Ecuador, Yasuní initiative a historic deal

The Government of Ecuador and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed this week a historic deal to leave an estimated 846 million barrels of crude oil untapped beneath Yasuní National Park, a World Biosphere Reserve since 1989, Ecuador is going to receive a trust found from donor countries in compensation for leaving the oil reserves untouched.

 
The Yasuní National Park is considered one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, covers 982,000 hectares and is located in the Upper Napo valley in the Western Amazon region of Ecuador. Thee park is also a home for a series of indigenous people, the huaorani and also two communities who do not have contact with modern society.

The agreement establishes a trust fund to protect an ecological site in an oil-rich area of the Ecuadorian Amazon, an estimated of 846 million barrels. The fund’s objective is to hold at least 50% of the estimated US$7 billion that drilling for the oil would bring.

The Yasuní initiative contributes to the fight against climate change by preventing discharge into the atmosphere of more than 400 million metric tons of carbon, which would result from the burning of fossil fuels if oil were extracted, this is about the same as what Brazil or France emit in a year.

Photo: Yasuni - ITT