Ecuador Agrees to Avoid Oil Drilling in Jungle Reserve if Compensated by Western Nations

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(NaturalNews) The South American nation of Ecuador has said that it will refrain from drilling in a world biosphere reserve, but only if the international community compensates the country for the income it would otherwise have gained.

President Rafael Correa has made it clear that Ecuador is seeking money not as charity, but instead as a way for the international community to exercise its "shared responsibility" for protecting biological diversity. Ecuador is asking for at least $350 million per year for 10 years, to approximate the income that the nation is expected to make from drilling in the Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha oil fields Yasuni National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

According to Oil Minister Galo Chiriboga, the international community has until June 15 (2008?) to deliver the money.

"Either the international support not to drill is obtained or we go ahead with the auction," he said.

Bidding to drill in the oil fields is currently scheduled for June 16. State oil companies from Brazil, Chile and China have already expressed interest.

Ecuador is the fifth largest oil producer in South America, generating half a million barrels of crude oil per day.

Some First World environmentalists have praised Ecuador's willingness to forego drilling. "Ecuador is making a sacrifice to try to make this happen," said Kevin Koenig of Amazon Watch.

But the Ecuadorian environmental group Cedenma remains unimpressed, especially in light of the government's insistence on the June 15 deadline.

"[This] demonstrates ... the government's intentions to cede once again before the [oil drilling interests] who definitively threaten Ecuador's natural ecosystems," the group said.

Portions of Yasuni National Park are the traditional territory of the indigenous Waodani nation, whose autonomy in that area has been guaranteed by the Ecuadorian government. But the government has explicitly retained subsurface mineral rights and proceeded with oil exploration and drilling, over the express opposition of the Waodani.

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