The Yasuni ITT Initiative

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In 2007, the courageously hopeful President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, announced the pioneering Yasuni ITT Initiative to the General Assembly of the United Nations ("What is the Initiative?"). It was a groundbreaking plan to save the unexploited ITT oil reserves (“What”). The initiative asked the world to donate $3.6 billion to Ecuador, in order to subsidize half of the profits the country would have gained if they opted for oil exploration (“What”). Regrettably, this visionary proposal to fight climate change recently failed in August 2013 (Associated). Ecuador only managed to collect $13 million and $116 million in pledges, which was not enough to continue this project (Associated). The Yasuni National Park, an ecological biosphere that contains two uncontacted tribes and plenty of wildlife, will slowly be destroyed by allowing oil drilling (Hill). While the drilling will boost the economy, it will strip the park of all its natural glory and disregard past exploitations of the land. The Yasuni National Park possesses very diverse rainforest which significantly impact how the ecosystem functions; yet the the processes of disturbance and succession greatly affect them ("Yasuni National Park, Ecuador", "Ecuador Yasuni ITT Trust Fund" ). Just one hectare of the park contains more species of trees and bushes than all of North America ("Foreseeable Impacts of Oil Industry Activity in Yasuní")! There are a staggering 1762 species of trees and shrubs that have been identified in Yasuni, and approximately 400 of them are inherent to the region (“Foreseeable”). Hundreds of the plants in the previously untouchable zones have not even been classified or studied in depth (“Foreseeable”). The park is also paradise to a multitude of animal... ... middle of paper ... ...d Food. "Ecuador Overview." Wfp.org. World Food Programme, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. . Saavedra, Luis A. "Oil Exploitation to Reduce Poverty?" Lapress.org. Latin American Press, 26 Sept. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. . "SOS Yasuní." SOS Yasuní. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013 "Waorani Indians March against Oil Drilling." Survival International. N.p., 15 July 2005. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. “Saving Wild Places - Latin American and the Caribbean - Yasuni National Park, Ecuador” Wildlife Conservation Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. Worldbank, "Ecuador: Poverty Report." Poverty Analysis -. Worldbank, 2011. Web. 21 Oct.2013.

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