Image by Romi Castagnino.Īnd that was just the moths: according to the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, the region contains 1 in 6 of all plant species in the world and ranks first in bird, mammal, and amphibian diversity, among 36 top biodiverse hotspots surveyed. A silk eyed moth photographed on the arm of Liz Kimbrough. Equally impressive was the diversity of their sizes, ranging from as little as a fingernail to almost as big as a human hand. “We could see more than 50 (moth) species just in one night,” she says, after conservationist Carlos Zorrilla illuminated a white sheet to attract them, taking the group’s breath away with their numbers. Castagnino joins the Mongabay Newscast to speak about what she saw and heard there, and how Intag Valley communities are challenging a planned copper mine that threatens it. Recently, Mongabay staff writer Liz Kimbrough visited the region with associate digital editor Romi Castagnino to speak with local leaders about their grassroots organizing and fundraising efforts, as part of Mongabay’s new Conservation Potential article series. Since the 1990s, communities of the Intag Valley of Ecuador have been leading a conservation campaign to protect the remaining cloud forests in this highly biodiverse region of the planet, the tropical Andes. Mongabay’s associate digital editor Romi Castagnino joins the podcast this week to discuss her recent reporting trip to the valley with staff writer Liz Kimbrough, detailing the immense biodiversity, community resistance, and efforts to challenge the planned mine they witnessed.Local communities have been organizing to protect the region from such threats for decades, in what has become the longest-continuing resistance to mining in Latin America. This rich cloud forest has also been targeted by mining companies seeking its vast mineral resources, like copper.The Intag Valley in the tropical Andes region of Ecuador is among the world’s most biodiverse places, with more than half of its species found nowhere else.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |