Developing countries should exploit their natural resources in order to achieve development, the case of Yasuni ITT

1. The Ecuadorian Case of Yasuní ITT
Johan Singana

2. Google Images

3.  “At the beginning of the 20th century, Ecuador began
extracting oil, first on the coast and then in the Amazon
region”.
 Ecuador started to export oil in the 1970s.
 In the 1980s, Ecuador become to be dependent on a
primary-export economy (oil).
Ejolt Report 2013

4. Google Images

5.  The park is located in the intersection of the Andes, the
Equator and the Amazon rainforest.
 It has an area of about 982,000 hectares. (Le 2013)
 It is considered one of the most biodiverse place on the
Earth.
 It contains more endemic tree species in one hectare (2.5
acres) than there are in all of the U.S. and Canada
combined. (Zuckerman, 2013).

6.  ITT Block contains three oil fields: Ishpingo, Tambococha,
and Tiputini (Wallace 2013)
 Yasuní ITT is 12% of the one million hectare Yasuní
National Park.
 It contains as many species of reptiles (121) as there are in
all of Europe.
 The park is territory of the Waorani indigenous people, and
two nomadic Waorani clans – the Tagaeri and Taromenane
– who live in voluntary isolation.

7. Google Images

8.  In 2007, the Ecuadorian government announced that it was
willing to forego extracting the oil within the ITT block of
Yasuní National Park.
 The condition was that the government received half of
the expected monetary value of that oil in the form of
payments from the international community. (Le 2013)

9.  To preserve biodiversity unique to the planet.
 To protect the land and the lives of the indigenous peoples
who live in voluntary isolation.
 To protect the climate in the interest of all of humanity.
 To take a first step forward a post-fossil-fuel era in Ecuador.
According to Acosta 2013 the following are the main
goals of Yasuní ITT Initiative.

10.  As reported by Le (2013) on 15th August 2013, Correa ended
the initiative.
 The fund received by the government at that time
contained just $13 million. (Le 2013)
 Correa (2013, cited in Hill, 2013) said: “The world failed us”.

11. Foil 2013

12.  It has been argued that there are other alternatives to
collect the amount of money that the government needs.
(Siempre 2014)
 One alternative is to eliminate the subsidy to the gasoline.
 Studies show that Ecuador “currently spends $3.8 billion
subsidizing fuel (gasoline, diesel, cooking gas) in one year”.
(El Telgreafo 2013)

13.  Ecuador is totally dependent on its oil resources which
account for over 50% of its exports. (Lebrun 2013)
 The oil fields within Yasuní are estimated about 920
million barrels of crude oil - approximately 20% of
Ecuador's total oil reserves. (Woodrow 2013)
 The oil sector accounts for a sizeable portion of all export
earnings and represents one-third of all tax revenues.
(U.S. Energy Information Administration EIA 2013)

14. Observatory of Economic Complexity MIT

15.  It has been argued by Woodrow(2013) that “up to 80
percent of declared proven fossil fuel reserves will have to
stay in the ground if we are to avoid a rise in a global
average temperature of more than 2°C”.
 According to Le (2013) “Liquid and solid wastes and toxic
production water contaminate ecosystems. The drilling
itself and the infrastructure that accompanies it causes
widespread deforestation”

16.  It has been claimed by Martinez, Bassey and Bond that
Yasuní ITT Initiative (2013) will avoid carbon emissions of
about 410 million tons of CO2.
 According to some supporters of Yasuní ITT , they are
providing “a way to overcome the long-standing but
accelerating trend in Latin America in which the
environment is destroyed in the name of economic
development"

18.  Correa (2013 cited in Hill, 2013) states “the oil exploitation will
affect less than 1% of the Yasuní National Park.
 The Ecuadorian Ministry of Non-Renewable Natural
Resources (2013) plans to drill 32 wells in 16.8 hectares and
thus only '0.0017%' of the park will be directly impacted.
 The exploitation of all three fields will directly impact about
200 hectares. It is about 0.02% of the park (Hill 2013)

19.  It is maintained by Le (2013) that “[d]rilling would have
significant psychological and social impacts upon the
indigenous people living in the area, and likely render their
traditional way of life impossible."
 Delfin Payaguaje, one of the Secoya people, explains the
impacts of oil pollution on his community - his son died of
stomach cancer and five people in his small community
have died of cancers and brain tumours"

20. Google Images

21.  The Yasuní ITT Initiative can produce instability in the
economy of other countries
 Twist (2013) claims that “there is a fear that to fund Yasuní
ITT would open the door to hundreds of similar proposals”
 Ecuador is the smallest oil producing member of the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
 The Ogoni and the Ijaw in Nigeria, the Mosetens and
Tsimane in Bolivia, to the inhabitants of Madagascar, Ghana,
South Africa, Europe, and Quebec.

