The Yasuní Is The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg
For those of you who haven't been keeping up with the conversation about oil development in Ecuador, I hope you decide to read this and learn more. Last week,
President Rafael Correa cancelled an agreement with Germany that would have created a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in the Yasuní National Park. The agreement, referred to as
Yasuní ITT, was a groundbreaking experiment in economic development; the government of Ecuador asked the international community for the equivalent of 50% of the potential oil revenue in exchange for not developing the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini oil reserves.
Since Correa's decision to cancel the agreement, a local newspaper in Quito, HOY, has had a constant stream of articles about the Yasuní, the National Park, and oil exploitation. Yes, they call it exactly that. This Sunday alone, the first three pages of the paper were about this single topic.
And while President Correa has made up his mind to open the National Park to oil development, it seems that the people of Ecuador, many of them Correa supporters, are not convinced that he has made the right decision. And it may not matter as it may not be his decision alone to make.
...el artículo 407 de la Constitución ya establece que los yacimientos ubicados en zonas intangibles y áreas protegidas no pueden ser explotados salvo que se obtenga la declaratoria de interés nacional solicitada por el Presidente Rafael Correa y entregada por la Asamblea.
Article 407 of the Constitution states that sites located in protected zones and protected areas cannot be exploited without a declaration of national interest solicited by President Rafael Correa and delivered by the Assembly.
This past Saturday, protesters met at the Plaza Grande, in front of the Presidential Palace, and exercised the right of free speech. Many also marched by the National Assembly.
On the website of the organization SOS Yasuní there is a letter to the National Assembly in English that sums up the concerns of the environmental movement. Their main point:
The National Assembly has an obligation toward society as a whole and is not an appendage of the executive. It is a forum for public deliberation that must reflect the country's social and political diversity. If there is any national issue on which political actors and social advocates have expressed clear opinions, it is Yasuni, whose relevance is both domestic and international. Every Ecuadorian, whether living at home or abroad, has felt pride in being part of Yasuni. In different ways, children, youth and adults have all made their views known on more than one occasion.
To exploit oil in Yasuni means renouncing what has been considered the government's most important single initiative. If the Yasuni initiative failed to generate the expected finance, and no coherent solution emerged other than to resort to Plan B, that is the government's own fault. None of this can justify the extraction of crude oil from Yasuni National Park.
To further this point, HOY published
an interview with David Romo, an academic, scientist, and co-director of the Estación de Biodiversidad Tiputini de la Universidad San Francisco de Quito. He spoke of being at a key moment in time and when asked why he says that, he replied:
El hombre ha sabido del petróleo durante miles de años, pero solo se volvió importante a partir del desarrollo de los motores. A partir de esa fecha el recurso más importante fue el petróleo. Pero ahora vamos hacia un cambio. El recurso más importante es la genética. Hace 100 años hubiera sido ridículo decir que no se explote el petróleo, era como matar a una gallina que da huevos de oro.
Man has known oil for thousands of years, but it only became important at the point where we developed the car engine. From this point on the most important resource was oil. But we are undergoing a change. The most important resource is genetic diversity. One hundred years ago, it would have been ridiculous to not exploit oil; it would have been like killing the goose that laid golden eggs.
He continued to stay that now,
Esa gallina es el Yasuní. El país, de momento necesita el petróleo, pero también necesitará al Yasuní. No te puedo decir que vamos a hacer hoy con eso, como en su momento les tomó tiempo convertir el petróleo en gasolina. Tú no matas a la gallina de oro. El futuro del país está en la genética, solo hay que abrir los ojos.
That goose is the Yasuní. The country needs oil development at this moment in time but it will need the Yasuní [in the future]. I can't tell you that we are going to do today will be like the moment in time when we converted oil into gasoline. You don't kill the Golden Goose. The future of the country is it's genetic diversity, we must only open our eyes.
It seems that throughout the world, we need to make this argument that we are at a turning point. While oil and gasoline seem like items that we can't live without, there was once a time when oil and gas seemed almost magical and the vast majority of people could never have imagined owning a vehicle that operated with a fuel that came from the ground. Today, the vast majority can't imagine the scientific discoveries that await us via the genetic diversity not yet discovered in this part of the Amazonian jungle. And if oil development is allowed to continue in this part of the world, we will never know what could have been. Truly, we may be killing the Golden Goose.