Ecuador's $3.6bn scheme to save its rainforest from exploitation could point the way to sparing other threatened landscapes
By Esmé McAvoy
Sunday, 8 August 2010
The world's first genuinely green energy deal is about to be sealed. In a plan which could be a blueprint for saving large tracts of the planet from exploitation, a greater value is being put on a pristine wilderness than on the oil that lies beneath.
While the world's industrialised countries are building complex carbon markets to enable them to carry on polluting, Ecuador has come up with a much simpler idea for mitigating climate change: leave the oil underground. It is promising to lock up as much as a fifth of its oil reserves indefinitely, providing rich nations pay out at least half the market value of the oil – some $3.6bn – as compensation.
The trail-blazing proposal was first floated in 2007, but it took a step towards reality last week when the UN Development Programme signed an agreement with the Ecuadorean government to be the independent administrator for the project's trust fund. The accord makes Ecuador the only country in the world offering to leave lucrative oil reserves untapped in an attempt to slow climate change.
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Showing posts with label achievements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label achievements. Show all posts
13 Mar 2010
21 Jun 2009
A letter from the Prince of Wales
Dear Mr Pastor,
The Prince of Wales has asked me to thank you for the book, Yuni Green Gold: The Amazon fight to keep oil underground, which you very kindly enclosed with your letter of 23rd December.
His Royal Highness was deeply touched that you thought of him in the way that you did and looks forward to dipping into your fascinating book at the earliest opportunity.
This comes with The Prince of Wales's warmest good wishes.
Your Sincerely,
Clive Alderton
The Prince of Wales has asked me to thank you for the book, Yuni Green Gold: The Amazon fight to keep oil underground, which you very kindly enclosed with your letter of 23rd December.
His Royal Highness was deeply touched that you thought of him in the way that you did and looks forward to dipping into your fascinating book at the earliest opportunity.
This comes with The Prince of Wales's warmest good wishes.
Your Sincerely,
Clive Alderton
11 Apr 2009
The good, the bad and the Yasuni
Do you want the good news or the bad news first?
OK, the good news: after months of pressure, the Ecuadorian Government has extended its self-imposed deadline for securing the support of the international community in saving the Yasuni rainforest. The deadline was the 31st December 2008, and since then things haven’t been looking good. Last week we were most alarmed when it transpired that the ‘ITT bloc’ at the heart of the region had been put out to tender for oil companies to gobble up the rights to exploit. We thought it might be all over.
But then, just a few days later, the Ecuadorian Government issued a press release reaffirming their commitment to finding a way to protect the bloc from oil extraction, and listing governments, including Spain, Italy and Germany, who were supporting their proposal for finding enough funding to leave the black stuff in the ground. Once again, the people of Yasuni have been extended a tenuous lifeline - though clearly there are major splits within Ecuador on this.
But it would be premature to crack open the organic sparkling wine.
The bad news is that, having had little luck with their initial proposal: that Western governments should share the cost of financially compensating the Ecuadorian government for its loss of oil revenue, they have come up with a new proposal for funding the preservation of the forest. And it relies entirely on carbon trading. European energy companies and other industrial polluters will be encouraged to buy Yasuni ‘credits’ under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, and preserve a little bit of rainforest in return for continuing their polluting ways back home.
There are many objections to using the international financial markets to preserve forests - not least that it is handing over responsibility for the long term future of some of the most precious and complex natural systems and habitats on the planet to the very same city bankers and traders who have just brought the global economy crashing to its knees… I just don’t think they know best, do you?
The problems with carbon trading are explored in more depth in the current issue of the New Internationalist, which focuses on ‘Climate Justice’. It is certainly not a solution for the Yasuni. Our campaign to secure a long-term future for the indigenous and local people of the region, who have still not been consulted by either their government or the Western governments supporting the proposal, continues.
By Jess Worth of the New Internationalist Coop
20 Nov 2008
31 Oct 2008
A very quick summery of what went down in Spain...
Sunday: We were in Tarragona with Ali Supay, Marlon Santi president of CONAIE and Jose Proaño Ecuadorian anthropologist and activist. We all met in Tarragona with local organisations there such as Repsol Mata, to talk about the different issues in the Yasuni and for the indigenous people of the region.
