The Spring of Life
Updated: 11 hours ago
ECHOES OF THE AMAZON PINK DOLPHIN
Laren: 23/10/2026
Help SELVA protect the forest that sustains the region’s only uncontaminated freshwater supply
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In an increasingly troubled world, hope still flows through SELVA’s UNESCO-recognised Amazon Reserve for Peace at Aguarico. The Municipality of Lago Agrio has affirmed that its forest sustains the only uncontaminated freshwater source in the surrounding region, from Lago Agrio to Tarapoa—an area of approximately 1,000 square kilometres.
That distinction lends an unexpected resonance to the name Aguarico, which invites a reading in Spanish: agua, water; rico, rich. Rich in water, in a landscape long shaped by the promises of petroleum wealth.
Every family’s most ordinary hopes—a healthy child, a shared meal, another morning—depend upon water, and without it a human life can end within days. Beneath the canopy, rain enters the patient life of roots and soil, gathering in the forest’s hidden depths before finding its way into the light as a spring.
For SELVA, this is a major conservation achievement, made possible by a commitment begun in 1980. Through difficult years, our team and the generosity of donors have sustained the daily presence that protecting rainforest demands. Their support has allowed us to defend primary forest and restore degraded ground, giving conservation the time it needs to bear results. At Aguarico, the importance of that perseverance has become unmistakable.
The value of this spring of life can also be expressed in economic terms. Aguarico’s approximately 87 hectares of primary rainforest sustain environmental services provisionally estimated at around $780,000 annually in purchasing-power-adjusted dollars. These include water regulation and purification, carbon sequestration and storage, climate regulation and habitat for biodiversity. The peer-reviewed study by Jackson, Doedderlein and Mulyadi, published in the Journal of Applied Business and Economics, provides the benchmark for this indicative calculation.
These figures belong to an evolving dialogue between the rainforest, research and conservation. Observation shapes the questions; scientific understanding guides action; the results deepen the inquiry. SELVA’s Theory of Intact Ecosystems—TIES examines the continuity on which ecological benefits depend, while the Green Diamond guides the progressive recreation of the defining characteristics of primary rainforest on degraded land. Here lies SELVA’s distinctive contribution: a lasting presence through which scientific inquiry and the defence of the living forest continually strengthen one another.
On 20 October, SELVA’s team and specialists from the Municipality of Lago Agrio undertook further testing to verify the earlier water-quality findings. We await the final laboratory results, which the municipality proposes to publish and present to a general assembly open to all affected communities. Our legal team has formally requested immediate protection for the Amazon Reserve for Peace at Aguarico and the surrounding area. The purpose is to safeguard the freshwater source within its forest by having this territory formally declared off limits to all extractive or polluting activity.
Yes the Spring of Life faces a serious threat at its very boundary. G-Power intends to establish a site for dumping highly toxic petroleum waste beside this freshwater refuge. After years spent confronting the damage left by oil extraction, we now find its residues seeking a place at the edge of the forest we have worked to keep intact.
The danger has a precedent. At Shushufindi, municipal inspectors found that rain carried contaminated soil from G-Power’s installations into nearby waters. Ordinary plastic had been used where a purpose-made impermeable liner was required, and other deficiencies compromised the containment of polluted drainage. As documented in Isabel Alarcón’s investigation for Pluma Verde, the municipality subsequently withdrew the company’s land-use permission and operating authorisation.
At Aguarico, the Municipality of Lago Agrio classifies the proposed site as rural protection land, principally designated for the conservation of natural heritage. Its finding on the compatibility of the waste activity is unequivocal: PROHIBIDO—PROHIBITED. The word is brief. Ensuring that it is respected has proved a more demanding undertaking.
G-Power is courting community support through a process described as “socialisation”, offering employment, infrastructure and financial benefits. Such promises warrant scrutiny, as does the business history behind them. The company’s 2019 audited accounts identify José Gabriel Massuh Isaías as its 60% shareholder. Edifikaland’s corporate records place him alongside Gustavo José Massuh Isaías as shareholders in that company; the latter was convicted of illicit association in the Odebrecht bribery scheme. For a company seeking community signatures for an activity the municipality has expressly prohibited, this is a somewhat unfortunate business pedigree.
The connections extend to environmental consultancy Siancero. Historical records show a shareholder in common with G-Power, whose audited accounts also identify transactions between the two companies. These relationships make independent assessment of any environmental assurances essential. Since challenging the project, SELVA has received pressure calls and threats; neighbouring residents describe similar intimidation, which they associate with their resistance to the proposed facility. The resolve to defend these waters is shared.
That resolve now needs the means to act.
Your donation will help SELVA bring the final findings before affected communities, support their participation in the proposed assembly, and pursue formal protection for the freshwater source and its surrounding forest. Contributions will fund legal and technical work, continued monitoring and the team’s presence on the ground, including the defence of the municipal prohibition.
A gift today will help meet these immediate needs; monthly support will sustain the work through the decisions ahead. Together, we can secure the future of this spring of life.
PLEASE DONATE TO PROTECT THE SPRING OF LIFE
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