in similar processes in Ecuador and in Latin America. On the one hand, the concentration of land tenure, prolonged draughts, restrictive markets and limited access to credit, constitute the "push factor" for families who migrate principally from Loja, Bolivar, Pichincha and Manabi. On the other hand, and as the "pull factor", oil is considered to be a development pole capable of ensuring employment and income. Furthermore, secondary oil roads give access to lands which according to the Law of Colonization are considered to be "baldios"; lands without legal property titles.

Population growth between 1982-1990 reached an annual rate of 7.1%, from 43.894 to 75,476. This figure increased to 8.2% between 1991-1997, and the population is presently estimated at approximately 188,800, 40,491 Indigenous inhabitants and 148,409 colonists. The population growth rate is the highest in the country, six points above the 2.2 national average. Between 84% and 89.5% of the population is illiterate, while 26% is under eight years old and the economically active population reaches 49.4%. Of the EAP, 83.7% are male and 72.8% work as small farmers in the rural areas.

Land tenure in the Province is the following: the Cuyabeno Indigenous Territory and Fauna Reserve, 655,781 hectares of which 113,251 are illegally occupied; State forest reserves and buffer zones, 113,251 ha.; colonists with legal titles, 346,507 ha.; colonists without land titles, 330,015ha.; Indigenous communities, 215,388ha.; and 268, 427 ha. are still susceptible for colonization.

By early 1980, employment in the oil sector, especially for unskilled labor, was limited to the initial phases of clearing lands for pipelines, roads and oil wells. Once these phases were completed, oil exploration, extraction, transport and commercialization is capital intensive and automated, requiring minimal labor input. Consequently, agriculture became the principal alternative for the majority of colonists.

The GTZ (German technical assistance) and the Profors program classified agricultural land use potential into eight specific categories. Class type 3 and 4, approximately 400,000 hectares, are considered to be moderately suitable for agriculture; 40,000 hectares being qualified as regular with severe limitations. Class type 5, 76,000 hectares, is viable for cattle. The remaining categories, with a ten-centimetre topsoil, are suitable exclusively for the Rain Forest.

However, agriculture as conceived and implemented by the colonists and the state (Ministry of Agriculture, IERAC, Banco Nacional de Fomento) contradicts the mentioned natural limitations, and the specificity of the Amazon Rain Forest itself. Rain forests were cleared in accordance to the spirit of state policies. The IERAC awarded land titles on the condition that over 60% of the land was deforested, while the BNF extends credit if 75% of the land is prepared for planting. The Ministries of Agriculture and Social Welfare, implement rural development projects which introduced coffee and cocoa as cash crops, in combination with banana, maize and yuca destined for family subsistence consumption. In addition emphasis is given to cattle raising, which implies transforming the forest into pasturelands; the region is experiencing an annual 20% growth in cattle population, which is 16.7% higher than the national average.

To this day, monetary returns from agriculture fail to meet the economic expectations for the sector. The average size of family farms is 59.52 hectares; of which, and based on frequency statistics, 64.2% consists of forest, 14.8% is pasture lands, 5.8% in coffee, 3% for cocoa and 1.22% destined for subsistence crops. Yields for coffee harvests per hectare vary between 2.80 quintals for plantations under five years and 1.76 quintals for cultivations over 7 years; a provincial average of 2 quintals per harvest, maximum 3 times per year. Cocoa yields an average of 1.5 quintals, with the same 3 annual harvests. Based on 1998 prices in the principal commercial center of Lago Agrio, these cash crops provide a gross annual income for the family farms of US 464. In other words, US 38.7 per family per month, which is well bellow the World Bank poverty line of US 62. Family incomes are complemented by the occasional sale of cattle (average US 270 per year), maize and lumber. To satisfy the latter, family farms deforest an average of 2.3 hectares per year.

In conclusion, ever decreasing agrarian incomes largely determined by the incompatibility of specific agricultural produce with soil conditions questions the viability of pursuing such activities in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rain Forest. Furthermore, colonization has failed to alter the cycle of poverty in which the colonists were and are immersed.

Colonization and expansion of the agricultural frontier in the Tropical Rain Forest, may best be described as the social metamorphosis from one form of poverty to another, to be differentiated in form rather than in essence. The actual metamorphosis itself did, however, qualitatively change the Rain Forest and the indigenous communities. Statistics would suggest that up to 1998, small family farms have deforested 315,909 hectares of Primary Forest, which prior to 1964, constituted specially significant hunting and gathering grounds for the nomadic Amazon Indigenous population.

1) The Amazon Indigenous inhabitants & the impact of oil and agricultural development.

More than three million hectares, half of Ecuador's total territory, is covered by tropical rain forest. This area, commonly referred to as the Oriente, is home to an indigenous population, which is estimated to number between 85,000 and 250,000 inhabitants. In particular by the Achuar, Cofan, Huaorani, Quichua, Shuar, Shiwar, Secoya and Siona communities. The Cofanes, Secoyas and Sionas are predominant in the program area.

In view of the fact that these communities constitute one of the last vestiges of a nomadic rain forest culture, the United Nations has emphasized the obligation of the International Community to preserve their cultural identity. This particular obligation is also stipulated in the International Convention of Human Rights, signed and ratified by the Republic of Ecuador.

In economic theory, innumerable case studies may be cited as to the impact which extra economic means and external market forces has had on natural economies. In general, these were transformed and either absorbed or displaced, while their original socio-economic and political logic became a historical reality of the past.

