Oil Spill In Ecuador Affects Nation’s Amazon Forest

Ecuador’s environment ministry says an oil spill in eastern ecuador has reached a protected area of the nation’s amazon rainforest and contaminated a river that supplies water to indigenous communities.

Nearly two hectares of a protected area of the cayambe-coca national park have been contaminated, as well as the coca river – one of the biggest in the ecuadorian amazon.

The park of some 400,000 hectares is home to a wide variety of animals, including red brocket deer and various amphibians, and holds important water reserves.

Neither the government nor ocp ecuador has quantified the extent of the spill, but the environmental authority has described it as a “major” pollution event.