- It is reported Ecuador will be compensated for leaving oil reserves in
Yasuni National Park untouched. This is a major victory for Ecuador, the
rainforest movement, and Ecological Internet - who was the first to campaign
internationally on the issue.
From Earth's Newsdesk and the Rainforest Portal, projects of Ecological
Internet (EI)
http://www.ecoearth.info/newsdesk/ | http://www.rainforestportal.org/
Ecuador's government announced today it has reached a deal with the United
Nations Development Program under which donor countries will compensate
Quito for leaving oil reserves untouched in a large primary rainforest
filled national park. Yasuni National Park - covering some 9,820 km2, or
about the size of Massachusetts - is thought to be one of Earth's most
biodiversity rich sites and is also home to several nomadic Indian tribes.
Yasuni's preservation (total protection, not "sustainable management" or
"conservation") would spare Earth some 410 million metric tons of carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions that contribute to global warming; while keeping
biodiversity, ecosystems and cultures fully intact. The official signing is
reported to be held on Tuesday.
Ecological Internet's Earth Action Network [1] was the first to campaign
internationally on threats to Yasuni from oil exploration, successfully
internationalizing the issue. "This marvelous rainforest and climate victory
is very gratifying and exciting," states Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet
President. "Ecological Internet began to campaign in the early 2000s to
protect Yasuni National Park from oil development, and continuously since.
Like so many of our campaigns, it has just taken off. Our efforts were
picked up by 'The Ecologist' Magazine, and since then a large local and
global movement has been built - including the Yasuni-ITT Initiative,
Scientists Concerned for Yasuni, Save America's Forest and many other
participants - who share in this victory."
In 2007, Ecuador's then President Rafael Correa launched the Yasuni-ITT
Initiative, which sought compensation for agreeing to forgo exploiting the
estimated 846 million barrels of crude in the Yasuni National Park.
Negotiations had centered on the amount of compensation Ecuador would
receive, with Correa insisting his nation get at least 3.5 billion dollars
over ten years -- about half the value of the estimated reserves in the
protected area. When international donors were slow to respond, Ecological
Internet launched another campaign which successfully "nudged" donor nations
to fund this Yasuni-ITT proposal[2]. As of early this year, about half had
been pledged, with Germany (910 million) and Spain (241.8 million) leading
the group of donors that included France, Sweden and Switzerland.
### MORE ###
Much of the remainder of the Western Amazon -- home to some of the most
biodiverse and intact primary rainforest ecosystems left on Earth, which are
critical for driving regional and global ecosystems and climatic patterns
necessary for life - are threatened with decimation by oil rigs and
pipelines. Over 180 oil and gas "blocks" - covering some 688,000 km2 (170
million acres) of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and western Brazil
(nearly the size of Texas) - areas zoned for exploration and development.
This energy production is concentrated in the Amazon's largest remaining
un-fragmented primary rainforest wildernesses, containing the most species
of birds, mammals, and amphibians.
"Destruction of primary rainforests for oil production and other industrial
developments is a global ecological emergency. Regional governments,
international donors and global citizens must decide whether every last bit
of the Earth's old forest wildernesses; and intact, large ecosystems which
make Earth habitable, will be sacrificed to delay having to transition now
to renewable energy sources. In the process, abrupt run-away climate change,
mass extinction and social disintegration will be ensured. This deal, if
indeed signed as reported on Tuesday, represents a major new model for
achieving global ecological sustainability, which must be replicated
wherever primary rainforests shroud oil reserves. Further, it sets the
precedent that to truly be protected, primary rainforests must be fully
preserved in an intact condition, and not 'sustainably managed', which is a
myth," explains Dr. Barry.
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