Source: Vancouver Sun
Ecuador is launching a one-of-a-kind initiative to protect a jungle reserve that contains not only a huge variety of plants and animals but 20 per cent of the country's crude oil.
In exchange for not drilling for crude in a 200,000-hectare area of Yasuni national park, the government is asking rich nations, foundations and individuals to give it $3.6 billion.
That's about half of what President Rafael Correa says Ecuador would get from drilling in this part of Yasuni, where the Andes mountains intersect with the Amazon rainforest.
It is a new approach to conservation, and officials recognize that they might not find enough support for the initiative. But if it works, Ecuador says 407 million tonnes of carbon dioxide would be kept from entering the atmosphere.
Ecuadorean officials are flying around the world this month, meeting with prospective contributors to drum up support.
Yasuni as a whole covers an area of 982,000 hectares and is home to a huge array of birds, monkeys and other wildlife including jaguars, giant armadillos and pink dolphins.
"There are more species of trees in Yasuni than in all of North America," said Pablo Jarrin, director of the Yasuni Research Station, which monitors the region's biodiversity.
The initiative applies to three oilfields called Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini, collectively known as the ITT section.
Other parts of the park are already being drilled for petroleum, but many residents support the government's push.
"We don't want more oil because of the contamination," said 19-year-old Fani Imene, who is from the local Waorani tribe and lives just outside the ITT section.
Many in her 2,500-member indigenous group are afraid to drink from rivers near oil wells.
A $27-billion environmental damages suit is being heard in a neighbouring province, where residents say that U.S. oil giant Chevron is responsible for polluting the jungle.
This and BP's recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster could bolster Ecuador's pitch for the ITT initiative.
Ecuador will issue certificates to contributors promising their money back should the country ever decide to exploit the oil.
Chile is expected to contribute $100,000 this week, making it the first donor.
Prospective contributors are expected to pay close attention to the certificates' fine print, given that Ecuador has a long history of political instability and defaulted on its international bonds in 1999 and 2008.
Ecuador, a member of OPEC, has given itself until the end of 2011 to raise $100 million that the government says is needed to make the initiative viable.
The fund is to be administered by the United Nations Development Program. Ecuador aims to collect the full $3.6 billion by 2024.