Ecuadoreans rally to rescue Amazon wildlife refuge from oil drilling

[wtmusic]

[div style="float: left; padding-right: 12px;"]"The fate of one of the hotspots of global diversity is hanging by a thread as conservation and indigenous groups in Ecuador race to raise a petition of over half a million names which would force a national referendum on whether foreign oil companies be allowed into the Yasuní national park.

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador appeared to sign the death warrant of the park last week when he unilaterally dissolved a radical conservation plan which guaranteed that the 840m barrels of oil thought to lie below one area of the park would remain unexploited if the international community raised $3.6bn (£2.3bn) over 13 years. Although $336m had been pledged by governments, local authorities, charities and individuals around the world, only $13m is said to have been deposited in the two trust funds administered by the UN.

Correa's decision to allow oil companies to drill below one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, where at least one tribe lives in voluntary isolation, was met by demonstrations in Quito and condemnation by international conservation organisations."

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/aug/23/ecuador-yasuni-national-park

[lunasun]

1. Where do I sign the petition is it too late??

UN sanctioned area so why cant they help or help get the funds needed to hold off on drilling ?
World and 'the future' concerns here
conservation groups only have limited funds
UN should be more involved imo due to lack of better entity
The park is about 250 km from Quito and was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1989 so how can this oil drilling be done??

[limpyhobbler]

2. how awful.

Is that how hopeless I look at fracking rallies ?

Probably.