Protect La Amistad Biosphere Reserve and the Ngöbe Indians of Panama

Protect La Amistad Biosphere Reserve and the Ngöbe Indians of Panama

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<p>&nbsp;<a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27560">http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27560</a></p>
<p>Protect La Amistad Biosphere Reserve and the Ng&ouml;be Indians of Panama</p>
<p>Last week we told you about the stop order on construction of the devastating Chan-75 dam, a project planned for Panama's Changuinola River that would threaten the well-being and homeland of the Ng&ouml;be Indians, as well as La Amistad Biosphere Reserve -- a World Heritage Site and one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet. Besides flooding Ng&ouml;be villages and harming fish populations key to the Ng&ouml;be diet, the dam would threaten numerous endangered species that call La Amistad home, including the jaguar and resplendent quetzal. After a petition from the Ng&ouml;be, in June the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights told Panama to stop construction of the dam -- but the order doesn't guarantee the safety of the Ng&ouml;be or La Amistad, and the area's unique and endangered species need your help.</p>
<p><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=xvH4W6Pq9lXrbVqRFdow5nblvFPkfeb8">Take action</a> by writing to Panama's president; Panama's environmental protection agency; and the president and CEO of the U.S.-based AES Corporation, which is backing Chan-75.</p>
<p>Then learn more about the Center for Biological Diversity's campaign to save <a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=8bZqL5751VMfh/G1OiwaRndR3lpEpEI7">Panamanian rainforests and rivers</a>, including our successful work to earn World Heritage Committee recognition of the ecological threats imposed by Chan-75 and other dams that would harm La Amistad.</p>
<p><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27560">http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27560</a></p>
<p>The U.S.-based AES Corporation's Chan-75 hydroelectric dam project in Panama risks forever altering the pristine Changuinola River watershed and ancestral homeland of the Ng&ouml;be Indians.<br /><br />If completed, the Chan-75 dam would inundate four Ng&ouml;be villages that are home to approximately 1,000 people. Another 4,000 Ng&ouml;be living in neighboring villages would be affected by the destruction of their transportation routes, flooding of their agricultural plots, lack of access to their farmlands, and loss of fish that are an important protein source in their diet. The dam would also cause grave environmental harm to the UNESCO-protected La Amistad Biosphere Reserve, an international World Heritage Site upriver from the dam site. <br /><br />Please join the growing international movement to protect this ecological jewel and voice your opposition to the proposed Hydroelectric Projects. Send a letter today to Ricardo Martinelli, President of Panama; the Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente, Panama&rsquo;s environmental protection agency; and Paul Hanrahan, President and Chief Executive Officer of AES Corporation.</p>
<p>&nbsp;<a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27560">http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27560</a>

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