After lifting heavy logs and rummaging through rocks, biologist Andrea Terán can finally say eureka! In her hands she has one of the two species of frog fighting a unique battle law against mining in Ecuador.
Drenched by the icy water that comes down from a crystalline waterfall, Terán studies the fragile life of the frog rocket resistance (no scientific name yet) and the snout harlequin (Atelopus longirostris), which was believed to be extinct for 30 years.
The discovery a few years ago of both amphibians, which measure up to four centimeters, caused joy among scientists and environmentalists.
And it became an argument to try to stop a 4,829-hectare mining project within a cloud forest with prehistoric-looking trees in Junínin the province of Imbabura, three and a half hours by car north of Quito.
The Atelopus longirostris first appeared in 2016. “It was a frog that came back from the dead,” said an emotional Terán, to whom the AFP accompanied on an expedition to study these amphibians in a wooded area that can be reached after almost two hours of walking.
But “if the water is contaminated (by mining) the last population of this frog is lost,” explained the biologist from the Jambatu Center, dedicated to amphibian research and conservation.
The harlequin snout is extinct according to the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). But scientists found it again in a forest handed over to the Llurimagua copper project, in charge of the state-owned Enami and the Chilean Codelco, whose operation is scheduled for 2024 with a production of 210,000 tons of copper per year.
The concession set off the alarms. And the discovery of a new rocket frog in 2019 did nothing but increase actions to save this habitat.
Terán led a lawsuit in 2020 in court to stop the exploitation. Although a judge agreed with him in the first instance, he lost on appeal.
In Ecuador -which entered large-scale mining in 2019- there are at least 12 projects in an advanced stage with reserves of some 43.7 million ounces of gold, 46,156 million pounds of copper and 183 million ounces of silver, according to the consultancy Grupo Spurrier.
Endurance
When scientists at the Jambatu Center found the new species of rocket frog, they thought it was the confused wet nurse (Ectopoglossus confusus).
However, an anatomical difference in her tongue and genetic studies determined in 2019 that she was a totally unknown species of the genus Ectopoglossus.
In an optimistic nod, they named this nimble little brown frog “resistance.”
“The conditions in which it lives are unique, with the noise of the waterfall we don’t know what its communication mechanisms are, we don’t know what its reproductive biology is like,” explains Terán.
In a second battle against the mining concession, a group of inhabitants of Junín and neighboring towns promoted a new protection action. Terán was a witness in this process.
The argument? Errors in impact studies and environmental management in the first phase of advanced explorationincluding the omission of a protection plan for the two species of frogs, says lawyer Mario Moncayo, whose law firm supports the case.
“There are so many mistakes. The rights of nature were violated, in addition, the documents were never properly disseminated to the community and an environmental consultation was not carried out” with the residents, Moncayo explained to the AFP.
But the judge who heard this new request declared that there was no such violation.
consulted by the AFP, government officials and representatives of the state mining company declined to comment..
“mega-responsible” decisions
In the legal field, the parties await the decision on a final appeal.
Ecuador, whose Constitution enshrines the protection of nature, 650 species of frogs are registered, of which almost 60% are at risk or critically endangered.
The country estimates that this year oil and mining production will represent 6% of GDP, according to the Central Bank.
“We are in a mega-diverse area and the decisions that must be made must be mega-responsible,” says the biologist.
The skin of frogs, which has great medicinal potential, makes them extremely sensitive to environmental changeswhich is why they are considered bioindicators: if the ecosystem is affected, they can begin to disappear.
The battle for the frogs is just the latest in three decades of unsuccessful struggle by environmentalists against mining in Junín.
In the town they are divided.
Hugo Ramírez, a 40-year-old farmer, believes that the finding of the frogs may finally stop the copper project.
“If the authorities give value to the species that live here, it should stop,” he says.
But for Pedro Vallejos, a 63-year-old carpenter, the environmentalists’ actions do not include options to alleviate poverty.
“In the countryside there are no jobs, there are no alternatives,” he laments. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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