Ecuador unable to protect rainforest

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That's horrible. I remeber on the news seeing the Vice President say about the native people's and land: "We wish that we didn't have to exploit them... but we do."
 
South America and the Amazon Basin are hardly alone in being stripped and destroyed. Borneo is currently being raped by large out-of-country
timber companies. The U.S. is being "fracked"...and on and on. In the case of the Sarawak rain forest, there are plants that grow there that don't grow
any place else on earth, many of them orchids. Most human beings don't
deserve the beautiful planet we have and there is just too many of us and
little attempt to control population and expansion into "undeveloped" areas.
 
Years ago I was in Costa Rica having a few beers after surfing all day and had a conversation with a local farmer, with a little help from a fellow surfer who did some translating. The farmer explained that the government didn't really do much other than set up conservation areas; there was little or no enforcement. He also said that if it came to making a choice between saving a frog, plant or bird or feeding his family well some frogs and birds are pretty tasty; and plants can be eaten as well. I don't necessarily agree, but in the same situation I think I would be eating frog legs too...
 
First of all, I agree with the rainforest conservation... I love the rainforest, the extreme biodiversity and the people who live there keeping theirs ancestries’ way of life... One of my favorite experiences is to go to the Amazonian rainforest and to feel contact with true untouched nature...
Having said that... I am very conscientious that I have to use my car to work every day, some of my clothes are made of Oil derivate products the keypad of the computer I am using right now is made of oil derivate Plastic material...my cellphone, my greenhouse cover, the pots of my plants... I cannot imagine an oil-free world.. not today.
One the one hand I would like to keep the oil of the ITT oilfield untouched but on the other hand as an exploration geologist I am conscientious that it is one of the most important oil fields of south America and WE need it out to keep our world moving...
In my opinion the only one people with rights to rise their voices against the ITT exploitation are the native people from the Yasuni area... Me, and probably you, we are going to be highly beneficiated with the oil extraction.
Today we do have pretty good techniques to minimize environmental damage… the key point is… how much you want to pay when your go to the gas station to fill the tank of your car?
Sorry if my opinion is not politically correct.
 
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No worries Eteson. I think since you live in Columbia, your imput is the most valid. I for one, do not drive a car very often and would not mind paying more in gas when I do drive if that indeed, did protect oil rich land that lies within these rainforests.

I believe that drilling within the rainforests is a losing venture. It is only a temporary fix and I feel that any reliance on oil will inevitably have to be resolved regardless. I think further destruction, regardless of the orchids saved or lost, is a horrible idea and I do not think that the natives of Ecuador will benefit either way, financially or otherwise.

I cannot confirm it, but someone commented on the article saying that 90% of the locals wanted to leave the reserve untouched. What I find disturbing is that, that fact has little significance to the outcome.

I absolutely agree that there needs to be a balance between man and earth, but a native needing to feed his family may have even a harder time when the land that they have known, is no longer the same, flora, fauna, ect.

Just my outlook from an ignorant American.
 
I'm with Angela. If we could control our population and stop thinking that growth means more people, the earth would have a chance.
 
I cannot imagine an oil-free world.. not today.

WE need it out to keep our world moving...

Today we do have pretty good techniques to minimize environmental damage… the key point is… how much you want to pay when your go to the gas station to fill the tank of your car?
Sorry if my opinion is not politically correct.

Views certainly worth debating.

But if we get complacent with our lack of imagination, and only consider the constant unsustainable growth "moving" model, then we should just write off the rain forests and indigenous rights.

There are lots of hidden/subsidized costs of a petroleum world that most of us are kept in the dark about. Alternative energies and more sustainable life styles are sneaking there way into culture (at affordable costs) despite the miss information propaganda of the petro industries.

Whether or not we'll learn before its all gone is another matter, but it will be our own fault
 
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