Verónica Yépez, from the Ecuadorian NGO FUNDECOL, sent us a message in relation to an article published in WRM bulletin 43 (“Ecuador: action to save the mangroves in Guayas”). She thanks us for having publicised the issue and makes some clarifications about the information provided in the article.
She informs us that, according to the National Chamber of Aquaculture in 1999 there were 175,253 hectares of shrimp ponds in Ecuador, and in 2000 this figure had increased to 207,000 hectares. Secondly, she clarifies that the Trolley Law II was in fact passed by the Ecuadorian Parliament in August 2000, but that in December 2000 the Constitutional Court declared 22 articles inconstitutional, among them Nr. 164, which granted the property of beaches and bays to the shrimp industry. Finally, she explains that the National Coordination for the Defense of Mangroves includes both local communities involved in mangrove management and environmental NGOs concerned with their conservation.
