Ecuador Earns Green Kudos

The Galapagos Islands, a part of Ecuador, lost its UN protected status as an endangered World Heritage Site, but the government of President Rafael Correa succeeded in obtaining international funding to replace the lost revenue from ITT oil concessions it is giving up in Yasuni National Park. The Park is situated in the perhaps the most biological diverse region on Earth at the intersection of the Andes Mountains and Amazon River. The agreement was reached on August 4th and will be administered by the UN Development Program. Initial contributors to the fund include Spain, France, Sweden and Switzerland. They collectively committed $1.5 billion to replace half of the estimated $7 billion oil exploration would have brought the Ecuadorian government.

Yasuni Park covers 982,000 hectares surrounding the Amazon's headwaters. It contains 28 endangered vertebrates on the ICUN's Red List including several species of monkeys, giant otters, and Amazonian manatees. The region is the ancestral home of the Huaorani, Tagaeri and Taromenane tribes. The Huaorani were responsible for lobbying the government and applying public pressure to sign the proposal through three years of political turmoil. During this time drilling inside the Park was allowed to continue. Estimates are that the agreement will prevent 400 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere as a result of burning the extracted oil.

Hear the Jaguar roar!