Los Cedros Newsletter
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Fundacíon Los Cedros Recognized by Ministry,
Fraudsters and Land Speculators convince many to Invade Reserve to cash in on unheard of offers from new mining company.
First of all let me apologize for the delay in getting any new information published on this site. There have been some unfortunate delays in getting access to the account with my usual lackadaisical approach to public access.
Having said that there has been a lot to keep people informed about. To start the new foundation has been recognized by the ministry of environment, which means we have legal status for managing the reserve. This also means we have to arrange for some office space to have an address that will allow us to get a tax registry number and then open a bank account. This process is under way with discussions taking place on the new address.
The new board of the reserve is comprised of some new community reps along side some people from CIBT. Here is a brief summary of this group.
Fabian Hernandez- Founder of the community eco tourism project Comite de Ecoturismo de Manduracos.
Jose Cueva- Commercial organic vegetable producer who also works in certification of organic produce. Jose also is an organizer of community participation in protected areas with the El Chontal protected forest and the Cambugan project.
Ximena Mina- Member of the ecotourism project and elected member of the Paroquial council here in our area.
Maritza Cifuentes- Secretarial/Administrative manager of CIBT who continues with this new organization in an administrative role well learned from Marta Mondragon.
Timoteo Metz- Founder of Restoration Forestry and member of directory of Ancient Forests International.
Jose DeCoux- Los Cedros organizer and resident.
We need some suggestions on where to look for support for this new organizational structure. The first task for the FLC will be to get the tax, bank affairs in order and the management plan updated and re-approved by the Ministry of Environment.
Land Speculation Threatens Reserve
I could start this new tale by stating that being a buffer area to national protected areas is becoming a tough job. There are so many factors involved that I hope to get them all in one short article.
In general the presence of international mining interests in Ecuador has been a disaster for the areas that interest these rapacious companies. With the new mining law that the World Bank imposed on Ecuador, that eliminated any percentage of product for the benefit of this country, that money has been employed to manipulate and divide the communities affected. Where elected governments have been opposed to this extractive industry, Mining companies have openly supported opposition parties during political campaigns. Where environmentalists have opposed mining projects they have been targeted for police harassment and intimidation. In all phases of project development money that should be paid to governments for mining privileges and obligations, these “investments” instead has been used undermine the local political process. In the case of Cotacachi, which has always been one of the poorest jurisdictions coupled with a recognized progressive participatory political process, this is an unjust situation. It is traditional in Ecuador’s politics that politicians receive payment from extractive industry and since this does not happen in this municipality these funds are employed to finance the opposition. Didn’t the World Bank have a campaign against corruption? Someone must have wolfed their witz.
When the mining companies lost the election they began to concentrate on the environmentalists and development agencies. A long campaign to deport any foreigners involved in conservation and debase local environmental organization DECOIN was instigated by both Ascendant Copper and a local gold mining company called Agroindustrial. Fortunately this was also unsuccessful but the groundwork was laid so that local communities began to ask why does not this conservation business give me a job.
Well I cannot answer that very well unless the public has an idea of what the long-range goals of conservation actually are. The public schools have done a very bad job of explaining this and actually still promote colonization as the answer to poverty.
The Ascendant Company began a process during their political interventions to finagle the purchase of land inside of their concession by any means necessary. This included offering large sums of money for anyone who could produce land title or something like it. Some corrupt topographers in league with some less than honest elements inside the Land Grant organization, INDA, began to invent owners who by perjuring themselves were able to produce the paper work for illegal title to be created and were paid by the company. I am sure that this arrangement benefited all.
Since this time these same corrupt people had been looking for a new area to benefit themselves with and unfortunately focused on this reserve. It is true that this reserve does not have a land title but this fact was manipulated to mean it did not have protected status either.
Now Lowell(US) mining company arrives on the scene and begins work with offering to purchase land that borders this reserve for 1.000$us a hectare. This price alone would have caused problems for conservation but combined with the presence of the veterans of the land grab in the Ascendant concession area it soon became a real problem.
