10 Oct 2008
The Guardian reaction to the Launch..
Haroon Siddique from That Guardian newspaper was present on Monday night, read his review of the evening here
Monday Evening – Campaign and Book launch in Amnesty UK
We were so pleased to have the Ecuadorian Ambassador’s second in command (the Ambassador was not in the country), Anita (mayor of Orellana), Ginés and Tony Juniper speaking at the event. We also had a special message from Penti, a Waorani leader in the Yasuní, who had been unable to attend the event in person but instead sent a powerful speech.
The Embassy representative began by presenting the national proposal followed by Anita who gave an emotional speech about growing up in Coca, her fight for the human rights of her people and the hope that they all had that the international community would help the oil to be kept in the ground. She also gave a special thanks to Amnesty who had been so instrumental in fighting for the release of fellow human rights activist, leader and friend, Guadalupe Llori who had been wrongfully imprisoned for a year.
Ginés Haro, Co-director of the Yasuni green Gold Campaign, then followed up Anita’s message with the memory that when he left Orellana Anita had said to him “don’t forget us”. He had never been able to and hoped that those present would not forget the Yasuní and would work with the campaign to fight for its preservation and the rights of it’s inhabitants.
Tony Juniper, previous leader of FoE Interntional, now part of the Princes Trust finished off the speeches with a reflection on the international Environmental context, the move into the post-Kyoto era and the possibilities for the Yasuní.
Then followed an interesting set of comments from the audience. Some interesting points were brought up in during the discussion things such as the contradictions in the governments behaviour, plans and statements that seem to contradict attempts to be progressive in the human and environmental rights particularly the people of the Oriente. This is so true, there are so many issues which complicate the situation as you can see on the campaign page where we talk about national parallel projects and legislation which is at odds with the ITT proposal.
However the campaign believes that keeping a dialogue open with the national government and supporting positive actions is crucial. Although we need to be open and critical, we also need to make sure we properly support the positive things coming out of the government such as this initiative. There are problems with it and these need to be addressed, however such huge proposals are very rarely perfect first time round and need to be worked on with all the concerned parties.
If we only criticise and do not work on the positive aspects the only people who benefit are the oil companies. They have so far been taking advantage of the division and differences between people so it is important that we come together on the ground that we have in common – that is to preserve the Yasuni and its people.
Another point was that the ITT is not the Yasuní. This is very true, the Yasuní is much bigger than just this reserve and other parts of the Yasuní are already being or have already been exploited for oil. However this block is the furthest into the Yasuní that the oil companies have been – it is right in the heart of the park and if it goes ahead it will open up the whole area to logging and contamination – the people of the Yasuní will have no where left to go that is safe.
The ITT block is symbolic in saying the buck stops here, oil companies can go no further, there are more important things. As Anita said, we have to start putting life before oil.
The Embassy representative began by presenting the national proposal followed by Anita who gave an emotional speech about growing up in Coca, her fight for the human rights of her people and the hope that they all had that the international community would help the oil to be kept in the ground. She also gave a special thanks to Amnesty who had been so instrumental in fighting for the release of fellow human rights activist, leader and friend, Guadalupe Llori who had been wrongfully imprisoned for a year.
Ginés Haro, Co-director of the Yasuni green Gold Campaign, then followed up Anita’s message with the memory that when he left Orellana Anita had said to him “don’t forget us”. He had never been able to and hoped that those present would not forget the Yasuní and would work with the campaign to fight for its preservation and the rights of it’s inhabitants.
Tony Juniper, previous leader of FoE Interntional, now part of the Princes Trust finished off the speeches with a reflection on the international Environmental context, the move into the post-Kyoto era and the possibilities for the Yasuní.
Then followed an interesting set of comments from the audience. Some interesting points were brought up in during the discussion things such as the contradictions in the governments behaviour, plans and statements that seem to contradict attempts to be progressive in the human and environmental rights particularly the people of the Oriente. This is so true, there are so many issues which complicate the situation as you can see on the campaign page where we talk about national parallel projects and legislation which is at odds with the ITT proposal.
However the campaign believes that keeping a dialogue open with the national government and supporting positive actions is crucial. Although we need to be open and critical, we also need to make sure we properly support the positive things coming out of the government such as this initiative. There are problems with it and these need to be addressed, however such huge proposals are very rarely perfect first time round and need to be worked on with all the concerned parties.
