EFE | QUITO – The Yasuni-ITT initiative, Ecuador's offer to forgo exploiting Amazon oil reserves in exchange for aid from wealthy nations, will take the form of a trust with an initial endowment from Germany, the Andean nation's foreign ministry said Friday.The plan emerged from a meeting in Berlin between Foreign Minister
Climate Change
Yasuní: Ecuador busca cambiar la historia "Una propuesta para cambiar la historia"
BBC Mundo | En esos términos describe el gobierno de Ecuador la iniciativa que promueve para frenar el cambio climático, con la que busca crear un nuevo paradigma.El proyecto, conocido como iniciativa Yasuní-ITT, pretende que se pague a Ecuador para que deje a perpetuidad, sin explotar y bajo tierra, parte de sus reservas petro
Ecuadorian Government Provisionally Delays Suspension of Environmental Organization's Legal Status
Members of Acción Ecológica, a close partner organization of Amazon Watch, were notified yesterday by Ecuador's Ministry of Health that the suspension of their legal status to operate in the country was provisionally put on hold. The Ecuadorian government will reach a final decision on this matter within two months.
Scientists warn of 'irreversible' climate shifts
The Associated Press | COPENHAGEN (AP) — Hundreds of leading scientists warned Thursday that global warming is accelerating beyond the worst predictions and threatening to trigger "irreversible" climate shifts on the planet.Saying there's no excuse for inaction, the nearly 2,000 climate researchers meeting in Copenhagen urged policy-makers
Yasuní: The Last Chance or the First Step?
Yasuní: The Last Chance or the First Step?By Esperanza MartínezAcción EcologicaOn Februray 5, 2009, presidential decree number 1572 indefinitely extended an initiative not to exploit crude oil located in Yasuní National Park in Ecuador.With this, the Yasuní-ITT ini
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Ecuador Decree Keeps Oil Companies at Bay
President Indefinitely Extends Historic Rainforest Protection Proposal
Quito, Ecuador, Feb 24 (AW) – The President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, recently signed a decree that breathed new life into the country’s pioneer proposal to keep its largest oil field permanently underground in one of the most pristine areas of rainforest in the world.
President condemned for uncontacted tribes policy
From Survival InternationalPresident Correa has been condemned by Ecuador's national indigenous peoples' organisation CONAIE over his policy towards uncontacted Indians.'Correa's regime is promoting oil production on land inhabited by uncontacted tribes,' says a statement from CONAIE.The statement w
Gobierno amplia hasta junio plan para evitar extracción de crudo del ITT
AFP | Quito, AFPEcuador extendió hasta junio próximo su plan para lograr una millonaria compensación a cambio de evitar la extracción de unos 920 millones de barriles de petróleo en la selva de la Amazonia, anunció el lunes el canciller Fander Falconí."Todo el proyecto se prolonga durante seis meses adicionales
A CLIMATE GIFT FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS . . . Ecuador Seeks to Commercialize Rainforest
Der Spiegel | Ecuador is the first country in the world to announce plans to leave the oil reserves beneath its rainforests in the ground.
Ecuador Constitution Grants Rights to Nature
New York Times | News accounts of Ecuador�s vote on Sunday approving a new Constitution mainly focused on how its terms could help the country�s leftist leader, Rafael Correa, an American-educated economist, gain and hold more power.
Petrobras to return Amazon oilfield to Ecuador
Reuters | QUITO - Brazilian oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has agreed to give back to Ecuador a controversial oilfield in the heart of the Amazon jungle, President Rafael Correa said on Saturday.Correa, a leftist former economy minister and ally of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da S
Putting nature in Ecuador's constitution
Los Angeles Times---Editorial | In an experiment worth watching, Ecuador will ask voters to decide whether nature has rights.This month, Ecuador will hold the world's first constitutional referendum in which voters will decide, among many other reforms, whether to endow nature with certain unalienable rights.
Ecuador’s New Constitution
Ecuador’s new constitution, approved by their Constituent Assembly July 24 and headed for voter approval in September, includes a number of articles that add environmental protections and make resource extraction in national parks like Yasuni more difficult to pursue.
Yasuni-ITT Proposal Update
Enthusiasm continues to surround the Ecuadorian government’s landmark proposal to keep its largest oil reserve, located beneath Yasuni National Park, in the ground.
