Yee-Hah!! Yasuni NP (Ecuador) Deforestation Roaring As Extraction Of Precious, Precious Oil Begins
asuni National park has been in the conservation spotlight in recent years, with oil drilling threatening the forests and wildlife of this biodiversity hotspot. Recently, disturbance in the park may have ramped up, with satellite data showing a significant increase in deforestation alerts within Yasuni National Park since 2011. The increase in forest damage in the region coincides with a series of oil drilling activities near the blocks where deforestation alerts are clustered.
Yasuni National Park, established in 1979, covers approximately 982,000 hectares. The park is at the center of a small zone where amphibian, bird, mammal, and vascular plant diversity are all at the highest levels in the Western Hemisphere. Because of this, it is among the most biodiverse places in the world, with a large number of endemic and threatened species. For instance, the park is home to a species of bat (Lophostoma yasuni) found nowhere else in the world.
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“Deforestation is not only caused by extraction, but also by the outside influence of other industries/actors – including drug trade, illegal animal poaching/sales, illegal logging,” Pamela Martin, a professor at Coastal Carolina University who has conducted research on Ecuadorian forests, told mongabay.com.
According to Martin, illegal loggers are cutting deeper and deeper into Yasuni, and in the process building roads that are allowing people to further encroach into the forest. “Roads built in the park have increased colonization in those areas,” she said. “One outcome of such roads and the associated deforestation impacts, plus weaponry to hunt, is over-hunting and illegal poaching of animals.”
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http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0729-gfrn-panela-yasuni-forma.html
