Project Report
| Sep 4, 2018
Policy advocacy
By Randy Borman | Director, Fundacion Sobrevivencia de los Cofanes
The Cofan Survival Fund was able to contribute significantly to the new Ley Amazonica that was passed in Ecuador in May. It is not as strong as we had originally hoped, but we were able to keep many concepts- chief among them prohibitions against expansion of the agricultural and urban frontier and a commitment to sustainable resource management- that create a legal body that is a first in the world for actually recognizing the importance of environmental services at a regional level. Several times the concept of Ecuador's Amazon's environmental services to both the country and the world as the priority for the region is repeated and emphasized. Now comes the development of the mechanisms including the creation of local entities that will supervise the norms. Currently there is some indigenous representation in these spaces, but we hope to increase it.
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Jun 5, 2018
The Threat of Gold Mining in Cofan Territory
By Mike Cepek | Board President
![Gold found in Cofan territory]()
Gold found in Cofan territory
Recently, the problem of gold mining in Cofan territory has received international media attention. The Guardian recently published an article on the threat posed by mining in the Cofan community of Sinangoe, which lies far up the Aguarico River in the Andean foothills. For more than four centuries, nonindigenous people have invaded Cofan land in search of gold and other minerals. The confrontation in Sinangoe is just the most recent example of how outsiders seek to profit from Cofan territory and end up destroying its forests and rivers while imperiling the health of its indigenous inhabitants. For the past two decades, the Cofan Survival Fund has been instrumental in confronting miners and working to expel them from Cofan territory. Many Sinangoe residents learned how to protect their territory during their time in the Cofan Park Guard Program. Your continued donations to this program helps Cofanes working in the nearby community of La Sofia to mobilize its residents to oppose the mining companies that threaten to pollute their rivers with mercury. With your help, the CSF can once again send groups of Cofan rangers throughout the Cofan homeland to confront miners as well as settlers, loggers, and commercial hunters. It all takes money, though—please consider renewing or increasing your donation to CSF today!
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Mar 6, 2018
Leveraging carbon credits
By Claire Nicklin | CSF board member
![Harpy eagle]()
Harpy eagle
A lot of what goes into making the Cofan-run park guard program successful is the day-to-day, unglamourous, administrative work. For instance, the Cofan Survival Fund has a full-time lawyer who maintains the pressure on the Environmental Ministrey to disburse "Socio-Bosque" funds to the Cofan Federation and maintain this important program. Socio Bosque is a national carbon credit program for conserving forest in Ecuador. The lawyer, Freddy, also helps the members of the Cofan Federation keep all their paperwork legal in order to receive these funds, and makes sure that communities are using a portion of the funds for conservation efforts.
All this effort pays off when one can see a beautiful Harpy eagle like the one shown in the photo on the Zabalo river, which is protected by the Cofan park guards.
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