Monday: Morning we do a radio interview in Altafulle and head off to Barcelona to the office of I-With where Gines and Anita are immediately thrust onto the phone to do more interviews.
Tuesday: We have the presentation of the book in Barcelona in the UOC in the morning after yet more radio interviews. Present are various organisations with which we have been working in Barcelona such as Ideatik, Eutopia, Consultants without boarders and I-with as well as a representative from the Ecuadorian Embassy, Marlon, Jose and other groups.
From here we sped off to Girona where we had another presentation at the University of Girona where we are met by Engineers without Borders, already familiar with the situation in the Yasuni and enthusiastic to help where they can.
Wednesday: We were off bright and early to Madrid where we have a press conference at the Circulo de Bellas Artes. Again we are met by a representative of the Ecuadorian Embassy and are thrilled when El Mundo, the most read newspaper in Spain, published a huge feature length article about the Yasuni and the campaign following the meeting.
Gines and Anita then whizz off to some more radio interviews and then a meeting with the Department for International Development…
That evening we head off to Seville!
Thursday: Early that morning we are picked up and taken to Cadiz where we are bundled into the university press room to sign contracts of co-operation. We then go to the local government where we are given the grand tour… That evening we go back to the university to give another presentation of the campaign and book.
Friday: Is off to the Diputación de Cordoba, who are also very involved in the region and keen to help.
14 Oct 2008
Thursday, Joan Ruddock and Amnesty International
Thursday afternoon we head off once again to Westminister to meet with Joan Ruddock from the Depatment for Energy and Climate Change. She has managed to squeeze us in between the madness of the creation of this new department. We are told by her PA that she usually does not have a moment to spare but had managed to find a space for us as she was so interested in the campaign. We filled Joan in on the campaign quickly and Anita told her about how her and Lupe had lead a people´s revolution in Orellana demanding that their basic rights be met. She was very supportive of the Yasuni Green Gold Camapign, she agreed with us that the ITT proposal was important and that the British government would support it in principal. She also agreed that inorder to get the proposal through there needed to be the clarification and gaurentees the campaign asked for and that when the proposal is presented to her she would relay these points. She asked us to keep her updated on the status of the proposal and progress of the campaign. Another good result!
After this we sped off to Amnesty International. Anita was thrilled for the chance to thank in person the organisation that had played such a big part in releasing her friend and fellow activist Guadalupe Llori. They were also excitied to meet Anita and hear all about her human rights work.
10 Oct 2008
John Vidal from The Guardian names Anita woman of the week
John Vidal from The Guardian writes:
"Prize for the most impressive woman in Britain this week could go to Anita Rivas, an inspirational Ecuadorean who was in London to see the government and fight for the preservation of the extraordinarily rich Yasuní national park. This Amazonian treasure should be protected, but Argentine, French and local oil companies have started drilling, and a worldwide campign against them has started. "If we keep the oil below the ground, not only will we conserve an enormously diverse area, home to many indigenous people, but also we will become a universal symbol that a new world is possible," said Anita. Shame that the new Department of Energy and Climate Change could not find time to see her."
The same day we contacted the new Department of Energy and Climate Change only to find that Joan Ruddock, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, had made time to see us the next day....!
"Prize for the most impressive woman in Britain this week could go to Anita Rivas, an inspirational Ecuadorean who was in London to see the government and fight for the preservation of the extraordinarily rich Yasuní national park. This Amazonian treasure should be protected, but Argentine, French and local oil companies have started drilling, and a worldwide campign against them has started. "If we keep the oil below the ground, not only will we conserve an enormously diverse area, home to many indigenous people, but also we will become a universal symbol that a new world is possible," said Anita. Shame that the new Department of Energy and Climate Change could not find time to see her."
The same day we contacted the new Department of Energy and Climate Change only to find that Joan Ruddock, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, had made time to see us the next day....!
Tuesday with Simon Webb the environmental adviser to the Liberal Democrats
Tuesday we were a little more together, we now had well planned out how we were going to construct the meetings, what we were going to say and what we were asking for. Simon was great he said he would invite the Ambassador in the present the proposal and that he would put forward the campaign concerns, guarantees for the Yasuni and it people and a clear idea as to where the money would go and an unlimited time in which to work these things out.
