The New Green Economy

Entering Yasuní National park literally takes your breath away. The air is thick with humidity; the smells of earth and plush vegetation absorb your lungs and the beautiful intricacy of the jungle consumes all thoughts and movements. Most would say it is the quintessential idea of paradise. This one-of-a-kind area is located in the far northwestern part of Ecuador deep in the Amazon; it has been said to contain more biodiversity of plants and animals than any other area in the world. In 2.5 acres, there are more types of trees than in the United States and Canada combined. The jungle is also home to some of the last indigenous tribes still living in voluntary isolation, including the Waorani who have been living off the land there for at least five centuries.

But, the jungle has another secret found deep beneath its roots: oil. The largest undeveloped oil reserve in Ecuador in fact, the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oil block.  The extremely sought after 900 million barrel oilfields are comprised of a heavy crude oil which is generally very difficult to extract and produces four barrels of water per barrel of oil. This water, which is extremely contaminated and poisonous, is usually re-injected into the ground after extraction, and in turn causes severe pollution throughout the ground and water systems.

For decades, environmental groups and indigenous organizations from the area have been able to protect Yasuní from a destructive fate that is all too well known in Ecuador. This oil-rich country has experienced 50 years of extraction, which in turn has wiped out entire indigenous groups, poisoned major fresh water sources, killed numerous species of animals and plants, and still has done nothing to help Ecuador out of its billions of dollars in debt. Just like one of its fellow South American countries, Venezuela, the dependence on oil extraction has completely backfired for Ecuador’s economy and people.

What’s new is that within the past three years, a unique approach to the oil under Yasuní has been introduced. Known as the Yasuní-ITT initiative, Ecuador has proposed an innovative and extreme solution to the international community; that Ecuador will NOT allow extraction of the oil in the ITT-block if other nations, international development banks and private creditors can create a compensation trust fund to leave the oil in the ground in order to fund sustainable development for the future in Ecuador. It would be an exchange of debt relief for carbon credit by other countries. Which isn’t a bad idea considering the carbon embodied in ITT represents an avoided CO2 emission of 436 million tons and an avoided cost of mitigation of up to 4.36 billion dollars (at $10/ton). In turn, Ecuador has asked for $350 million a year for ten years to be put into the financial trust. The government has also agreed that this trust fund would be advised and controlled by both the Ecuadorian state and the international contributors.

This approach, known as Plan A has been discussed between Ecuador and other countries such as Germany, Norway, Spain and the UK among other European nations who have shown interest. But, as Fabian Espinosa claims, first negotiations have since been abandoned, largely due to the change in negotiators by Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, who lacked confidence with the initial delegates.

“Instead of reclaiming or restoring contact and dialogue with European countries that were in favor of supporting this initiative, they are considering other potential donors, countries like Iran, Turkey and other countries that do not play, or have not played a particularly leading role in raising environmental awareness.”

Since the countries that hold the greatest possibility of making this initiative a reality are no longer involved (generally European states) many Ecuadorians, including Espinosa believe Plan B, the alternative approach, will go into effect.

But, the oil extraction plan does have its obstacles.  Ecuadorian law states that everything above ground is owned by the people who live there (in this case the isolated indigenous groups), and everything below the ground belongs to the Ecuadorian state. A tricky play on words that has created much confusion within the Yasuní conflict for the simple reason that the Ecuadorian state would have to destroy everything above the ground to extract anything below it. So, dialogue has occurred concerning the actual boundaries of the national park. If the State can change the boundaries of the park to not include the ITT oilfields they will not be infringing on any existing laws. Never mind that this will still displace and possibly wipe out at least two indigenous tribes and an unfathomable amount of primary forest.

To continue reading about the Yasuni National Park and the conservation efforts to save it go to New Era News.