Few studies exist that document how high-elevation Andean ecosystems recover naturally after the cessation of human activities and this can limit the implementation of cost-effective restoration actions. We assessed Andean forest (Polylepis stands) and páramo grassland recovery along an elevation gradient (3,600–4,350 m.a.s.l.) in the Yanacocha Reserve (Ecuador) where natural …
A protest march of indigenous people from Ecuador's Amazon region and the Andean highlands reached the country's capital here Tuesday after an eleven-day walk from the Amazon. The protesters marched to speak out against a new water law they say will restrict their access to water. The march, led by …
Approaches to integrated landscape management are currently garnering new interest as scientists, policymakers, and local stakeholders recognize the need to increase the multi-functionality of agricultural landscapes for food production, livelihood improvement, and ecosystem conservation. Such approaches have been attempted in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) but …
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Tuesday accused U.S oil company Chevron of deceiving the country's justice system in a decades-long trial over pollution in the Amazon by seeking to avoid inspections of areas contaminated by oil production. Correa said experts hired by Chevron Corp found evidence of contamination in areas …
Government says only 359,762 of 756,000 signatures were legitimate, meaning petition fails to trigger national referendum Nearly two thirds of the signatures on a national petition to stop oil being exploited on a large scale in one of the most biodiverse parts of the Amazon rainforest have been rejected, leading …
The powerful Washington law firm Patton Boggs dropped out of an effort to force Chevron to pay a $9.5 billion Ecuadorean pollution judgment on Wednesday, expressing regrets for its involvement in the case and agreeing to pay the oil company $15 million in settlement payments. The settlement came as another …
The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in December that Ontario was a proper jurisdiction for the Ecuadorean plaintiffs to press Chevron to pay up, and Chevron wants the Supreme Court of Canada to say the Ontario courts have no jurisdiction. It was the latest twist in a two-decade conflict between …
The Supreme Court of Canada agreed on Thursday to hear an appeal by Chevron Corp of a lower-court decision that said Ecuadorean villagers could pursue in Ontario their $9.51 billion lawsuit for pollution in the Amazon jungle. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in December that Ontario was a proper …
A scathing judgment issued by a U.S. judge this week against their lawyer will cast a long shadow over cases filed in Canada, Brazil and Argentina, where the plaintiffs are seeking Chevron assets as payment because the oil giant no longer has a presence in Ecuador. U.S. District Judge Lewis …
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has decided to grant a Dh22 million (MVR92 million) loan to the Maldives to help clean energy projects undertaken by the government. The National, an Abu Dhabi-based English language daily, said the loan would help the Maldives government to build a waste-to-energy plant aimed at …
Chevron Corp is bringing its enormous resources to bear in a court case in New York in which it has accused a U.S. lawyer of using fraud to win a $19 billion environmental judgment against it. The judgment was made by an Ecuadorean court to a group of affected villagers …
The former Ecuadorean judge who issued a $19 billion pollution judgment against Chevron Corp testified on Tuesday that he wrote the ruling alone, two weeks after another judge testified that he had been paid to ghostwrite much of the decision. Chevron has accused U.S. lawyer Steven Donziger of bribing the …
Loss of forest cover increased sharply in Bolivia, Madagascar, and Ecuador during the third quarter of 2013, according to an update from NASA scientists. NASA's Quarterly Indicator of Cover Change (QUICC), a MODIS satellite-based product that underpins Mongabay.com's Global Forest Disturbance Alert System (GloF-DAS), picked up strong deforestation signals in …
A former Ecuadorean judge testified on Wednesday that he ghost-wrote rulings for a judge who ordered Chevron Corp to pay $19 billion to villagers whose land had been polluted by oil exploration. The former judge testified at a trial in New York in which Chevron accuses U.S. lawyer Steven Donziger …
Four years of scientific expeditions have found previously unknown animals and plants in world's largest tropical rainforest A purring monkey, a vegetarian piranha and a flame-patterned lizard are among more than 400 new species of animals and plants that have been discovered in the past four years in the Amazon …
Ecuador’s long-running spat with U.S. oil company Chevron Corp. over a polluted swath of Amazon jungle is the type of David-and-Goliath story President Rafael Correa uses to define his mandate. Correa has worked hard to convince the world that Chevron is bullying the Andean country in order to avoid paying …
Ecuador's parliament on Thursday authorized drilling of the nation's largest oil fields in part of the Amazon rainforest after the failure of President Rafael Correa's plan to have rich nations pay to avoid its exploitation. The socialist leader launched the initiative in 2007 to protect the Yasuni jungle area, which …
In a dispute stemming from a lengthy legal battle over Amazon rain forest pollution, arbitrators ruled that Chevron had already settled claims for damages in agreements with Ecuador despite a $19 billion award against the oil company. The international tribunal, acting under The Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration, said in …
The world’s 136 largest coastal cities could risk combined annual losses of $1 trillion (750 billion euros) from floods by 2050 unless they drastically raise their defences, a study warned Sunday. Current losses are about $6 billion per year, with four cities - Miami, New York and New Orleans in …
For countries with rich culinary traditions that date back to the Aztecs and Incas, Mexico and Peru have developed quite a taste for modern food fashions. Mexicans quaff more fizzy drinks than any other country; Peru has the highest density of fast-food joints in the world. Chile, one of the …
A consulting firm whose work helped lead to a $19 billion award against Chevron Corp for rainforest pollution in Ecuador has disavowed environmental claims used by local residents to obtain the 2011 court judgment, court documents show. Chevron on Friday released affidavits from two officials at Stratus Consulting Inc saying …
