The Ecuadorian government is currently racing ahead with plans to drill for oil in the core of what is arguably the most biodiverse corner of the planet: Blocks 31 and ITT of the famed Yasuní National Park. This new aggressive push for oil drilling comes as a stunning backlash to the failure of a 6-year initiative seeking international financial compensation in exchange for leaving the oil permanently underground.
In response, the “Scientists Concerned for Yasuní” – a group of more than 100 scientists from Ecuador and 18 other countries around the world – submitted a statement to the Ecuadorian Congress detailing the extraordinary biodiversity of the park and strongly warning against allowing new oil drilling in its core.
According to amphibian expert Shawn McCracken of Texas State University, “The scientist’s statement details and reaffirms that Yasuní National Park may very well be the most biodiverse place in the world.”
In a sentiment echoed by long-time primate expert Anthony Di Fiore of the University of Texas at Austin, “The diversity of Yasuní National Park really is quite stunning when you realize the extreme richness spans across all biological groups. From monkeys to birds to amphibians to woody plants, Yasuní is among the world record holders in almost every category.”
Indeed, Yasuní is a remarkable convergence of global peak diversity levels of amphibian, bird, insect, mammal, and tree species. This extraordinary diversity is likely due to the park’s unique and strategic location at the intersection of the Amazon, the Andes, and the Equator.
In addition to the biodiversity, by targeting the core of the park, the drilling project also threatens some of the world’s last remaining indigenous people living in voluntary isolation.
As Stuart Pimm of Duke University notes, “Countless future generations will not understand why we carelessly destroyed the most biologically diverse areas of our planet, nor why we destroyed the indigenous cultures of people who lived in them. Yasuní is exceptionally rich in species and home to diverse cultures— including some living in voluntary isolation. It’s protection defends nature and peoples: destroying it would be a particular tragedy.”
Finally, it is worth noting that several colleagues and I recently published a peer-reviewed scientific study on the potential of best practice to minimize the impacts of Amazonian oil drilling. That study laid out the importance of considering ecological and social factors when deciding where to drill. Considering impacts to one of the most important protected areas in the world and its indigenous inhabitants, the core of Yasuní National Park represents the perfect example of where drilling should not occur.
