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Ecuador Fact Sheet
Deforestation is 45% in the lowlands, 48% in the highlands, and 8% in the Amazon basin. An estimated 680,000 acres (approximately 2,000 per day), of forest are lost every year.2 There are currently 108 endangered animal species in Ecuador.3 The coastal forests of Ecuador are in dire straits, with only about two percent of their original forest cover left. This forest destruction has mostly resulted from explosive population growth, doubling of agricultural activity, major increases in timber extraction, and the establishment of large-scale plantation forests of oil palm and eucalyptus.4 The Galápagos Islands have been seriously impacted by invasive alien species, and only three of the larger islands are considered relatively unaltered by human activity.5 In total, between 1990 and 2005, Ecuador lost about 21.5 percent of its forest cover. The deforestation rate has increased by 17 percent since the close of the 1990s.6 As of 2004, 15.6 percent of Ecuador was officially protected, though timber harvesting and other forest exploitation in protected areas is not uncommon.7 For many years Ecuador has been high on every [governmental] corruption ranking. On the listing of World Audit it is currently listed 113 together with countries like Libya, Uganda and Bolivia.8 Logging in Western Ecuador (coastal and low Andean) areas is responsible for the loss of 99 percent of the country's rainforest in this region.9 |
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Vietnam
Volunteers have the chance to teach English, care for and play with children in placements around central Vietnam. > Read More
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