An Attempt against nature

Important government officials have entirely ignored the contracts signed between INDA and the Environmental Ministry, and with the District of Quito, that govern the right to award lands in designated protected areas. What some consider even more alarming is that the lands they intend to sell are already the private property of the Maquipucuna Foundation, which was created with the sole purpose of buying and protecting what is now the Maquipucuna Reserve, land legally purchased from Banco del Pacífico in 1988.

Why is the Maquipucuna Reserve considered one of the "inland Galapagos"?

• Maquipucuna shelters 4% of bird species on the planet and is considered by scientists to be a "global priority zone" for bird life conservation.
• More than 10% of the diversity registered in Ecuador has been registered in Maquipucuna by botanical experts led by Dr. Grady Webster.
• Dozens of endangered species are found in Maquipucuna, like the spectacled bear and more than 36 species of orchids that are certified in the red book of the UICN.
• On a three-day expedition to Maquipucuna, the famous botanist, A. Gentry, found 4 species previously unknown to science.
• The poisonous frog Colostethus Maquipucuna, is just one example of a number of species that only exist in forests like Maquipucuna, which INDA intends to sell off illegally.

If the illegal sale of land takes place, have no doubt, the consequences will be damaging and irreversible…

• MAG and INDA will in effect accelerate the extinction of many species
• They will undermine global recognition of the conservation projects spearheaded by the Maquipucuna Foundation and other foundations with like purpose
• They will damage the development of communities around the reserve.
• Perhaps worst of all, they will discredit the capacity of Ecuador to maintain the rule of law where biodiversity and private property are respected and enforced.

¿What can we do to stop the destruction of this unique place in the world?

Maquipucuna Foundation demands:

• That MAG prohibit INDA from delivering the title deeds of lands that belong to Maquipucuna Reserve, and to put a stop to this process immediately.
• Similarly, we request that the Military Geographic Institute, IGM, perform a historical and technical analysis to officially document and establish the limits of the Maquipucuna Reserve and surrounding properties.
• Finally, governmental officials, who have broken the law by ignoring environmental and property law, should be penalized, and research should be conducted to determine what economical interests may have prompted this attempt against nature.

It cannot be stressed enough that the lands that MAG and INDA intend to sell off have been bought legally from legitimate owners, who purchased that land with the support of ordinary people as well as national and international organizations that believed in the aims of the Maquipucuna Reserve and, like all of us, respect the basic right to private property. Maquipucuna Reserve should be protected, not only because it is privately owned land, but because its main goal is to conserve Ecuador's, and in fact the world's, biodiversity.