Des Moines Conservation Funding

The Intag Valley in Ecuador is one of the world's most biodiverse places, its dense cloud forests bursting with plant and animal species. 

But the world's largest copper company wants to build a mine amidst its riches, so local leaders are organizing a conservation campaign: Mongabay's associate digital editor Romi Castagnino recently visited the area and joins this episode to discuss what she and staff writer Liz Kimbrough reported, and how that article sparked key support from one of Hollywood's top environmentalists, Leonardo DiCaprio.

Click 'play' to hear what she saw, and read Mongabay's full report from the valley here:

• In Ecuador, communities protecting a ‘terrestrial coral reef’ face a mining giant

This is the first feature in Mongabay's new series, Conservation Potential:   

• Mongabay’s Conservation Potential series asks: Where do we need to protect biodiversity?

Here's an update on the effort:

• Ecuador court upholds ‘rights of nature,’ blocks Intag Valley copper mine

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Image: A silk eyed moth photographed on the arm of Liz Kimbrough. Image by Romi Castagnino for Mongabay.