In a historic move, Ecuador has decided to leave its largest oil reserve unexploited to protect its rainforest. Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa made the announcement at the United Nations meeting of world leader’s on global climate change taking place in New York.
The Yasun -ITT Initiative is unprecedented by an oil exporting country – oil provides one third of the country’s revenue. Correa said he believes the value of avoiding climate change and deforestation is of greater value to Ecuador and the planet as a whole, and that this is the country’s first step in a transition toward the world’s first truly sustainable economy. This is the first time a country has thought beyond its borders to consider the health of the planet as a whole. Ecuador plans to transform its economy and pursue energy independence by supporting alternative energy use and increasing opportunities for job creation.
A key part of this initiative is to avoid oil extraction activities in Yasuni National Park, home to at least two indigenous tribes that live in voluntary isolation and one of the most biodiverse places on earth. Ecuador proposes to leave the nearly one billion barrel ITT oilfield unexploited in order to preserve Yasuni’s astounding biodiversity, ecosystem services, and the cultural integrity of its indigenous inhabitants.
Ecuador’s vision is that the Yasun -ITT Initiative will eventually underwrite the implementation of the National Development Plan. This Plan prioritizes the use of renewable energy, efficient transportation systems, poverty eradication and equitable access to quality healthcare and education. The Plan also includes promotion of ecotourism and sustainable development for Ecuador’s Amazonian region.
He called on highly industrialized countries, which have contributed over half of the atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions to date, to assume stronger targets for greenhouse gas reductions and greater commitments of support to initiatives that combat additional increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
Ecuador, whose historic carbon dioxide emissions amount to less than 0.5% of the existing rise from pre-industrial levels, offers a novel model of avoided emissions that would keep nearly 436 million tons of carbon dioxide permanently sequestered in the ground, thus voluntarily contributing to global climate change mitigation.
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