Leave the oil in the ground for a social and environmental post-fossil fuels alternative!
Following the recent visit of president Correa in France and his decision to extract oil from Yasuni park, we would like to share information on Ecuadorian situation and invite you to support the protest actions of environmental movements and indigenous communities and the demand for a citizen-driven referendum
On 15th August 2013, the Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa signed a decree: announcing the end of what was probably the most original environmental initiative of the last several years: leave the oil of the ITT fields in the Yasuni park in the ground.
Originally supported by Ecuadorian social, environmental and indigenous movements, to defend the rights of indigenous people and the protection of the Amazonian biodiversity, the Yasuni proposal became the symbol of the transposition into acts of the new rights and principles included in the new 2008 Ecuadorian Constitution.
The Yasuni proposal was taken on board and supported by Rafael Correa and the Ecuadorian government in international arenas, who added to the social and environmental arguments the demand for an economic compensation, as an international solidarity gesture for Ecuador`s « effort » not to exploit oil from ITT fields. Out of the 3,6 billion of dollars the Ecuadorian presidency expected from the international community for compensation from non-exploitation, only 13 million were effectively collected and 116 million promised. «The world has abandoned us» claimed Rafael Correa who started last August the « Plan B », which had been announced for a long time, and which allows oil extraction to «finance the fight against poverty », especially in Amazonia. The Ecuadorian president considers that he had to choose between « a 100% preserved Yasuni park without money to fight poverty or a 99 % preserved park and the disposal of 18 billion dollars» from oil exploitation. He chose the second option, while promising technologies which minimise the environmental impacts in the exploitation areas.
Refusing the announcement of the end of the project by the Ecuadorian president, environmental, social and indigenous organisations, which launched the initiative, took it on board again and criticised the arguments of the Ecuadorian president. According to them, it is impossible to protect 99% of the Yasuni park from the consequences of oil exploitation due to the extreme pollution caused by oil exploitation and because more than 30 % of the park territory is already subject to oil prospection and exploitation. According to those organisations, the fight against poverty does not depend on the Yasuni exploitation as poverty is the result of unfair structures of wealth redistribution in Ecuador and because a limited increase of corporate tax would lead to more revenues than the prospective oil revenues and would not be limited in time. In addition to strong protests and demonstrations, several legal actions are in process.
The platforms YASunidos and Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia have decided to rely on the strong refusal of Yasuni exploitation among the Ecuadorian population – certain polls evaluate opposition to as much as 90% of citizens – to initiate a procedure for a citizen-driven referendum. The objective is to collect around 600 000 signatures, that is 5 % of the Ecuadorian electorate, to demand a referendum on the following question: Do you agree to the Ecuadorian government indefinitely maintaining in the ground the oil from the bloc Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini (ITT), known as bloc 43 ?
Attac France, with numerous other organisations in France and in the world, have always supported the Yasuni initiative as part of its criticism of our oil-dependent civilisation which has generated the anthropocene and as a symbolic example of initiatives to promote and implement in a post-oil and post-extractivism perspective, to protect humanity`s commons and for the survival of indigenous populations.
As a logical follow-up, Attac France has decided to support the popular referendum project brought together by the Ecuadorian organisations by informing its members, local committees, founding members and partners of this initiative and inviting them to financially support it.
