Ecuadorians denounce foreign loggers in Yasuni national park

Interview with anthropologist Josi(C) Proano on dangers to indigenous peoples in "isolation" posed by timber trade

Three NGOs in Ecuador marked the UN's World Environment Day last week by releasing a report alleging that illegal loggers are operating in the famous Yasuni National Park in the Amazon, one of the most biodiverse places in the world. The loggers are crossing the border from Peru and mainly extracting cedar from territories used by indigenous peoples living in "isolation", according to the NGOs.

The report focuses on a reconnaissance trip made in May which documented illegal logging in the park, as well as "massive" commercial hunting and the abandonment of premises supposedly run by the Environment Ministry and military. The trip was made, the report states, after several government visits to the region in recent years which confirmed that illegal loggers and hunters were operating, but led to almost no action being taken to stop them. On one occasion illegal wood was confiscated, but it was recovered by Peruvian loggers, it is claimed, in a "possible violent attack against [an Ecuadorian] military post."