David Wildes
Dr. Rood
ENV 250
1 September 2014

Environmental Sustainability in Yasuni Rainforest, Ecuador

The Yasuni Rainforest is a section of the Amazon that falls within the border of the South American nation of Ecuador. The national park is hailed as one of the most biodiverse regions in the Americas, but it faces a great threat to its preservation: the discovery of oil. A large deposit of oil was found in Yasuni, and now Ecuador faces ever growing pressure to extract the valuable fossil fuel. Debt, a struggling economy, and other forces, both internal and external, are coercing the Ecuadorian government to give oil companies permission to drill in the rainforest. In order to avoid having to allow the almost guaranteed destruction of the pristine site, President Correa proposed an initiative to have donors provide Ecuador with over seven billion dollars in order to allow the government to maintain the reserve while still being compensated for the necessary revenue that drilling would provide. Unfortunately, the initiative failed to raise even a fraction of the necessary support, causing President Correa to dissolve the initiative and give petroleum companies the green light to begin extracting oil. The drilling is predicted to result in millions of tons of carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere, not including deforestation costs and the expected loss of several rare animal and plant species in the region. The most difficult task ahead of the movement to preserve Yasuni will be to discover a way to quickly generate needed funds to stop oil exploration or to develop a plan that will minimize the environmental impact of the drilling. The onus will be on the Ecuadorian government to monitor the process to ensure the most environmentally responsible and sustainable action possible in the coming months and years.

Video on oil contamination in Yasuni


- Guardian article on Yasuni initiative failure
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/16/ecuador-approves-yasuni-amazon-oil-drilling

- Guardian video on Yasuni region
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2012/sep/03/yasuni-national-park-gift-humanity-video

- Image of Yasuni map and dependence article
http://populationgrowth.org/shooting-ourselves-in-the-foot-oil-dependence-vs-nature/#!prettyPhoto[gallery1]/1/

- National Geographic story on Yasuni
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/125-yasuni-national-park/wallace-text