Deforestation in Ecuador, 2005-2013, one-year moving average (16-day interval). According to U.N. data, Ecuador had one of the highest rates of deforestation in South America during the 2000's, losing 1.8 percent of its forest cover annually. Graphic: Mongabay.com / Terra-I

By Rhett A. Butler
4 September 2013 (mongabay.com) – Data released this week by Terra-i, a collaborative mapping initiative, shows that deforestation in Ecuador for the first three months of 2013 was pacing more than 300 percent ahead of last year’s rate. The report comes shortly after Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa killed off a proposed plan to prohibit oil drilling in Yasuni National Park in exchange for payments equivalent to half the value of the park’s unexploited oil reserves. […] According to U.N. data, Ecuador had one of the highest rates of deforestation in South America during the 2000’s, losing 1.8 percent of its forest cover annually. [more]

Deforestation surges as Ecuador kills Amazon protection plan