This special 15th year anniversary issue of Amazon in Focus celebrates the hard work and accomplishments of our team, our indigenous partners, and you – our growing network of supporters who now number more than 165,000 and span 137 countries.
Yasuni
Ecuador Asks World to Pay to Keep Yasuni Oil Underground
International climate funds might be one way for the world to convince Ecuador to not pump oil from underneath a biologically rich rainforest region
Scientific American | Ecuador is eyeing the international Green Climate Fund as a way to help pay for its plan to trade oil for forests.
How Far Would You Go To Save It All?
The Understory | That's the tagline for a new documentary being made about the Yasuni national forest in Ecuador, which has been called "Earth's Eden" because of its stunning beauty and incredible biodiversity, and which the oil industry has been all to eager to despoil.
Indigenous Leaders Call for Ecuador Government to Stop Oil Leasing Plans
Indian Country Today | Indigenous leaders from Ecuador's Amazonian lowlands are calling for the government to drop plans to auction 21 leases near the Peruvian border for oil drilling.
Oil Discovery in Ecuador Prompts Plan to Protect Indigenous Territories
Indian Country | Ecuador's Yasuní National Park is one of the richest places on earth, with a wealth of flora and fauna – some found nowhere else on the planet – in its forests, and an estimated 850 million barrels of petroleum beneath them. It is also home to the Tagaeri and Taromenane, tribes that continued to shun contact with the outside world.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Ransom: Rainforest Held Hostage by Oil Interests Unless the World Pays
Financial Times | Time is running out for Yasuní, a world biosphere reserve that sits on top of a fifth of Ecuador's oil reserves.
Amazon in Focus 2011: A Year in the Struggle to Defend the Amazon
A Year in the Struggle to Defend the Amazon
Defending the Amazon is a defining battle of our time and has the potential to shift the balance towards justice, ecological balance and the recognition of our interdependence on nature and living systems. In this year's Amazon in Focus, we share stories from this struggle.
Germany's Withdrawal of Funding Threatens Plan to Save Ecuador Forest
Science Insider | The Ecuadorian government's plan to keep oil in the ground in Yasuni National Park in exchange for compensation from world governments has taken a severe blow in recent days.
Ecuador's Yasuni-ITT Proposal: Precedent and Practicality
Precedent and Practicality
Time is ticking for Yasuni in Ecuador, one of the most bio-diverse forests on the planet. Only a small percentage of the funds have been raised, and Correa has set a December deadline.
Journey to the Amazon, A Forest Worth Fighting For
From the contamination left by Chevron's former operations to the pristine and breathtaking Yasuni National Forest, we witnessed the true human and environmental cost of oil extraction, as well as the beauty that is worth saving.
2011 Delegation to the Ecuadorian Amazon
A journey to the heart of the Ecuadorian rainforest to experience both Chevron's legacy of contamination and the pristine and breathtaking Yasuni National Forest.
Amazon in Focus 2010
In this year’s Amazon in Focus, we are pleased to present to you powerful and insightful articles from our campaigners in the field. The journeys and events that inspired these articles demonstrate the breadth of our work and, at the same time, the depth of our connection to our indigenous partners and the rainforest.
Yasuni-ITT: Oil Change or More of the Same?
The Ishpingo, Tambococha, Tiputini oil fields are Ecuador's largest. According to estimates, they could yield up to 900 million barrels of heavy crude. But in a cruel twist of geologic fate, they happen to lie beneath one of the most biodiverse places on the planet – Yasuni National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
The September Eye on the Amazon Is Out!
The latest version of our Eye on the Amazon enewsletter is out and online. Among other developments, it highlights the historic agreement the Government of Ecuador has made with the United Nations to create a trust fund in exchange for refraining from drilling for oil in the Yasuni National Park.
Ecuador's Untapped Oil The value of 846 million barrels of oil left in the ground: priceless
Los Angeles Times | What is a barrel of oil worth? Generally, the answer depends on a number of factors, including the mood of the commodities markets, the grade of the oil and demand at the gas pump.
