Anti-oil Ecuador
May 27, 2011
In northeastern Ecuador, where the foothills of the Andes meet the Amazonian rain forest, a million hectares of land form the Yasuní national park. It boasts three hundred species of trees on every hectare, and is a haven of fish, reptiles, birds, mammals and insects.
Besides the wealth of plant and animal life which secured it a UNESCO biosphere reserve title in 1989, the park is also home to the Huaorani people and vast quantities of oil.
Little by little, the Huaorani are being pushed off their ancestral land by oil. It's a pattern that will continue unless the Yasuní Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) initiative succeeds in keeping the crude buried and out of sight.
Short-lived benefits
The trust fund aims to raise 2.7 billion euros ($3.8 billion) by 2024 – half of the projected profits from oil extraction at the site – and is, says Manfred Niekisch, President of the Society for Tropical Ecology in Frankfurt, extremely important.
"Anyone who knows what this area looked like 20 years ago must be saddened to see how much of it has been destroyed," he told Deutsche Welle. "Particularly given that the fossil fuel resources would have been exhausted within 30 years or so."
The Ecuadorian government has said it will not exploit what would amount to some 850 million barrels of oil if the industrialized nations contribute to the Yasuní-ITT compensation fund.
Banging the drum
Chief negotiator Yvonne Baki and a delegation of experts are in Germany to push the initiative, which if successful would keep more than 400 million tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the earth's atmosphere.
Baki and the Yasuní-ITT seek the support of German members of parliament, representatives of foundations, banks and businesses.
"We see Germany as a critical country," Baki said, adding that Ecuador is not looking for handouts, but for other countries to share in the responsibility of slowing down climate change. "If we can gain support from Berlin other European countries will follow suit."
Although an outspoken proponent of the initiative when it was first proposed, Germany last year reneged on a 2008 resolution to donate 40 million euros to the fund. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is still refusing to offer additional funds for the Yasuní-ITT. Ecuador already receives development funds from Germany and a spokeswoman for the BMZ told Reuters it is up to the Ecuadorian government to allocate part of those funds to the initiative.
Almost halfway
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which is on the fund's administrative committee, says the project is a safe environmental investment, and has been checked and double-checked by scientists, environmental groups and the UNDP itself.
"It's a very solid proposal," UNDP representative Bisrat Aklilu said. "If there should be a change of heart, there are guarantees that contributors will get their money back."
To date, contributions have differed enormously from country to country. Chile and Peru each donated symbolic amounts, while Spain has given a million euros and Italy has waived 35 million euros in debt relief.
Baki says they have already generated around 40 million euros, but she is aiming to more than double that before the end of the year.
The debate over the Yasuní national park is likely to continue as the UN general assembly is due to discuss the future of park in September.
Author: Eva Usi / tkw
Editor: Guy Degen