Ecuador’s citizens have spoken: Oil should not be pumped out of the ground. A historic vote among the population of Ecuador has decided that no new oil drilling can be started in the Yasuní National Park, and that all current oil drilling in the area must be stopped within one year. – It is historic – also on an international level, says Jorge Espinosa, who is active in the organization Yasunidos. We hope that all other countries around the world will follow suit. Yasunidos is a collection of various NGOs and environmental organizations. For the past ten years, the organization has been pushing for a referendum to stop drilling for oil in the Yasuni National Park. 59 percent of the population in Ecuador voted yes to the vote on 20 August to leave the oil in the ground. One of the most natural places on earth Yasuní is the largest national park in Ecuador and is located in the eastern part of the country. The area is part of the Amazon rainforest, and it is also one of the most biodiverse places on earth. For example, there are more than 1,300 species of trees – which is more than in Canada and the United States combined – more than 600 species of birds, 10 species of monkeys, 81 species of bats and there are 100,000 species of insects per hectare. For comparison, there are a total of approx. 18,000 insect species throughout Denmark. The lush nature and wildlife is one of the reasons why the people voted in favor of letting the oil stay in the ground, believes Jorge Espinosa. – One of the reasons is that in the last 10 years we have heard that Yasuní is the area with the most biological diversity, and the isolated communities that live there are at risk. We have a strong connection with nature, we are one of the countries with the most biological diversity on the planet, and we have seen the effect that the destruction of the planet has, he says. Several indigenous groups live in Yasuní, including the Tagaeri and Taromenane people, who live in voluntary isolation from the outside world. For them – and for nature and the planet – oil drilling has had major consequences. First and foremost, oil drilling contributes to fossil fuel being dug up from the earth, which is the biggest cause of global warming. According to satellite monitoring from the NGO th Anean Amazon Monitoring Project, which among other things monitors the oil drilling in Yasuní, large areas of forest are being cleared to make room for the oil drilling infrastructure – and that only reinforces global warming, because the Amazon is an important player, when will absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. In addition, oil is spilled in the forest, which also has consequences for both people, animals and plants. Oil is a major export During the referendum, an argument from the No side argued that Ecuador’s economy is dependent on oil extraction. Oil is the country’s largest export product. – We know that Ecuador has been an oil exploiting country for many years, and we were promised that we would become a rich country from it – but so far nothing has happened. On the contrary, we have gone through an economic crisis. We have begun to doubt the industry, says Jorge Espinosa. But there is a complicated relationship with oil drilling, he says. There are many who are dependent on the large oil companies, which, among other things, are responsible for providing jobs and building roads to the areas in connection with drilling oil from the ground. There is a historical dependence on oil, says Jorge Espinosa. Would be paid to leave the oil in the ground Oil drilling in Yasuní goes back many years. In 2007, Ecuador’s then president suggested that the country would let oil in the area remain in the ground if the richer countries compensated the country for their loss of 3.6 billion dollars. That did not happen, and in 2013 drilling began. It was instead the starting point for Yasunido’s work to let the people vote on whether or not the oil should be released. – It is almost unbelievable, says Jorge Espinosa. At one point we thought it was a lost cause. 10 years ago, when we started formulating the idea of a referendum of this size, we were excited about it. We collected 750,000 signatures then. Everything went well, we were sure there would be a referendum – but then there was the boycott. It all became a legal battle. Only last year were the signatures approved, and the vote became a reality – and now the oil drilling in Yasuní National Park is over. – When we started the campaign, we thought that the most difficult thing would be to persuade the people who live on the coast to vote yes. But in the end, most of the coastal provinces voted to leave the oil in the ground. I think it is because of climate change, says Jorge Espinosa. Among other things, Ecuador has been exposed to floods due to storms and heavy rain. At the same time, the country is placed on the front line, when El Ninio takes off – a recurring weather phenomenon, which is associated with warmer ocean currents and more rainfall, and which experts point out may become more powerful due to climate change. – It is only a month since the coastal regions were affected by torrential rain – and we know that this happens because of climate change, says Jorge Espinosa. At the same time, he believes that climate change may have pushed the vote in Ecuador in the direction of nature. – The Andes cross our country, it can feel large and distant, we can easily feel disconnected from each other’s reality – but climate change can make us feel closer.
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Historic vote in Ecuador: The oil must stay in the ground