Ecuador Signs $3.6 Billion Deal Not to Exploit Oil-Rich Amazon Reserve
The Guardian | ioneering deal signed with UN sets up trust fund by wealthy countries worth half expected earnings from potential sale of oil
Ecuador Signs Historic Yasuni-ITT Deal with UNDP To Keep Oil in the Soil and CO2 out of the Atmosphere
Praise for Pioneering Proposal is Mixed with Concerns by Indigenous Groups Over New Drilling Planned in Southern Ecuador's Pristine Rainforests
Quito, Ecuador – Ecuador plans to sign an agreement today with the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) that will open an international trust fund to receive donations supporting the government's proposal to keep some 900 million barrels of oil in the ground.
Acción Ecológica: ¿Qué celebramos con la firma del fideicomiso de la iniciativa Yasuní?
La firma del fideicomiso es un paso importante pues sin él la iniciativa Yasuní no tendría posibilidades de continuar, es más podríamos decir que después de 3 años empieza a concretarse ahora.
Entre todo/as lo logramos: La firma del fideicomiso para la Iniciativa Yasuní-ITT
Alberto AcostaUn día después de la conmemoración del segundo bicentenario del asesinato de los patriotas por parte de las tropas españolas en la ciudad de Quito, el día 2 de agosto del 2010, en el marco de la Iniciativa Yasuní-ITT
En el Dia de la Tierra CONAIE Pone su Voz en la Cumbre de los Pueblos, Cambio Climatico y Derechos de la Madre Tierra
CONAIE Rechaza Aprobación de Ley de Agua y Plan B para Explotar el Yasuní ITT
Representantes de la Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador CONAIE y su máximo líder Marlon Santi, prota
The Wrong Kind of Green
The Nation Magazine | Why did America's leading environmental groups jet to Copenhagen and lobby for policies that will lead to the faster death of the rainforests–and runaway global warming? Why are their lobbyists on Capitol Hill dismissing the only real solutions to climate change as "unworkable" and "unrealistic," as though they we
Yasuní-ITT: Chronicle of a Death Foretold?
by Kevin Koenig, Northern Amazon Program CoordinatorEcuador's historic proposal to keep some 850 million barrels of crude that lay beneath the country's stunning Yasuní National Park hit a familiar roadblock last weekend, as President Rafael Correa undermined his own negotiating team, denounced foreign don
Ecuador Foreign Minister, criticized for Amazon project, quits
Reuters | QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Fander Falconi stepped down Tuesday, a source at the ministry said, after President Rafael Correa criticized the way that Falconi was negotiating an Amazon rain forest protection project."He resigned this morning," said the source, who has direct knowledge of the situation
Se resquebraja el proyecto Yasuní
BBC | Quito–El proyecto Yasuní-ITT, que busca dejar petróleo bajo tierra en la Amazonia ecuatoriana a cambio de un aporte económico de la comunidad internacional, se resquebraja.
Ecuador Minister Resigns Over Amazon Oil Project
AP | QUITO, Ecuador (AP) – Ecuador's foreign minister resigned Tuesday after President Rafael Correa criticized his handling of negotiations to prevent oil drilling in a pristine Amazon reserve.Fander Falconi was the third government official to resign over a plan to seek international donations of $3 billion over the nex
US sabotages negotiations on draft REDD text
by Chris Lang / www.redd-monitor.org(bellacenter-COP15-Copenhagen, Denmark)– Discussions late into the night on Monday (14 December 2009) in Copenhagen made the REDD text worse. The main culprits were the US and Colombia.
Ecuador's Amazonian Indian confederation faces varied threats
Indian Country Today | Approximately 100 representatives of Ecuador's Amazonian Indian nations recently gathered in the community of Union Base, near the southeastern town of Puyo, to celebrate the inauguration of new leadership for the Confederation of Indigenous Nations of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE).The ceremony was held in Spanish
Ecuador Says Germany Backs Cash-For-Conservation in Amazon
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
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