22. Cedatos 2013

23.  The fund of exploitation of Yasuní ITT can be used in other
new environmental techniques such as hydroelectric,
thermic, etc.
 The fund helps to decrease the level of poverty in Ecuador.
 The fund helps to improve the quality of education in
Ecuador.

25. Senescyt 2013

26. Senescyt 2013

28.  Economy, Ecuador can get the money that it needs without
affecting the quality of life of many people.
 Environment, a very small part of the park will be
damaged.
 Society, Ecuadorians can have better opportunities in
Educaction and poverty can keep decreasing.

29. Bibliography
Acosta, A 2013, The Yasuní-ITT Initiative, or The Complex Construction of
Utopia, The Wealth of the Commons, viewed 10 March 2014,
http://wealthofthecommons.org/essay/yasun%C3%AD-itt-initiative-or-
complex-construction-utopia.
BBC 2013, Ecuador approves Yasuni park oil drilling in Amazon rainforest, viewed
10 March 2014, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23722204.
Coffey, G 2013, Ecuador: Some Observations Regarding the Yasuní-ITT, Upside
Down World, viewed 10 March 2014, http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-
briefs-archives-68/4472-ecuador-some-observations-regarding-the-yasuni-itt-
proposal.
Hill, D 2013, Why Ecuador's president is misleading the world on Yasuni-ITT, The
Guardian, viewed 10 March 2014,
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-
amazon/2013/oct/15/ecuador-president-misleading-yasuni.
Le, F 2013, Conservation v oil: Ecuador’s Yasuni-ITT Initiative, The International,
viewed 10 March 2014, http://www.theinternational.org/articles/461-
conservation-v-oil-ecuadors-yasuni-it.

30. Lebrun, G 2013, Is this the end of Yasuni National Park?, The Ecologist (digital),
viewed 15 March 2014,
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2066313/is_this_the_end_of
_yasuni_national_park.html.
Siempre 2014, Yasuní-ITT: contener petróleo es su tragedia, viewed 31 March
2014,
http://www.revistasiempre.com/Articulo.php?codigo=764&titulo=YASUN%CD
-ITT:%20CONTENER%20PETR%D3LEO%20ES%20SU%20TRAGEDIA.
Smithsonian Institution 2002, Where Is The World's Greatest Biodiversity?
Smithsonian Scientists Find The Answer Is A Question Of Scale, viewed 10
March 2014, http://www.rainforests.net/betadiversity.htm.
Telegrafo 2013, Ecuador wants to phase out its high fuel subsidies, viewed 31
March 2014, http://www.telegrafo.com.ec/component/zoo/item/fuel-subsidies-
phase-out-ecuador-diesel-gasoline-propane.html.
Twist, B 2013, A Deeper Perspective on the End of the Yasuní-ITT Initiative,
News-Pachamama Alliance, viewed 10 March 2014,
https://www.pachamama.org/news/a-deeper-perspective-on-the-end-of-the-
yasuni-itt-initiative.

31. U. S. Energy Information Administration 2014, Ecuador Overview, viewed 25
March 2014, http://www.eia.gov/countries/analysisbriefs/Ecuador/Ecuador.pdf.
Wallace, S 2013, Rain Forest for Sale Demand for oil is squeezing the life out of
one of the world’s wildest places, National Geography Magazine, viewed 10
March 2014, http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/125-yasuni-national-
park/wallace-text.
Woodrow, A 2013, Yasuní-ITT Initiative to be Scrapped, viewed 10 March 2014,
http://www.gaiafoundation.org/blog/yasun%C3%AD-itt-initiative-to-be-
scrapped.
Zuckerman, A 2013, Rights and Responsibility: The Failure of Yasuní-ITT and
What it Means for Ecuador’s Indigenous Peoples, Amazon Watch, viewed 10
March 2014, http://amazonwatch.org/news/2013/0825-rights-and-
responsibility-the-failure-of-yasuni.