The initial phases of this form of development have evidently expressed themselves in the area as of 1964. Prior to this date, the Cofanes, Secoias and Sionas were nomadic tribes, hunting and gathering for their subsistence within a geographic area that extended beyond the boundaries of Colombia and Peru. Organized in extended families, these communities followed seasonal migrations of wild life, constructing temporary shelters, until basic sources for subsistence consumption provided by the forest became scarce in that particular area, upon which they moved to another habitat. Abundance of food and low demographic density did not lead to the social organization and urban development of other rain forest cultures such as the Mayan and Cambodian.

The most significant impact of oil and the expansion of the agricultural frontier, is the drastic reduction in land. Internal boundaries produced by the privatization and concession of land interrupt the migration patterns fundamental to the rationale of the indigenous economies. In a period of 35 years, the original territory of these communities has been reduced from approximately 2 million to 215,388 hectares. Demographic density and increasing consumption in continuously reducing areas of rain forest, combined with pollution and water contamination, has been interrupting the delicate balance between supply and demand since 1970. In a period of five years, between 1970 and 1975, the formerly independent indigenous economy required a monetary income to complement subsistence needs.

Presently, the indigenous community combines hunting and gathering within the reserves, with agriculture, very similar to the colonist family farm; coffee, cocoa and cattle. FSVSF field research in three areas (Pisuri, Remolino Grande and Pueblo sin Nombre) of the mentioned communities, indicates that each family of eight cultivates 1.5 hectares of coffee, 0.5 hectares of cocoa, and one hectare mixing yuca, banana and herbal medicine plants. One to two heads of cattle and chicken are not uncommon. Again family size and number of hectares was established according to frequency, since both the extension of agricultural land and the amount of monetary income required, is directly related to the domestic cycle of each individual family.

The annual income of these family units, combining lumber and agriculture does not exceed US 248 or US 20.6 per month for a family of 8. The only exceptions can be found in those areas where incipient tourism provides additional income; pilot projects developed in conjunction with the Foundation's ecological reserve have been successful in securing an additional monthly income of US 220 per participating family.

Nevertheless, and unless alternative development strategies are adopted, the future of the indigenous communities, and their present conditions of poverty, appears to be rather similar to that of the small farmer colonists. Continued deforestation and expansion of the agricultural frontier, in conjunction to population growth (the indigenous inhabitants presently have a regional minority status on a 3 to 1 ratio) further deplete flora and fauna reserves. In this manner the indigenous communities are increasingly becoming dependent on the agricultural and the labor market for their subsistence.

Identified Principal Problems

Consequently, and in the form of a conclusion, the FSVSF sustains that:

The actual rate and trend of development in the Ecuadorian Amazon Tropical Rain Forest is seriously threatening the National Fauna Production Reserve and the buffer zones. Without planning, implementation and management of concrete sustainable development projects, the damage occurring in this region shall become, within a short and medium term, irreversible. Within this context, the following problems have been identified :

1) The development process, particularly oil exploration and drilling and the expansion of the agricultural frontier, are the principal threats to both the universally significant biodiversity of the region and the indigenous communities.

2) The indigenous communities, representing a natural economy (hunting and gathering) which is becoming increasingly dependent on the market, do not have the necessary financial and technical resources required to develop alternative income sources coherent with environment protection. The latter would reduce the pressure upon the bio-diversity and its resources in the zone.

PROJECTS

Benefits of FSVSF Projects for the World Environment

The benefits of FSVSF projects located in the buffer zones of the Cuyabeno Indigenous Territory and Fauna Production Reserve is an important step in preserving the Amazon Tropical Rain Forest for present and future generations. It is intended to:

Strengthen the role of indigenous people and their communities in implementing concrete sustainable development projects;
Emphasize the direct participation of the communities in the formulation and implementation of projects;
Protect and preserve universally significant bio-diversity in a particularly fragile eco-system;
Consolidate an indigenous economy by introducing a sustainable development model, the socio-economic and cultural parameters of which are compatible with the logic and internal dynamic of the Amazon indigenous communities as they exist today;
Finally, all projects correlate science with sustainable development, promotes environmental awareness and supports the building of national capacity for sustainable development. These issues form part of the global strategy emphasized by the United Nations Agreement on Biological Diversity.

BIO-DIVERSITY RESERVE

BACKGROUND SUMMARY

On November 27th 1990 and on April 4th 1991, the Military Geographical Institute and the Ministry of Agriculture decreed that the Foundation's Bio-diversity Reserve, would be officially incorporated in the Country's "National Parks and Equivalent Reserves System." This was largely determined by the Reserve's bio-diversity distinctiveness status, which is internationally recognized as being "Globally Outstanding. Officially, the reserve geographically located in the northern Aguarico 3 sector of the Ecuadorian Amazon, was declared "a Protected Area under Private Administration."

Between 1986-1991, FSVSF Executive President, Mariana Almeida, designed and constructed the singularly beautiful and spacious complex, harmoniously integrated into the Rain Forest, which houses the Foundation's Amazon Rain Forest Program Area. From within the Reserve and with the intention to nourish sustainable development in the Rain Forest, the Foundation is implementing the following projects:

EMERGENCY PROJECT; REF: FS-BER-001. (click and e-mail appears)

ACQUISITION, REFORESTATION AND PROTECTION OF AMAZON RAIN FOREST: