Oil Drilling in Ecuador Raises Environmental Concerns
Ecuador confirmed oil drilling in Yasuni National Park and assured the public that operations have had minimal impact on the region’s fragile ecosystem on October 26. Officials defended environmentally friendly drilling practices in the park, a biodiversity hotspot and UNESCO biosphere reserve. However, environmentalists and indigenous rights activists recently criticized these actions and protested the continued oil extraction. According to The Guardian, the official statement comes a month after drilling began in the Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (ITT) block of the park in September. Since then, Petroecuador, a state-owned oil company, has extracted 23,000 barrels of oil a day.
Yasuni ITT is one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots, containing more species of trees, birds, amphibians, and reptiles in one hectare than the US and Canada put together. The UNESCO site is also the home of two uncontacted tribes and contains 30 percent of the nation’s remaining known oil reserves.
Drilling in the ITT sector of the park has been contested since 2013, when President Rafael Correa made an agreement to leave the area untouched in exchange for $3.6 billion from the international community. Though environmentalists, politicians, and even Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio lauded the agreement as a positive step in environmental policy, the world only produced four percent of the demanded funds, according to Business Insider. As a result, the Ecuadorian government reissued drilling permits for the area beginning August 2014.
Government officials claim drilling in the block is necessary to combat the disastrous effects of past exploitation, specifically by American oil firms, and to relieve national poverty. According to The Guardian, Vice President Jorge Glas highlighted the significance of drilling, stating that “the alternative of having children without schools, without hospitals, without health infrastructure, without clean water, is not an alternative.”
Beyond economic arguments, Ecuadorian officials cite the environmentally conscious methods employed in the region. These measures include limits on gas flaring, carbon dioxide emissions, and colonization. However, critics say it is too early to tell if drilling will harm the block’s indigenous people or its unique ecosystem. Alicia Cuhuiya, Vice President of the Waorani tribe, has also asked for “no more exploitation [of the block].”
Kevin Koenig, the Ecuadorian representative to Amazon Watch, decries the site’s restricted access to public inspection. Journalists and other prominent figures are also questioning the urgency to exploit the Yasuni ITT in an adverse oil market. "By drilling Yasuni-ITT, the Ecuadorian government is threatening to destroy one of the most biodiverse and culturally fragile treasures on the planet for what amounts to about a week of global oil supply,” said Leila Salazar, director of Amazon Watch, according to The Guardian.
Despite criticism, Vice President Jorge Glas remains confident. He has declared “a new era of Ecuadorian oil” which he claims will be characterized by care of the environment and for the Ecuadorian people.