Ecuador Celebrates World Environment Day
Marks First Anniversary of ITT Initiative
(Washington, DC-) In order to celebrate World Environment Day as well as the first anniversary of the signing on the Ishipingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) Initiative, the Embassy of Ecuador in the United States is please to present the status of this unique initiative.
ECUADORIAN INDIGENOUS CONFEDERATION PROTESTS MINING LAW
(Quito, January 21.
Indígenas Huaroani piden explicaciones sobre la entrega de la licencia a Petrobras
EFE | Quito, 31 oct- Medio centenar de indígenas de la etnia huaorani, que habitan en el norte de la provincia amazónica de Orellana, solicitaron hoy al Gobierno de Ecuador una explicación sobre la entrega de la licencia ambiental a la petrolera brasileña Petrobras, para la explotación de crudo en esa zona.Ese grupo de
Ecuador clears Petrobras for Block 31 oilfield
Reuters | QUITO - Ecuador has authorized an environmental permit for Brazil's Petrobras to develop the Block 31 oilfield in the Amazon region, which should start production in 2009, President Rafael Correa said on Tuesday.The clearing of the environmental license was the last stage in the project, which is vital for Ecuador to i
Ecuador to halt oil drilling in pristine forest
Reuters | QUITO - Ecuador said on Tuesday it will not allow oil drilling in a pristine Amazon jungle area inhabited by unique tropical species and Indian tribes hidden from the outside world.The move could hurt the operations of China's Andes Petroleum (0857.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), Spain's Repsol (REP.MC: Quote, Profile,
Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts
New York Times | The Arctic ice cap shrank so much this summer that waves briefly lapped along two long-imagined Arctic shipping routes, the Northwest Passage over Canada and the Northern Sea Route over Russia.Over all, the floating ice dwindled to an extent unparalleled in a century or more, by several estimates.Now the six-mon
Ecuador’s Pioneering Climate Change Plan Announced at Clinton Global Initiative President Correa’s Proposal Would Reduce Greenhouse Gases, Protect the Amazon and Make Ecuador an Environmental World Leader
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.
Ecuador's Yasuni-ITT Proposal Recognized at the Clinton Global Initiative - A Step Towards a Sustainable Economy
New York – Today at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), the Ecuadorian proposal “Leaving Ecuador’s Oil in the Ground” which seeks to avoid carbon emissions and save the Yasuni Rainforest has been selected from among close to a thousand other proposals, to be highlighted in the Energy and Climate Change: Protecting Tr
Ecuador Presents Leadership Role on Climate Change
NEW YORK – Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa today presented the Yasuní-ITT Initiative at a United Nations meeting of world leader’s on global climate change.
Ecuador Seeks Oil 'Compensation'
BBC News | The Yasuni National Park in Ecuador is reckoned to be one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet.
$350m to leave oil in the ground
The Guardian | Lago Agrio – Long before you reach the site the jungle changes. Birds and insects fall quiet, streams turn inky and trees become stunted, their leaves blackened and scrunched up, like fists.
Support Grows for Letting Sleeping Amazon Oil Lie
IPS | QUITO, Aug 23 (IPS) - The innovative offer by the government of Ecuador to refrain from exploiting its largest oil reserve, in exchange for international compensation for nature conservation, is attracting increasing support.While oil prices are soaring, Quito is adopting the civil society initiative calling for the Is
The 11th Hour Movie
The 11th Hour is Leonardo DiCaprio’s new environmental film, and includes visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet’s ecosystems, as well as insight gathered from over 70 scientists, designers, historians and thinkers.“The 11th Hour examines the human relationship with Earth from its earliest gli
Support Grows to Save Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park
Two months after the Government of Ecuador launched a pioneer proposal to save its most treasured national park from oil extraction, the international community is stepping up to support what could be a precedent setting victory for the environment and indigenous rights worldwide.
Hundreds Gather in Ecuador's Rainforest To Send Message to Live Earth Human Banners Call on the World to: Keep Yasuni Park Off Limits to the Oil Industry and Force Chevron to Clean Up Toxic Pollution
PHOTOS AND B-ROLL AVAILABLE ON REQUEST FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO VIEW THE AMAZON SOS PSA, SEE LINKS BELOWYasuni National Park, Ecuador – Indigenous communities from Yasuni National Park, home to some of the most biodiverse primary tropical rainforest on the planet, sent a message to the world today pleading t
