2023-08-19 19:58:12
Members of the Waorani indigenous community demonstrate for peace, for nature and to promote yes in an upcoming referendum to end oil drilling in Yasuni National Park, in the northern commercial area of Quito, on 14 August 2023. A caravan of indigenous people and environmentalists will travel through several provinces of Ecuador until Wednesday to promote yes. MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP
Under the jungle, oil. And, at the polls, a question: what to do with it? The 13.5 million Ecuadorians called to the polls on Sunday August 20 for early general elections will also have to answer yes or no to the following question: “Should the Ecuadorian government keep the crude oil from the so-called ITT – Block 43 deposit underground indefinitely? “. The stakes of the general elections, marked by the assassination of a presidential candidate, made us forget the importance of this unprecedented referendum. Block 43 is located in the Yasuni Natural Park, one of the most biodiverse natural reserves in the world, which extends over one million hectares in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
“We fought for 10 years to obtain this referendum”recalls Antonella Calle, one of the founders of the Yasunidos movement. The activists of this environmental collective are all the more satisfied that the latest polls give the “yes” winner. The authorities and the oil industry are worried.
Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini, the three fields of Block 43 – ITT, provide just over 12% of the country’s oil production, which is around 460,000 barrels per day. In the event of a yes victory, the public company Petroecuador will have one year to close the wells, dismantle the infrastructures and restore the forest.
Disputed calculations
In June, the Minister of Energy, Fernando Santos, estimated that ending the extraction of crude oil from the Yasuni would involve “a shortfall of 1.2 billion a year for public finances, in a country that has enormous needs”. The figure is taken up by all the supporters of the “no”. The state-owned company Petroecuador, which operates the Yasuni, argues that Block 43 occupies only 80 hectares and that “the most efficient technologies” are implemented in order to limit the environmental impact of the oil business. According to Mr. Santos, the dismantling of the Yasuni infrastructure will cost some 500 million dollars (460 million euros).
Yasuni defenders dispute the official calculations. “The authorities have taken as the basis of their demonstration a crude extraction cost of 21 dollars and an average price of a barrel of 83 dollars for the next 20 years, two completely unrealistic figures”, explains economist Carlos Larrea. He estimates that the shortfall will be 275 million dollars annually.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers In Ecuador, after the assassination of a presidential candidate, “people are paralyzed by fear”
“Furthermore, the dismantling of oil infrastructure will have to be paid for one day, lThe problem is knowing when”adds Antonella Calle who criticizes “ economic terrorism official speech. Alicia Cahuiya doesn’t want to hear about numbers. “In the Yasuni, it is the future of the earth, our mother to all, which is at stake. Full stop”, explains this leader of the Waorani indigenous community.
You have 57.25% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
#Ecuador #oil #exploitation #Yasuni #natural #park #submitted #referendum #Sunday