Ecuador Blocks Exploitive Industries from Two Parks

Taking a courageous stand, Ecuadorian President Jamil Mahuad has issued a decree that blocks future oil exploration, mining, logging, and colonization in the Cuyabeno-Imuya and Yasuni National Parks,
covering 2.7 million acres of old growth rainforest. The parks are home to thousands of indigenous peoples; two subgroups of the Huaorani people are among the world’s last nomadic, largely uncontacted indigenous peoples.

To become permanent, this decree must be passed into permanent legislation.
In 1991 an Ecuadorian Supreme Court decision to ban oil projects in protected natural areas was overturned after oil companies threatened to divest from Ecuador.