The land grant agency is accustomed to making land grants of 100 hectares and so if you manage to get some land and sell it to Lowell you have the unbelievable opportunity to make 100.000$us. The temptation was too much for the poor who live in this area. Even people considered friends of the reserve signed up for the invasion of Los Cedros with the land speculators guaranteeing 100 hectares per person. Fistfights broke out between neighbors. Some one was assigned to get rid of me. And this operation was conducted in secret meetings that we had to infiltrate in order to find out what was going on.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the people who have showed unswerving resolve during this difficult time. First of all for financial support I have to thank the Rainforest Information Center, as always, Tim Metz for organizing rapid funding in this emergency and the Reserve Life Support fund run by Mika Peck. Not all the neighbors signed up to invade and notable was the support we received from Martin Obondo, Fausto Lomas, Marcelo Tufiño and Guillermo Farinago.
I want to thank the infiltrators who I will not name for their invaluable contribution of the information necessary to break up this criminal operation.
Today we are waiting for an investigation to be published by the Ministry of Environment, Ibarra, which was able to interview even some participants who confessed the names of the corrupt government and private individuals behind this operation.
Once published this investigation can be used to prosecute and this option will be perused. I would also like to thank the people from Mindo and Junin who provided human support during the dangerous phase of this emergency by their presence here in the reserve.
Especially I would like to thank our neighbor Julio Espinso for his unwavering commitment to protecting this reserve. His courageous presence was of invaluable help.
So that is it for now.
I will be back with the new blog to let you know about our price increases soon. Wages have to go up in this world.
José DeCoux
Director Ejecutivo
Fundacíon Los Cedros
posted by Jose 8:19 AM
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Changes @ Los Cedros
There is some good news and some bad so I guess we start with the bad.
It has become necessary to raise our prices in light of new organizational obligations and to compensate the staff for thier work. Since Ecuador renounced its own monitary system and adopted the dollar as its medium of exchange there has been a constant increase in the cost of living where it is considered that a basic income necessary to supply a family is well over 400$ a month. Currently the reserve has been paying between 6 and 7 dollars US a day in wages and considering we need to feed all the staff here an aditional 3 dollars a day for prep and food could be considered as part of this wage.
This wage is being raised progressivly in the case of kitchen staff but has been raised definativly for machete and transport based labour to 10$ p/d plus food.
I know it is not much. These new prices to cover this additional expence will take effect on the 1 of March 2007.
On the positive side we have received recognition from the Ministry of Environment for the new Fundacíon Los Cedros which is the legally recognized organization that is responsible for the protection of Bosque Protector Los Cedros.
This status will allow us to receive funding for project management and subsequently entail bookeeping expences. The new foundation has incorporated several new community members and some CIBT people as well.
Fabian Hernandez- Founder of the community eco tourism project Comite de Ecoturismo de Manduracos.
Jose Cueva- Comercial organic vegetable producer who also works in certification of organic produce. Jose also is an organizer of comunity participation in protected areas with the El Chontal protected forest and the Cambugan project.
Ximena Mina- Member of the ecotourism project and member of the Paroquial council here in our area.
Maritza Cifuentes- Secretarial/Administrative manager of CIBT who continues with this new organization.
Timoteo Metz- Founder of Restoration Forestry and member of directorat of Ancient Forests International.
Jose DeCoux- Long time Los Cedros organizer and resident.
We need some sugestions on where to look for support for this new orgainzational structure. The first task for the FLC will be to get the management plan updated and aproved by the Ministry of Environment.
Josef DeCoux
Executive Director
Fundacíon Los Cedros
Cambios en Los Cedros
Hay noticias buenos y malos para comenzar este nuevo año.
Ha sido necesario subir los precios que pagan los estudiantes y turistas por la inflacíon en los costos de la vida y la necesidad de aumentar los sueldos que parcialment estan ya incrementado.
La nueva fundacion encargado por el Ministerio de Ambiente al manejo de Bosque Protector Los Cedros ya ha sido aprobado despues de un processo de casi dos años. La flamante Fundacíon Los Cedros desde hoy comienza su tarea.
Este reconocimiento permitará nuevos gestiones para la protecíon de este area. Principal reto es la iresponsibilidad de la INDA que ha renovado la ajudicacíon de la cooperativo Nuevo Triumfo que perjudica al Bosque Protector Los Cedros pero en mayor grado a la Reserva Ecologica Cotacachi/Cayapas con titulos de propiedad a 130 personas. Evidentamente elementos corruptos han hecho lo suyo con bienes del estado y los perjudicados son los estafados tenedores de estos titulos falsos.
Espermos que algunas de las personas perjudicadas saldran frente para pedir justica y juntos podremos llevar los abusadores al legitimos recompensa de los estafados. Mientras tanto los perjudicados estan andando en el sector illusionados con terrenos ya declarados protegidos y que pertenece al estado.
Pero este has sido siempre el trabajo aqui. Somos zona de amortiguamiento de la RECC y continuaremos con el reto de proteger lo de todo los Ecuatorianos.
Josef DeCoux
Director Ejecutivo
Fundacíon Los Cedros
posted by Hugh 7:49 AM
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Primenet Class of 2006
In September, the PRIMENET project ran a training workshop at Los Cedros for community-based parabiologists.
Sara Richard created a video of the training, a short version of which is below. Much more information is available at the PRIMENET website.
posted by Hugh 10:36 AM
Friday, November 04, 2005
On the 3rd November 2005 the following press release about the PRIMENET project;
Biologist in bid to save rainforest’s rare monkey
Scientists at the University of Sussex are working with local communities in Ecuador to help save one of the world's rarest species of monkey - and the endangered rainforest where it lives.
The Brown-headed Spider Monkey (Ateles fusciceps) is "critically endangered", which means that without urgent action to protect the 50 known breeding pairs still in the wild, the species could become extinct. The spider monkey - unusual in that it is exclusively a fruit-eater - is under threat because up to 80 per cent of the dense rainforest that it depends on for food has been destroyed.
Environmental organisation Ecuador Terra Incognita, supported by partners including the University of Sussex, has now launched the PRIMENET Project to tackle the crisis. Its aim is to determine how best to protect the monkey populations, now restricted to rainforest reserves in northwest Ecuador, then educate local communities to continue the work and ensure the spider monkey's long-term survival.
University of Sussex environmental biologist Dr Mika Peck is coordinating the project. He has secured £230,000 funding for the project over three years through the Government-sponsored Darwin Initiative to aid conservation in bio-diverse regions around the world. He will also assist, along with colleagues from the geography department, in remote sensing research. This involves analysing satellite data to see where rainforest is at risk from development or logging.
Dr Peck became involved because he has worked on environmental projects in South America and has conducted research into deforestation. He also has a passion for the region where the project will be based - the Los Cedros Biological Reserve in the Ecuadorean Andes, on the doorstep of the spider monkey habitat. He says: "This is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It can only be reached by donkey, trekking for five hours. It is a fairytale setting - orchids, humming birds, big cats, tapirs, moths the size of dinner plates - and is one of the richest areas for bird species."
Protecting all of this, says Dr Peck, is key to the spider monkey campaign: "The spider monkey is a 'flagship' species - if they are protected then everything else in the surrounding environment is too, and one of the rare biodiversity-rich habitats of the world is preserved."
The project will involve the building of a scientific research and education centre at Los Cedros, where locals from a number of diverse indigenous groups will learn how to collect scientific data and monitor monkey populations. Other strands of the project will focus on supporting Conservation International in developing "corridors" to link nature reserves in the region. Teams of scientists will also study the area's flora and fauna, much of it still new to science.
