New York – Ecuador President Rafael Correa’s proposal to ban drilling in the ITT block of Yasuni National Park was announced today at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting. Correa’s landmark decision simultaneously addresses two causes of global climate change – tropical deforestation and oil consumption.
The President is attempting to build support for the Yasuni-ITT proposal, named after Yasuni National Park, thought to be the Amazon basin’s most biodiverse area. Under the proposal, Ecuador would forego drilling an estimated 920 million barrels of crude oil contained in the Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (ITT) fields located directly under Yasuni.
The plan would entail Ecuador forgoing an estimated $4.6 billion in oil revenues and prevent significant carbon dioxide emissions as a result of avoided oil extraction activities in the lush Amazon rainforest.
Ecuador’s proposal is one of the most significant proposed commitments from a developing nation aimed at combating global climate change. The Ecuadorian government has invited the international community to help develop innovative financing options in support of the Yasuni-ITT proposal, to help this developing country make up for the foregone oil revenues.
Speaking earlier in the week at a UN meeting on climate change, President Correa stated: “For the first time, an oil-producing country, Ecuador, where a third of the state’s income depends on the exploitation of this resource, is renouncing this income for the wellbeing of all humanity and invites the world to join this effort through a fair compensation package, so that together we can sow the seeds of a more humane and just civilization.”
In addition to being home to some of the last indigenous peoples living traditional, isolated lifestyles anywhere in the Amazon basin, Yasuni also boasts stunning and irreplaceable biodiversity, including 4,000 plant species, 173 species of mammals and 610 bird species.
The Yasuni-ITT proposal is supported by an growing alliance of environmental groups and foundations, including Amazon Watch, Earth Economics, Save America’s Forests, the Pachamama Alliance, CS Mott Foundation, the Wallace Global Fund, and the World Resources Institute.
The Clinton Global Initiative (www.clintonglobalinitiative.org) is a non-partisan catalyst for action, bringing together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. The Clinton Global Initiative is a project of the William J. Clinton Foundation (www.clintonfoundation.org).
