Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa ended the Yasuni Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha
(Yasuni-ITT) initiative, a pioneering conservation plan to protect the Yasuni
National Park in the Ecuadorean Amazons. His executive order on August 15 ended
the plan which had been active for six years.
The Yasuni National Park in Eastern Ecuador covers an area of
9800 square kilometers. It is one of the world’s richest areas in biodiversity.
It is home to many amphibians, reptiles and other flora and fauna. It is also
home to the Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha (ITT) oil fields which are estimated
to have 800 million barrels of crude oil, one fifths of the total estimated
reserves in Ecuador.
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| Location of the Yasuni National Park (Wikimedia Commons) |
The Yasuni-ITT initiative was designed by the then Energy minister Alberto Acosta and was inaugurated in June 2007. Ecuador intended to leave the park undisturbed in exchange for compensation from the international community. In addition to the preservation of the park, it was estimated that the initiative would prevent 400 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. The government hoped to generate funds of at least 50% of the profits that it would receive were it to utilize the oil reserves. In total it hoped that $3.6 billion would be raised over 12 years.
However, the Ecuadorean president was disappointed at the
response. While some private contributors including former U.S. vice president
Al Gore donated funds, it had little support from governments. Therefore,
Correa lamented that "the world has failed us." Furthermore, he
called the world's richest countries hypocrites who emit most of the world's
greenhouse gases while expecting nations like his to sacrifice economic
progress for the environment. "It was not charity that we sought from the
international community, but co-responsibility in the face of climate
change," Correa also said. Through his executive order, he liquidated the Yasuni-ITT
trust fund formally ending the initiative. Correa added that only $336 million
had been pledged, and of that only $13.3 million had actually been delivered.
Although it was hailed as an idealistic project, the
Yamani-ITT initiative had several problems. Critics accused Correa of
environmental extortion. Others were skeptical about what would happen to
donations if the program collapsed.
The president assured that the oil drilling would affect only
one percent of the area of the park, which may not reassure anyone. Some argue
that building roads and other constructions in the area will inevitably lead to
a much bigger environmental damage. However, whether Correa’s assessment is
correct or not is immaterial. The fact that a popular leftist president chose
development over environment has far reaching implications.
Under Rafael Correa, Ecuador was
known for her progressive environmentalist measures. It is the first country
which recognized the rights of nature by its constitution. However, some of his
former allies predicted the coming change in Correa’s policies. Acosta, who was
the architect of the Yamani-ITT initiative and was also instrumental in
drafting the 2008 constitution, ran against him in the presidential election
last February. Acosta lamented that Correa was almost his brother but had later
deviated from the basic principles of revolution. He predicted that Correa was
going to scrap the Yasuni-ITT initiative. “The infrastructure is already in
place to exploit the oil," Acosta warned during the election campaign.
"Correa takes credit for the ITT initiative outside of Ecuador. But in
reality he doesn't feel comfortable with it. He's preparing to blame rich
nations for not giving enough to make it work."
More than half of Ecuador’s
current crude oil output is exported to the United States despite the political
differences between the two countries. Meanwhile, Ecuador has also been a key
recipient of Chinese investment and aid. China, an energy hungry giant, is
seeking other sources of energy because of the volatile political situation in
Western Asia. Therefore, China may have had a big hand in forcing Rafael Correa
to backtrack on Yasuni.
After his presidential election
victory in February, where he received 57 percent of the vote and after the
death of Hugo Chavez a few days later, Rafael Correa was mentioned as a
possible leader of the Latin American left. However his latest move has damaged
his credibility as a populist leader considerably. Around 80 percent
Ecuadorians oppose drilling in Yasuni National Park despite their president’s
decision.