In the longer term, the project aims to encourage environmentally-friendly ecotourism, offer sustainable forms of work and income for local people and offset the damage done by logging, mining and hunting - the pursuits largely responsible for destroying the rainforest on which the spider monkey and other species depend.
posted by Hugh 10:14 AM
Saturday, April 09, 2005
6 de Abril 2005-Los Cedros
Primate Conservation Network
The Los Cedros Reserve received news today that an important project has been approved for financing through the Darwin Initiative, one of the United Kingdoms important contributions to fulfill obligations under the terms of the Kyoto Treaty.
The project is to create a network for the conservation of the critically endangered Brown Headed Spider Monkey, a primate endemic to Northwest Ecuador. Though the details of the financing approved are pending, the Los Cedros Reserve will be the center for collection of primate data and host to the training facilities for training community based primate monitors.
This project will provide the reserve with a defined direction in a much neglected area of scientific study. Other participants in this project include the National Herbarium which will conduct habitat studies and the Museo de Ciencias Naturales which will coordinate primate data collection.
Training will be initiated at this reserve for selected individuals, who actually live in areas where this now difficult to encounter primate is found, to create this community based network of monitors and data collectors.
This project will also provide many new opportunities for volunteer placement.
posted by Hugh 7:53 AM
Saturday, November 15, 2003
loscedros@ecuanex.net.ec
posted by Hugh 8:55 AM
Reserve Battles Greedy Land Speculators in Ecuador
This is just a little update on what has been happening at Los Cedros and to start out here is the run down on the constant legal battles that are being waged against the greedy and corrupt.
The Los Cedros reserve has been challenged from it's inception by some members of a group of land speculators known as Association La Florida or Madrigal and known among the farmers and villagers as Los Calleros, surname of one of their first unpopular agents who worked in the communities.
The core group seems to be related to the Ecuadorian Chancelery or Ministery of Foreign Relations and in 1994 they received a land grant that superimposed itself on 400 hectares of the Los Cedros Reserve.
Since 1996 we have been aware of this problem and have made many petitions to the land grant agency for the rectification of this error on the agency's part.
We have received no answer to any of the complaints we filed over the years but instead received notification after two years of administrative silence from the land grant agency that our entire land title was being challenged by some members of this same group of land speculators.
Today after changing the name of the organization and reason for incorporation they have newly emerged as the Corporacion Rio Manduraco, environmental organization dedicated to conservation and construction of the Choco/Manabi ecological corridor.
This new image is hard to reconcile with their efforts to destroy the Los Cedros Reserve unseals the objective is to increase the land under their control. Supposedly 3 members of Corp Rio Mandu need the 400 hectares of the Reserve to include it in the conservation strategy of the Corp. This is patently a land grab not conservation. To accomplish their aims they have gone to the extent of nullifying the entire reserve title.
So friends and neighbors we will be calling on you to help with your e-mails and pressure on the politicians of your country to support the Reserve before this travesty. Please get in contact with me here at the reserve if you have any ideas about how we could raise some funds to stop this or apply political pressure.
We have assembled a legal team that will go into action if the first notification of title annulment is ratified and executed. Then we will need your help and the help of your contacts to pressure the often mercuric government ministries.
On the bright side the community tourism program is growing with each passing year and we are training the first group of local mountain guides with the help of the master of community tourism, Sir Randolph Smith,KBS,. The first two 3 day workshops have been held in Los Cedros and Chontal. The Alberge Neotropical, a community based hostal and tourism office is under construction in Chontal and will soon be the information and coordination center for visitors to Los Cedros.
The community health center is now open with the attention 20 days a month by a licensed nurse. The community radio program is about to be implemented and this will provide radio communications between the municipality, hospital, police, Los Cedros and the distant communities surrounding the reserve. We do need some help with the funding for this program and owe 1.500$ as part of the contribution of Los Cedros.
The new bridge crossing the Guayabamba river at Chontal has now had all of it's cement laid by a huge 400 person work day and will soon provide direct access to town from Quito.
