April - May 2004

New & Notable on www.eco-index.org: Making It Legal: Protecting the Tropical Andes’ Biodiversity

Project Name: Environmental Law as a Tool for the Protection of Biodiversity in the Northern Tropical Andes

Managing NGO: Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense

Project director: Anna Cederstav

Synopsis: This project aims to conserve biodiversity in the tropical Andes of Colombia and Ecuador, through compliance with regional protection regulations and environmental law education. One project component aims to establish legal precedents for environmental protection, using litigation from some cases involving damage to fragile ecosystems in Colombia. A second component will involve workshops for the judicial community in Colombia and Ecuador, to strengthen education about environmental law as a useful tool for the effective protection of biodiversity at regional, national, and international levels.

Annual budget & donors: $210,000 from the MacArthur Foundation and Tides Foundation.

Principal accomplishments: An analytical report, which was presented by the State Department to the U.S. Congress, about compliance with the conditions established for fumigation of illicit crops in Colombia; collaborated with other organizations and members of Congress in Colombia and the United States to verify the impacts on Colombian biodiversity of the fumigation policy.

Contact:

Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense
426 17th Street
Sixth Floor
Oakland, CA 94612, USA
tel +510/550-6700
fax +510/550-6740
acederstav@aida2.org
www.aida-americas.org

Read more about this project in the Eco-Index:
www.eco-index.org/search/results.cfm?ProjectID=735