[ [link removed] ]Aerial view of the Choco forest in Ecuador

John,

It might be the most important rainforest you’ve never heard of. The
Ecuadorian Choco is one of the most biodiverse places on the face of the
Earth, a forest so rich with life that a recent trip by scientists took
only 45 minutes to discover a new species!

But 98% of it has already been decimated by logging…and a palm oil giant
wants to destroy what little is left.

Fortunately, a tiny local community is fighting back with all their might
– and taking these planet-destroyers to court!

Legal experts say they can win – but the key to the case is a costly
environmental study that they simply can’t afford. Can you help these
local heroes save this critical piece of our planet’s nature?



[ [link removed] ]Chip in
$1[ [link removed] ]Chip
in another amount


The Afro-Ecuadorian community of Baranquilla de San Javier owns this land.
They even have the paperwork to prove it. And while they wait for the
lawsuit, they’ve been peacefully organizing to defend their forest against
this merciless ransacking.

They’ve blocked roads and done everything they can to slow down Energy
Palm’s plans. But the moment the company got wind of the legal action,
they retaliated with a lawsuit of their own, falsely accusing this tiny
community of causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage.

This is a lie. Even police reports don’t show any material damage caused
by Indigenous organizing efforts. But Energy Palm’s strategy is crystal
clear: it wants to bury this small community under legal fees they can’t
afford – and make them give up their resistance.

Your donation today will go to quickly hire researchers, pay for the field
work the study entails, and support our campaigning to protect this small
community and their precious ecosystem against yet another corporate
bully. Can you chip in?



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$1[ [link removed] ]Chip
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If this community has to pay anything to this greedy company, it would be
a huge loss for everyone organizing to protect forests everywhere.
Peaceful forest protectors shouldn’t be legally bullied by rapacious
companies that pillage one of our most precious collective resource.

But SumOfUs members like you have helped save rainforests and Indigenous
ancestral lands all over the world before. We must repeat this miracle
again and again.

Will you donate to give this small community a fighting chance?



  Thanks for all that you do,  
Ibrahim, Alys, and the team at SumOfUs



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More information:

[ [link removed] ]Community in Ecuador punished for trying to stop alleged palm oil
pollution. Mongabay. 4 February 2022.

[ [link removed] ]Ecuador: Defensores del ambiente sentenciados a pagar 151 mil dólares a
palmicultora. Pressenza. 11 September 2021. (Spanish; [ [link removed] ]here in English)

[ [link removed] ]Comuna de Barranquilla insiste en denuncia contra palmicultora por
contaminación e invasión de tierras. GK. 1 December 2021. (Spanish)

 

SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

Please help keep SumOfUs strong by chipping in $3. [link removed]