Monday Evening – Campaign and Book launch in Amnesty UK
We were so pleased to have the Ecuadorian Ambassador’s second in command (the Ambassador was not in the country), Anita (mayor of Orellana), Ginés and Tony Juniper speaking at the event. We also had a special message from Penti, a Waorani leader in the Yasuní, who had been unable to attend the event in person but instead sent a powerful speech.
The Embassy representative began by presenting the national proposal followed by Anita who gave an emotional speech about growing up in Coca, her fight for the human rights of her people and the hope that they all had that the international community would help the oil to be kept in the ground. She also gave a special thanks to Amnesty who had been so instrumental in fighting for the release of fellow human rights activist, leader and friend, Guadalupe Llori who had been wrongfully imprisoned for a year.
Ginés Haro, Co-director of the Yasuni green Gold Campaign, then followed up Anita’s message with the memory that when he left Orellana Anita had said to him “don’t forget us”. He had never been able to and hoped that those present would not forget the Yasuní and would work with the campaign to fight for its preservation and the rights of it’s inhabitants.
Tony Juniper, previous leader of FoE Interntional, now part of the Princes Trust finished off the speeches with a reflection on the international Environmental context, the move into the post-Kyoto era and the possibilities for the Yasuní.
Then followed an interesting set of comments from the audience. Some interesting points were brought up in during the discussion things such as the contradictions in the governments behaviour, plans and statements that seem to contradict attempts to be progressive in the human and environmental rights particularly the people of the Oriente. This is so true, there are so many issues which complicate the situation as you can see on the campaign page where we talk about national parallel projects and legislation which is at odds with the ITT proposal.
However the campaign believes that keeping a dialogue open with the national government and supporting positive actions is crucial. Although we need to be open and critical, we also need to make sure we properly support the positive things coming out of the government such as this initiative. There are problems with it and these need to be addressed, however such huge proposals are very rarely perfect first time round and need to be worked on with all the concerned parties.
If we only criticise and do not work on the positive aspects the only people who benefit are the oil companies. They have so far been taking advantage of the division and differences between people so it is important that we come together on the ground that we have in common – that is to preserve the Yasuni and its people.
Another point was that the ITT is not the Yasuní. This is very true, the Yasuní is much bigger than just this reserve and other parts of the Yasuní are already being or have already been exploited for oil. However this block is the furthest into the Yasuní that the oil companies have been – it is right in the heart of the park and if it goes ahead it will open up the whole area to logging and contamination – the people of the Yasuní will have no where left to go that is safe.
The ITT block is symbolic in saying the buck stops here, oil companies can go no further, there are more important things. As Anita said, we have to start putting life before oil.
The Embassy representative began by presenting the national proposal followed by Anita who gave an emotional speech about growing up in Coca, her fight for the human rights of her people and the hope that they all had that the international community would help the oil to be kept in the ground. She also gave a special thanks to Amnesty who had been so instrumental in fighting for the release of fellow human rights activist, leader and friend, Guadalupe Llori who had been wrongfully imprisoned for a year.
Ginés Haro, Co-director of the Yasuni green Gold Campaign, then followed up Anita’s message with the memory that when he left Orellana Anita had said to him “don’t forget us”. He had never been able to and hoped that those present would not forget the Yasuní and would work with the campaign to fight for its preservation and the rights of it’s inhabitants.
Tony Juniper, previous leader of FoE Interntional, now part of the Princes Trust finished off the speeches with a reflection on the international Environmental context, the move into the post-Kyoto era and the possibilities for the Yasuní.
Then followed an interesting set of comments from the audience. Some interesting points were brought up in during the discussion things such as the contradictions in the governments behaviour, plans and statements that seem to contradict attempts to be progressive in the human and environmental rights particularly the people of the Oriente. This is so true, there are so many issues which complicate the situation as you can see on the campaign page where we talk about national parallel projects and legislation which is at odds with the ITT proposal.
However the campaign believes that keeping a dialogue open with the national government and supporting positive actions is crucial. Although we need to be open and critical, we also need to make sure we properly support the positive things coming out of the government such as this initiative. There are problems with it and these need to be addressed, however such huge proposals are very rarely perfect first time round and need to be worked on with all the concerned parties.
If we only criticise and do not work on the positive aspects the only people who benefit are the oil companies. They have so far been taking advantage of the division and differences between people so it is important that we come together on the ground that we have in common – that is to preserve the Yasuni and its people.
Another point was that the ITT is not the Yasuní. This is very true, the Yasuní is much bigger than just this reserve and other parts of the Yasuní are already being or have already been exploited for oil. However this block is the furthest into the Yasuní that the oil companies have been – it is right in the heart of the park and if it goes ahead it will open up the whole area to logging and contamination – the people of the Yasuní will have no where left to go that is safe.
The ITT block is symbolic in saying the buck stops here, oil companies can go no further, there are more important things. As Anita said, we have to start putting life before oil.
Monday morning… meeting at Dfid (UK Department for International Development)
So we all piled into the meeting room at Dfid taking a pace around the huge rectangular table. We were greeted by John Hudson, Senior Forestry Adviser, Dr Amy Sullivan from the Climate and Environment Group and a representative from the Foreign Office. Anita started off by telling them all about what was happening in Orellana to her people and to the region, we were slightly taken aback (but not completely put off) when we were told that a plea for bio-diversity and indigenous people was 10 years too late, that what they were now interested in was Climate Change. Anita told them about how important these issues were to climate change but that also her people and the bio-diversity of the region had to be a priority, she was not prepared to sell them on the market.
We came to what we wanted which was for them to respond to the Ecuadorian government’s proposal officially with initial support but with the improvements laid out on our campaign page.
They said that they were unable to response as they do not believe they have been officially invited by the Ecuadorian government to participate… so our first mission on hearing such news was make sure the Ambassador be invited to present the proposal…
2 Oct 2008
Yasuni Events - some dates for the diary!
We have a busy busy few weeks ahead of us..
On Monday the 6th of October Anita Rivas, mayor of the Yasuní region (Orellana) will be in the UK to present the issues currently facing the region at the Yasuni Green Gold launch. The event will be held at the Amnesty Human Rights centre in east London and will be looking forward to the attendence of people such as Tony Juniper, the Ecuadorian vice-ambassador and organisations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
That morning we will also be having a meeting with DFID, the UK department for international development, and the environmental adviser to Gordon Brown..
On Tuesday we will be meeting with Steve Webb the Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs with a possible showing from Nick Clegg...?
On Wednesday we will be holding a parliamentary meeting and we currently have Tom, who is helping out in the office, trying to get as many MPs as possible to that meeting.
Then Friday morning Anita and Ginés will shoot off to Luxembourg where they have been invited to talk at the Climate Alliance of European Cities with the Indigenous Rainforest Peoples!
On Saturday we head off to Spain with Anita where we'll be doing presentations in Barcelona, Madrid, Cadiz and Cordoba - if you want to come along drop us a line and we'll let you know where to go..
On Monday the 6th of October Anita Rivas, mayor of the Yasuní region (Orellana) will be in the UK to present the issues currently facing the region at the Yasuni Green Gold launch. The event will be held at the Amnesty Human Rights centre in east London and will be looking forward to the attendence of people such as Tony Juniper, the Ecuadorian vice-ambassador and organisations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
That morning we will also be having a meeting with DFID, the UK department for international development, and the environmental adviser to Gordon Brown..
On Tuesday we will be meeting with Steve Webb the Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs with a possible showing from Nick Clegg...?
On Wednesday we will be holding a parliamentary meeting and we currently have Tom, who is helping out in the office, trying to get as many MPs as possible to that meeting.
Then Friday morning Anita and Ginés will shoot off to Luxembourg where they have been invited to talk at the Climate Alliance of European Cities with the Indigenous Rainforest Peoples!
On Saturday we head off to Spain with Anita where we'll be doing presentations in Barcelona, Madrid, Cadiz and Cordoba - if you want to come along drop us a line and we'll let you know where to go..
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