In response to President Rafael Correa‘s decision to terminate the historic Yasuní-ITT initiative, an innovative plan to preserve the world’s most biodiverse rainforest in the Yasuní National Park, hundreds of Ecuadorians have taken to the streets to protest and are preparing a national referendum to reverse this decision.
The ground-breaking initiative launched in 2007 would keep some 920 million barrels of oil underneath the park permanently in the ground in exchange for financial contributions from the international community. The plan would also keep an estimated 410 million tons of CO2 – the major greenhouse gas driving climate change – from reaching the atmosphere.
But Correa, citing the proposal’s lack of contributions, signed a decree to liquidate the UNDP trust fund, and declared drilling in the national interest, a designation that sets in motion final approval from Congress to pursue drilling.
However, recent polls show that 90% of Ecuadorians support the Yasuní-ITT initiative, and at protests across the country they have begun to gather signatures for a national referendum that could reverse the president’s decision to allow drilling in this part of the park.
The park is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and contains what are thought to be the greatest number of tree and insect species anywhere on the planet. In just 2.5 acres of the park, there are as many tree species as in all of the U.S. and Canada combined. The area is also home to the Waorani indigenous people, and two nomadic Waorani clans – the Tagaeri and Taromenane – who live in voluntary isolation. Attempts to drill the ITT fields would put their lives and livelihoods at risk.
Stay tuned for more information and ways to get involved! In the meantime, check out:
Viva Yasuní!
Kevin Koenig
Ecuador Program Coordinator
Be a Seed for Change 
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