When I think of Ecuador, I see pristine, untouched forests. But for many businessmen, the country’s forests are a delicious piece of land. These people have a hard time understanding the point: in a world with a destroyed environment, money will not be needed. After all, this will probably be another planet that we can no longer inhabit.
Indigenous people watch the animals in the park
Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio recently wrote a post defending the preservation of Yasuni Park in Ecuador. It is the legendary actor’s foundation that works to protect biodiversity, preserve forests and oceans. I once donated $100,000 to the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. It is precisely for these purposes.
Yasuni Park itself is considered one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet. It is home to 150 species of amphibians, about 600 species of birds and more than 3,000 species of plants. Importantly, indigenous communities — Tagaeri, Taromenan and Dugakaeri — live in voluntary isolation in the forests of the National Park. And they are the ones who care about the conservation of biodiversity, because they have the ancestral rights to this land. However, today the fate of the park hangs in the balance.
According to DiCaprio, the proposed oil projects cast a shadow over this critical ecosystem, threatening massive deforestation and species extinction, as well as the very survival of indigenous peoples.
Lots of oil
More than 1,672,000 barrels of oil lie in Yasuni National Park. And this place, which boasts the greatest biodiversity on earth, could become the largest oil project in Ecuador’s history, in other words, a lifeless, dirty dump.
The Ecuadorian government is trying to make up its budget deficit by destroying a unique corner of the planet. It needs to pay off its debt, which amounts to $3.7 billion in January 2022. This deficit will be even higher in 2023.
In 2020, state-owned Petroamazonas EP signed a contract to drill 24 new wells in the park area. The $148 million contract was awarded to the Chinese Chuanqing Drilling Engineering Company Limited. At the same time, the Ecuadorian government owes $5 billion to China. Moreover, most importantly: some of the unproduced oil has already been sold and guaranteed to China! In 2022, the Ecuadorian government announced its first contract for drilling wells near Yasuni with the China National Oil Corporation: the national park is being gradually surrounded by a dirty industrial zone.
It is understandable that environmental groups around the world have started beating the alarm. All these years, there has been a serious struggle and in 1989, Yasuni National Park was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO. Many famous people actively and systematically support the reserve, among them are Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton, Sting and other activists. This struggle led to Ecuador’s Constitutional Court banning oil production in Yasuni buffer zone in February 2022, where drilling rigs were planned. However, local journalists say that despite the court’s decision, work at the site is still ongoing. It’s all sold to China.
Corrupt leadership of Ecuador
Destroying a national park of world importance to pay off debts is a crime against humanity. The Amazon forests are the “light” of the planet – our common home. I hope there’s no need to remind anyone of that. Therefore, the people in the Government of Ecuador who are responsible for this situation need to be addressed systematically.
How did Ecuador get into debt at all and why is the budget short of money? Let us open Transparency International’s corruption perception index for 2022. Ecuador has 36 index points. What does it say? The closer the number to one, the more corruption in the country. For example, the world’s most corrupt state – Somalia – has 12 index points. In other words, Ecuador has, roughly speaking, three times better corruption than Somalia.
In the overall ranking of corruption, Ecuador occupies the prestigious position of 101st out of 180 countries in the world. If the brotherhood of local officials had not stolen, or at least had less theft, there would be no particular problem with the country’s national budget deficit.
In addition, on August 9, 59-year-old Fernando Villavicencio, a labor union leader, investigative journalist, and former Ecuadorian MP, was shot three times in the head during an election campaign. During his time as a legislator, Villavicencio helped investigate and expose much of the corruption in Ecuador’s last three administrations, particularly oil corruption. He was also the one who initiated the impeachment of the incumbent president.
It is not known if Villavicencio’s murder is related to the intensified oil attacks on Yasuni Park, but it is possible.
Where is the reaction of the UN and world governments?
One thing is clear: the savagery that is taking place in Ecuador must be stopped. The world community, the UN and the governments of the world’s leading countries must do something and impose the harshest personal sanctions against members of the Ecuadorian Government. Because if the Amazon forests are threatened by corruption among the ministers of a given state, it is not a domestic or even a regional problem. It is a worldwide problem!
The Government of Ecuador needs to understand the recklessness of their actions, which endanger the lives and health of so many people on the planet. Yet, they do not really care about animals and plants. Well, in this case, describe to them the dire consequences for them personally as vividly as possible.
Ecuadorian officials must realize that there is a paradise corner of the planet on their country’s territory. You must use nature’s gifts, not destroy them! You can develop eco-tourism. In fact, there are not many places left in the world where you can breathe full. We cannot let this corner of paradise be turned into an oil dump!
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