Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asks the British Government what they will do about the Yasuní

Recorded on the UK government website is:

Ecuador: Yasuni Rainforest Reserve
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government:

What support they intend to offer the Government of Ecuador in preserving the Yasuni rainforest reserve. [HL5494]

The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Joan Ruddock met the Yasuni Green Gold Campaign last week. We are supportive of approaches to develop incentives to reduce emissions from both wholesale deforestation and more gradual damage. The UK has contributed £15 million to the World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Facility which will assist developing countries in working out how they can participate in and benefit from evolving incentive mechanisms for avoided deforestation.

Thursday, Joan Ruddock and Amnesty International

Thursday afternoon we head off once again to Westminister to meet with Joan Ruddock from the Depatment for Energy and Climate Change. She has managed to squeeze us in between the madness of the creation of this new department. We are told by her PA that she usually does not have a moment to spare but had managed to find a space for us as she was so interested in the campaign. We filled Joan in on the campaign quickly and Anita told her about how her and Lupe had lead a people´s revolution in Orellana demanding that their basic rights be met. She was very supportive of the Yasuni Green Gold Camapign, she agreed with us that the ITT proposal was important and that the British government would support it in principal. She also agreed that inorder to get the proposal through there needed to be the clarification and gaurentees the campaign asked for and that when the proposal is presented to her she would relay these points. She asked us to keep her updated on the status of the proposal and progress of the campaign. Another good result!


After this we sped off to Amnesty International. Anita was thrilled for the chance to thank in person the organisation that had played such a big part in releasing her friend and fellow activist Guadalupe Llori. They were also excitied to meet Anita and hear all about her human rights work.

John Vidal from The Guardian names Anita woman of the week

John Vidal from The Guardian writes:

"Prize for the most impressive woman in Britain this week could go to Anita Rivas, an inspirational Ecuadorean who was in London to see the government and fight for the preservation of the extraordinarily rich Yasuní national park. This Amazonian treasure should be protected, but Argentine, French and local oil companies have started drilling, and a worldwide campign against them has started. "If we keep the oil below the ground, not only will we conserve an enormously diverse area, home to many indigenous people, but also we will become a universal symbol that a new world is possible," said Anita. Shame that the new Department of Energy and Climate Change could not find time to see her."

The same day we contacted the new Department of Energy and Climate Change only to find that Joan Ruddock, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, had made time to see us the next day....!

Yasuní Green Gold Early Day Motion 2192

EDM 2192 ECUADORIAN GOVERNMENT'S PROPOSAL FOR SAVING THE YASUNI FOREST 07.10.2008

Challen, Colin
"That this House welcomes the proposal of the Ecuadorian government to preserve the Yasuní forest by asking the international community to pay for not exploiting the oil reserves which lie underneath it; but believes that the proposal must include an unconditional, non-reversible commitment from the Ecuadorian government to preserve Yasuní and protect the human rights of its people and must include an unlimited extension of the time given to reach agreement on how to do this and an international process led by the Ecuadorian Government, with full participation from local and indigenous groups in the region, to create a clear, coherent and fully representative proposal for securing a long-term sustainable future for Yasuní; believes that this process should work in partnership with supportive non-governmental organisations and governments, and must also include a further assurance that any financial support from governments will come through an open, democratic and accountable process, and will not involve carbon trading, World Bank funding or debt cancellation schemes, which have proved ineffective in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and damaging to local people's rights around the world; and finally considers that the proposal must include an assurance that any other projects which may have a negative impact on the area will not be allowed to go ahead."

So far we have 16 signatures - get your MPs on board!

Wednesday: a Yasuní Green Gold meeting at the House of Commons

Colin Challen kindly set up a meeting for us in the House of Commons. His introduction showed a clear understanding of the concerns of the campaign and set us up well to go on and talk in more detail. Colin has also started an Early-Day-Motion (see next blog entry) a petition outlining the campaign asks for MPs to sign - So get your MP to sign!
Colin also offered to write to ministers and departments and most importantly to ask a question about the Yasuní to Gordon Brown at Prime Ministers question time!

Also excited and willing to lend a hand was Baroness Hooper who is very interested in both Ecuador and environmental issues. We were thrilled that Martin Horwood the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal Peoples which works alongside Survival International was also behind the campaign saying he thought it was great in bringing together all the issues and would help in whatever way he could.

Good result!

Tuesday with Simon Webb the environmental adviser to the Liberal Democrats

Tuesday we were a little more together, we now had well planned out how we were going to construct the meetings, what we were going to say and what we were asking for. Simon was great he said he would invite the Ambassador in the present the proposal and that he would put forward the campaign concerns, guarantees for the Yasuni and it people and a clear idea as to where the money would go and an unlimited time in which to work these things out.