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Ecuador gave the OK on Thursday to oil drilling in the Yasuni National Park, an area some consider the most biodiverse place in the world.
The authorization by Ecuador's parliament follows President Correa's announcement in August that the country was abandoning an innovative conservation plan to use international funds to not drill in the Amazonian nature preserve.
Matt Finer, a scientist at the U.S.-based Center for International Environmental Law, had called the conservation initiative "the lone exception to the relentless expansion of hydrocarbon projects deeper into the most remote tracts of the western Amazon."
Now, however, two areas of the reserve will be open for fossil fuel exploitation.
The plans to bail out of the conservation plan have been met with strong opposition, and Reuters reports that 680,000 people have signed a petition calling for a referendum.
In addition, over 100 scientists from around the globe have voiced opposition to the oil drilling plans, issuing a statement to the Ecuadoran government in which they warn of threats to biodiversity and isolated tribes in the area.
Among the points the "Scientists Concerned for Yasuni" list in their letter are that
"Countless future generations will not understand why we carelessly destroyed the most biologically diverse areas of our planet, nor why we destroyed the indigenous cultures of people who lived in them," stated Stuart Pimm of Duke University. "Yasuni is exceptionally rich in species and home to diverse cultures-- including some living in voluntary isolation. Its protection defends nature and peoples: destroying it would be a particular tragedy."
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Ecuador gave the OK on Thursday to oil drilling in the Yasuni National Park, an area some consider the most biodiverse place in the world.
The authorization by Ecuador's parliament follows President Correa's announcement in August that the country was abandoning an innovative conservation plan to use international funds to not drill in the Amazonian nature preserve.
Matt Finer, a scientist at the U.S.-based Center for International Environmental Law, had called the conservation initiative "the lone exception to the relentless expansion of hydrocarbon projects deeper into the most remote tracts of the western Amazon."
Now, however, two areas of the reserve will be open for fossil fuel exploitation.
The plans to bail out of the conservation plan have been met with strong opposition, and Reuters reports that 680,000 people have signed a petition calling for a referendum.
In addition, over 100 scientists from around the globe have voiced opposition to the oil drilling plans, issuing a statement to the Ecuadoran government in which they warn of threats to biodiversity and isolated tribes in the area.
Among the points the "Scientists Concerned for Yasuni" list in their letter are that
"Countless future generations will not understand why we carelessly destroyed the most biologically diverse areas of our planet, nor why we destroyed the indigenous cultures of people who lived in them," stated Stuart Pimm of Duke University. "Yasuni is exceptionally rich in species and home to diverse cultures-- including some living in voluntary isolation. Its protection defends nature and peoples: destroying it would be a particular tragedy."
_________________________
Ecuador gave the OK on Thursday to oil drilling in the Yasuni National Park, an area some consider the most biodiverse place in the world.
The authorization by Ecuador's parliament follows President Correa's announcement in August that the country was abandoning an innovative conservation plan to use international funds to not drill in the Amazonian nature preserve.
Matt Finer, a scientist at the U.S.-based Center for International Environmental Law, had called the conservation initiative "the lone exception to the relentless expansion of hydrocarbon projects deeper into the most remote tracts of the western Amazon."
Now, however, two areas of the reserve will be open for fossil fuel exploitation.
The plans to bail out of the conservation plan have been met with strong opposition, and Reuters reports that 680,000 people have signed a petition calling for a referendum.
In addition, over 100 scientists from around the globe have voiced opposition to the oil drilling plans, issuing a statement to the Ecuadoran government in which they warn of threats to biodiversity and isolated tribes in the area.
Among the points the "Scientists Concerned for Yasuni" list in their letter are that
"Countless future generations will not understand why we carelessly destroyed the most biologically diverse areas of our planet, nor why we destroyed the indigenous cultures of people who lived in them," stated Stuart Pimm of Duke University. "Yasuni is exceptionally rich in species and home to diverse cultures-- including some living in voluntary isolation. Its protection defends nature and peoples: destroying it would be a particular tragedy."
_________________________