Ecuador Rejects British Film on Yasuni Oil Road, Releases Own Video

Ecuador Rejects British Film on Yasuni Oil Road, Releases Own Video

By System Admin October 07 2015




Ecuador's Ministry of the Environment has publicly rejected a British documentary done by journalist Nina Bigalke called "Journey to Ecuador's Secret Oil Road" and has published a video of its own discussing oil operations being executed in Block 31, located in Yasuni National Park.

"We reject @NinaBigalke video," said Minister Lorena Tapia on Twitter. "I invite you to see the truth and our commitment to the environment." Tapia attached the weblink of the video done by the ministry to her tweet; the video (in Spanish) is available on the Ministry's YouTube channel.

The video explains security measures implemented in Block 31 to protect flora and fauna of the area and denies Bigalke’s statements regarding the existence of a road and its dimensions. The ministry refers to the alleged road as a sendero or trail and states that it is made of dirt and Megadeck shoring mats, which can be removed when oil operations are finished.

A team of journalists from the Andes Agency visited Block 31 in May and confirmed there is an dirt trail that is 20 km long and 10 meters wide in total. Four meters are used as a lane for vehicle travel and six meters make up the road shoulder or right-of-way, where oil and fiber optic pipes are buried. The six-meter shoulder was already reforested with trees native to the area, and there is also a seedbed where native trees are being planted in order to reforest the entire area in the future.

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Disputed trail from the air[/font] [/center]
More:
https://tribelr.com/posts/ecuador-rejects-british-film-on-yasuni-oil-road-releases-own-video

Originally published in ANDES on October 7, 2015.