QUITO, Ecuador — President Rafael Correa said Thursday that he has abandoned a unique and ambitious plan to persuade rich countries to pay Ecuador not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon rainforest preserve.
Environmentalist had hailed the initiative when Correa first proposed it in 2007, saying he was setting a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of preserving the environment.
“The world has failed us,” Correa said in a nationally televised speech. He said the global recession was in part responsible, but chiefly blamed “the great hypocrisy” of nations who emit most of the world’s greenhouse gases.
It was not charity that we sought from the international community, but co-responsibility in the face of climate change.”
Correa had sought US$3.6-billion in contributions to maintain a moratorium on drilling in the remote Yasuni National Park, which was declared a biosphere reserve by the United Nations in 1989 and is home to two Indian tribes living in voluntary isolation.
But he said Thursday evening that Ecuador had raised just US$13-million in actual donations in pledges and that he had an obligation to his people, particularly the poor, to move ahead with drilling. The U.N. and private donors had put up the cash.
Correa said he was proposing to the National Assembly, which his supporters control, oil exploration in Yasuni amounting to less than 1% of its 3,800 square miles.
His no-drilling plan had envisioned rich countries paying Ecuador half the US$7.2-billion in revenues expected to be generated over 10 years from the 846 million barrels of heavy crude estimated to be in Yasuni.
Not drilling in the reserve would keep 410 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, officials had said during their global lobbying campaign that included organizing tours of the reserve for journalists.
It was not charity that we sought from the international community, but co-responsibility in the face of climate change.”
Correa had sought US$3.6-billion in contributions to maintain a moratorium on drilling in the remote Yasuni National Park, which was declared a biosphere reserve by the United Nations in 1989 and is home to two Indian tribes living in voluntary isolation.
But he said Thursday evening that Ecuador had raised just US$13-million in actual donations in pledges and that he had an obligation to his people, particularly the poor, to move ahead with drilling. The U.N. and private donors had put up the cash.
Correa said he was proposing to the National Assembly, which his supporters control, oil exploration in Yasuni amounting to less than 1% of its 3,800 square miles.
His no-drilling plan had envisioned rich countries paying Ecuador half the US$7.2-billion in revenues expected to be generated over 10 years from the 846 million barrels of heavy crude estimated to be in Yasuni.
Source:
Ecuador to drill for oil in Amazon rainforest after rich countries failed to pay up | Financial Post
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