Ecuador Will Open Parts of the Yasuní Rainforest for Oil Drilling After International Community Failed to Back Conservation Plan
Quito, Ecuador (PRWEB) August 16, 2013 -- In a nationally televised speech, President Rafael Correa of Ecuador announced the end of the Yasuní-ITT initiative, a unique conservation plan that would have left 920 million barrels of oil underground in an unspoiled Amazon rainforest reserve, after the international community failed to back the initiative.
The government of Ecuador presented the Initiative to the world in 2007, which sought to raise $3.6 billion in contributions, about half of the oil’s market value in the course of 13 years, from the international community in order to protect the area and prevent sending over 400 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The fund was administered by the UN’s Development Program.
“I believe that the initiative was ahead of our time and could not, or would not, be understood by those who are responsible for climate change," said the socialist president as he explained that in six years, only 0.37% of the goal was reached, plus an additional $116 million in commitments indirectly linked to the Initiative.
Visibly disappointed, President Correa also said that the Initiative was launched during the most critical global economic crisis of the last 80 years.
Correa said that the government is determined to protect the area and that the oil exploitation would be limited to only 1 percent of the 2.4 million acres of the Yasuní reserve. The exploitation of the fields will begin “in the following weeks” once the technical reports and prior consultations are concluded.
The state-run oil company, Petroamazonas, will operate the oil fields using cutting-edge technology to minimize the environmental impact. The company currently operates the Pañacocha field in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, which has been considered by Oil & Gas Monitor a paradigm in optimal environmental and social practices, and as one of the best developed and managed oil and gas projects in Latin America.
Correa said that these resources are essential for the country, and that the revenues obtained from the ITT oil fields will be used to eradicate poverty.
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Source: El Ciudadano
http://www.elciudadano.gob.ec
CADENA NACIONAL: TEMA YASUNÍ I-TT (Descargue el anuncio en Ingles)
Jean Paul Borja, MCSquared Public Relations, http://www.mc2pr.com, +1 2126021730, [email protected]
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