Cut down
The courts versus the rainforest
SPANNING the Amazon rainforest, the Andes, coastal lowlands and the Galapagos islands, Ecuador is the world's most biodiverse country in relation to its area. Its forests are home to bears, jaguars, a profusion of birds and many rare plants. Yet Ecuador is also losing its trees faster than anywhere else in South America. Deforestation looks set to continue apace: on October 28th, the country's Constitutional Tribunal, under pressure from timber companies and their champions in Ecuador's Congress, struck down an innovative and effective scheme to outsource the regulation of logging.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Cut down”
From the November 1st 2003 edition
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