If we only criticise and do not work on the positive aspects the only people who benefit are the oil companies. They have so far been taking advantage of the division and differences between people so it is important that we come together on the ground that we have in common – that is to preserve the Yasuni and its people.
Another point was that the ITT is not the Yasuní. This is very true, the Yasuní is much bigger than just this reserve and other parts of the Yasuní are already being or have already been exploited for oil. However this block is the furthest into the Yasuní that the oil companies have been – it is right in the heart of the park and if it goes ahead it will open up the whole area to logging and contamination – the people of the Yasuní will have no where left to go that is safe.
The ITT block is symbolic in saying the buck stops here, oil companies can go no further, there are more important things. As Anita said, we have to start putting life before oil.
Monday morning… meeting at Dfid (UK Department for International Development)
So we all piled into the meeting room at Dfid taking a pace around the huge rectangular table. We were greeted by John Hudson, Senior Forestry Adviser, Dr Amy Sullivan from the Climate and Environment Group and a representative from the Foreign Office. Anita started off by telling them all about what was happening in Orellana to her people and to the region, we were slightly taken aback (but not completely put off) when we were told that a plea for bio-diversity and indigenous people was 10 years too late, that what they were now interested in was Climate Change. Anita told them about how important these issues were to climate change but that also her people and the bio-diversity of the region had to be a priority, she was not prepared to sell them on the market.
We came to what we wanted which was for them to respond to the Ecuadorian government’s proposal officially with initial support but with the improvements laid out on our campaign page.
They said that they were unable to response as they do not believe they have been officially invited by the Ecuadorian government to participate… so our first mission on hearing such news was make sure the Ambassador be invited to present the proposal…
5 Oct 2008
Anita arrives in London...
...7.30am we are waiting nervously at the airport waiting for Anita, did she make it through security okay? Perhaps she got lost coming through baggage reclaim? Maybe she didn't make the plane where she had to change in Amsterdam? Finally we see her and she rushes towards us, a look of relief on her face. She tells us how she had forgotten to ask us for the address of where she was staying whilst in London and just kept repeating to security that she was staying with Gines Haro - they were not very impressed. Finally she whipped out a copy of the NI and showed them her picture and told them she was a mayor from the Amazon and had come to ask for help from the government to protect her people. "They all looked so suprised!" she laughed.
We bundle her into taxi and rush off to our first appointment, we are relieved to see that despite the 16 hours journey and complete culture shock, Anita is perky and ready for an interview with the Telegraph.
We bundle her into taxi and rush off to our first appointment, we are relieved to see that despite the 16 hours journey and complete culture shock, Anita is perky and ready for an interview with the Telegraph.
3 Oct 2008
2 Oct 2008
Yasuni Events - some dates for the diary!
We have a busy busy few weeks ahead of us..
On Monday the 6th of October Anita Rivas, mayor of the Yasuní region (Orellana) will be in the UK to present the issues currently facing the region at the Yasuni Green Gold launch. The event will be held at the Amnesty Human Rights centre in east London and will be looking forward to the attendence of people such as Tony Juniper, the Ecuadorian vice-ambassador and organisations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
That morning we will also be having a meeting with DFID, the UK department for international development, and the environmental adviser to Gordon Brown..
On Tuesday we will be meeting with Steve Webb the Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs with a possible showing from Nick Clegg...?
On Wednesday we will be holding a parliamentary meeting and we currently have Tom, who is helping out in the office, trying to get as many MPs as possible to that meeting.
Then Friday morning Anita and Ginés will shoot off to Luxembourg where they have been invited to talk at the Climate Alliance of European Cities with the Indigenous Rainforest Peoples!
On Saturday we head off to Spain with Anita where we'll be doing presentations in Barcelona, Madrid, Cadiz and Cordoba - if you want to come along drop us a line and we'll let you know where to go..
On Monday the 6th of October Anita Rivas, mayor of the Yasuní region (Orellana) will be in the UK to present the issues currently facing the region at the Yasuni Green Gold launch. The event will be held at the Amnesty Human Rights centre in east London and will be looking forward to the attendence of people such as Tony Juniper, the Ecuadorian vice-ambassador and organisations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
That morning we will also be having a meeting with DFID, the UK department for international development, and the environmental adviser to Gordon Brown..
