Yasuni-ITT Initiative is a proposal by the government of Ecuador to refrain indefinitely from exploiting the oil reserves of the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oil field within the Yasuni National Park, in exchange for 50% of the value of the reserves, or $3.6 billion over 13 years from the international community.[1] Various economic rationales converge on roughly the same payment.[2] The reserve has around 846 million barrels, or 20% of the countries proven oil reserve. The rationale is to conserve biodiversity, protect indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation, and avoid CO2 emissions. The Yasuni-ITT Trust Fund was officially launched on 3 August 2010. It will be administered by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund of the UNDP. The government needs to receive the first $100 million by the end of 2011 for the proposal to be carried out further.
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The Yasuni-ITT Initiative was launched by president Rafael Correa of Ecuador at the U.N. General Assembly in 2007. The Yasuni-ITT Initiative seeks to prevent the drilling of oil in the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oil field within the Yasuni National Park. The Yasuni National Park, located on the eastern edge of Ecuador, encompasses a section of Ecuador's Amazon Rainforest and is recognized as one of the most bio diverse regions in the world; as well as the home of two indigenous Amazonian tribes. However the Yasuni National Park also contains approximately 846 million barrels of crude oil, approximately 20% of the countries proven oil reserves. To prevent the environmental destruction caused as a result of oil exploitation, the government of Ecuador proposed a permanent ban on oil production inside the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini oil field in exchange for 50% of the value of the reserves, or $3.6 billion over 13 years to be raised from public and private contributions from the international community.[1] By preventing the drilling of oil inside the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini oil field, the Yasuni-ITT Initiative seeks to conserve the biodiversity of the region, protect the indigenous peoples currently living in voluntary isolation inside the Yasuni National Park, and avoid the emission of significant quantities of CO2 caused by oil production.
To administer the funds donated to the Yasuni-ITT Initiative, the Yasuni-ITT Trust Fund was officially launched on 3 August 2010. The Yasuni-ITT Trust Fund is administered by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Yasuni National Park is one of the most biologically diverse area on earth. Scientists have discovered 655 species of trees in one hectare of land in the park, more than the total recorded of US and Canada combined.[3] It has been declared a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO.[4] Some 4,000-plant species, 173 species of mammals and 610 bird species live inside the Park.[5] "It contains more documented insect species than any other forest in the world, and is among the most diverse forests in the world for different species of birds, bats, amphibians, epiphytes, and lianas. Yasuní is critical habitat to 23 globally threatened mammal species, including the Giant otter, the Amazonian manatee, Pink river dolphin, Giant anteater, and Amazonian tapir... Ten primate species live in the Yasuní, including the threatened White-bellied spider monkey." [6] Earth Economics has estimated that its environmental benefits would have a net present value of 9.89 billion dollars. It was also estimated that the environmental costs of oil production in the ITT would be at least US$1.25 billion in present terms. This latter estimate includes only the effects of deforestation, the loss of ecotourism potential and the non-timber-related services of the forest, and excludes a number of externalities of oil exploitation like spills, local pollution, effects on public health, etc.[7]
Currently, there has been some drilling in the Yasuni area, which has caused deforestation, air and water pollution. Oil roads into the forest became magnet for colonization and opened up the park to over-hunting and deforestation. There are several hundreds of waste oil "lakes" in the forest.[8]
Leaving the oil underground avoids the emission of 410 million metric tons of CO2.
Currently there are a number of indigenous groups living within Yasuni National Park: the Kichwa or Naporuna, Huaorani, Tagaeri, Taromenane. They are traditionally hunter-gatherers who are self-sufficient and formed kinship-based alliances. Their subsistence and way of lives are fragile due to the colonization of their territories, evangelization, illegal logging, extraction of non-renewable natural resources and other legal activities such as tourism and scientific research.
Leonardo Dicaprio and Edward Norton are among the many public figures supporting the Ecuadorian government on its historic proposal to conserve biodiversity, protect human rights, and avoid CO2 emissions.[9][10]
The General Secretary of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, also supports the Yasuni-ITT.[11]
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