The volunteer program could use some stimulation if any one has any good ideas. We had to raise our prices because of the inflation since dolarization and there are fewer people traveling here for the bargain travel Ecuador once was. Schools or programs out there looking for where to go?
See you around
jose
posted by Hugh 7:08 AM
Thursday, July 31, 2003
good geek news
After a lot of hoop-jumping and considerable waiting, the Los Cedros website is now recognized by the Google search engine. Searching for either "los cedros" or "reserva los cedros" returns this page as the #1 suggestion; entering "los cedros reserve" results in it showing up as #3. Pretty good. Reservaloscedros.org is now also now the #2 response on AllTheWeb.com - another big search engine - when you ask that search engine for "los cedros" or "los cedros reserve".
What all that means is www.reservaloscedros.org is now easily accessible to anyone searching the web for information about the reserve. Yay!
posted by Hugh 2:35 PM
Sunday, April 13, 2003
This is posted direct form the reserve. 13-4-03
Hello there from downtown Los Cedros and I just want to let all know that though the phone is working it does not yet receive calls, as of yet, with any consistancy so please dial several times to get through. Otherwise what we really needed, the E-mail ,is working quite well and we can even bring down web pages here. loscedros@ecuanex.net.ec
So lets hear from sombody.
Jose
El telefono esta ya trabajando pero no entra bien las llamadas de afuera. El correro electronico esta de maravilla y pdremos bajar paginas web entonces escribanos a nuestra nueva direcion loscedros@ecuanex.net.ec
posted by Hugh 5:49 AM
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
welcome to the new and improved newsletter
The new Los Cedros Newsletter system is now live. Watch this space for updates and happenings.
The first posting is news from Edmundo Gooden, who earlier emailed myself and other Los Cedrosites with the following raft of good news:
"To you all, I have just received some new news which I would love to pass on to you.
At the reserve itself Sulma has openly declared her future commitment to assisting the Reserve so she is playing the lead role in coordinating the gourmet food side of things at present. Martine has been also getting involved by taking on the postion of Volunteer coordinator as well as acting as a guide to those that require it (What a dream come true). Some of you may also know Manuel who lived next to the volley ball corts at Magdalena Alto, he also is married to one of Martines sisters. Well he is also assisting allot more with coordinating the volunteers I am sure that that could well be running those beautifull farting, running into Banana Patch and/or the forest Mules.
The new kitchen and the volunteer quarters are in full swing so many big thanks to those realy special players in this campaign.
You may remmember word about making the official office for Los Cedros at Chontal well it is getting built as we speak complete with operational phones and radio, oh! not to mention a car port for the mighty Jose Mobil. There is also a community radio station which will beam it's signal through the Chontal Valley so the communication links are well and truly under way. The email side and phone at the reserve is a little bit sadder, Jose has done absolutley everything reqiured however the Government department for communications has sat on it for four months so far, let's hope they put the neccessary stamp on that sheet of A4 paper.
The tourism commission is going to instruct and issue official Ecuadorian Tourism workers certification to all those that may need it so naturally Martine, Manuel and Sulma will be in as well as numerous people from the Chontal / Brilla Sol and Sahaungal Pueblos oh! Magdalena Abajo as well.
Fabians work with Jose and the development of the Cotocachi /Cayapis Tourism concept is becoming a reality, there is already six groups from Spain ready to go.
So I hope this finds you well and lets you know that you have all played an important part towards the development of allowing Los Cedros protect that insanley beautifull symphony of nature. Now as you read this you may feel that you are not able to be involved with Los Cedros as much as you may wish, no matter where are, we are all linked, this time is crucial that we are commited to our resolve to preserve and protect our BIRTH RIGHT!
CON MUCHISIMO AMOR PARA TI! del Edmundo XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
P.s there are people who I do not have there email address so could you please send it on, thankyou."
Thank you Edmundo, keep updating us as you go.
posted by Hugh 4:21 PM