On Tuesday we will be meeting with Steve Webb the Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs with a possible showing from Nick Clegg...?
On Wednesday we will be holding a parliamentary meeting and we currently have Tom, who is helping out in the office, trying to get as many MPs as possible to that meeting.
Then Friday morning Anita and Ginés will shoot off to Luxembourg where they have been invited to talk at the Climate Alliance of European Cities with the Indigenous Rainforest Peoples!
On Saturday we head off to Spain with Anita where we'll be doing presentations in Barcelona, Madrid, Cadiz and Cordoba - if you want to come along drop us a line and we'll let you know where to go..
What has Yasuni Green Gold been up to....?
Since we got the book out of the way the Yasuni Green Gold team has been hard at work - doing what you cry?!
Well for a start we have been preparing this lovely new website with a lot of help from our friends...There is still a lot of work to do we know, lots of things missing; lists, letters, banners, downloads, flyers the list goes on! But we are getting there bit by bit so bare with us, the site is improving daily! If you have anything you can help with, maybe you have sent a letter to a minister and we can put it up as an example to help others - let us know!
We've been going round doing talks about the Yasuní and setting up local groups, these are crucial in helping spread the word and creating a Yasuní support network. If you want to create a Yasuní group near you, drop us a line and we'll do what we can to help.
We've been lobbying politicians and NGOs on the phone and by sending them books, thanks to all those kind 'donate a book' contributions to get them on board and start campaigning about the Yasuní.
The New Internationalist also took on this initiative and asked its readers, after finishing with their Yasuni magazine, to put it back in it's envelope and send it on a decision-maker.
So, what is all this lobbying in aid of…..?
We are trying to draw as many groups as possible together to campaign on the Yasuni – this is currently a three pronged attack!
First prong is an NGO sign-on statement, which is almost finished, professing the importance of the Yasuni, its people and what must happen next. You will hopefully be able to view this online very soon!
Second prong is a petition that everyone can stick their name down on in support for the Yasuní and its people.
And the third prong is parliamentary. This is currently being focused on the UK government but hopefully with a bit more support we can get it going around the world. We have an early-day-motion starting. This is like a petition that MPs sign to say something is important to them, if enough MPs sign it – they could discuss the issue in parliament. To push this motion along we have organised a parliamentary meeting on Wednesday in the house of commons with Anita the mayor of the Yasuní region of Orellana and someone from the campaign introducing the issues and then a discussion of how the UK government can be involved to follow....
Well for a start we have been preparing this lovely new website with a lot of help from our friends...There is still a lot of work to do we know, lots of things missing; lists, letters, banners, downloads, flyers the list goes on! But we are getting there bit by bit so bare with us, the site is improving daily! If you have anything you can help with, maybe you have sent a letter to a minister and we can put it up as an example to help others - let us know!
We've been going round doing talks about the Yasuní and setting up local groups, these are crucial in helping spread the word and creating a Yasuní support network. If you want to create a Yasuní group near you, drop us a line and we'll do what we can to help.
We've been lobbying politicians and NGOs on the phone and by sending them books, thanks to all those kind 'donate a book' contributions to get them on board and start campaigning about the Yasuní.
The New Internationalist also took on this initiative and asked its readers, after finishing with their Yasuni magazine, to put it back in it's envelope and send it on a decision-maker.
So, what is all this lobbying in aid of…..?
We are trying to draw as many groups as possible together to campaign on the Yasuni – this is currently a three pronged attack!
First prong is an NGO sign-on statement, which is almost finished, professing the importance of the Yasuni, its people and what must happen next. You will hopefully be able to view this online very soon!
Second prong is a petition that everyone can stick their name down on in support for the Yasuní and its people.
And the third prong is parliamentary. This is currently being focused on the UK government but hopefully with a bit more support we can get it going around the world. We have an early-day-motion starting. This is like a petition that MPs sign to say something is important to them, if enough MPs sign it – they could discuss the issue in parliament. To push this motion along we have organised a parliamentary meeting on Wednesday in the house of commons with Anita the mayor of the Yasuní region of Orellana and someone from the campaign introducing the issues and then a discussion of how the UK government can be involved to follow....
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