Are Ecuadors plans to leave oil under the Amazon a new model for tackling climate change?
INTERNATIONAL. While the world’s attention may be fixed on Copenhagen, it is in Ecuador that one of the boldest new measures yet taken by a government to combat climate change has been announced. In a paper published today in Biotropica, experts assess the Yasuní-ITT initiative which aims to prevent millions of tons of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere by not drilling for oil in the Amazon rainforest. The Yasuní-ITT initiative is a project launched by the Ecuadorian government which pledges to leave the estimated 850 million barrels of oil locked beneath the renowned Yasuní National Park despite the oil concessions which cover the region. “This is the first ever offer by a government to forego oil development as a strategy to address climate change,” said Dr Matt Finer from Save America’s Forests. “According to Ecuadorian official estimates not exploiting the oil fields will keep 410 million metric tons of C02 out of the atmosphere. It’s a novel concept that not developing
