Iniciativa Yasun-ITT

Iniciativa Yasun-ITTThe Yasuni-ITT Initiative was the proposal by the government of Ecuador to refrain indefinitely from exploiting the oil reserves of the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oil field within the Yasuni National Park, in exchange for 50% of the value of the reserves, or $3.6 billion over 13 years from the international community. Various economic rationales converge on roughly the same payment.

The reserve has around 846 million barrels, or 20% of the country's proven oil reserve. The aim of the initiative is to conserve biodiversity, protect indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation, and avoid the release of CO2 emissions. The Yasuni-ITT Trust Fund was officially launched on 3 August 2010. It will be administered by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund of the UNDP.

After receiving pledges totaling more than its goal of $100 million by its deadline of the end of 2011, the Ecuadorian government announced in early 2012 that it would move forward with the Yasuni ITT Initiative.[3][4] However, in July 2013, Ecuador's president Rafael Correa's commission on the Yasuni-ITT Initiative's progress, the commission concluded that economic results were insufficient, leading Correa to scrap the plan on August 15, 2013.

Preserving biodiversity

Yasuni National Park is one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth. Scientists have discovered 655 species of trees in one hectare of land in the park, more than the total recorded of US and Canada combined. It has been declared a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO. Some 4,000-plant species, 173 species of mammals and 610 bird species live inside the Park.Avoiding CO2 emissions

Leaving the oil underground avoids the emission of 410 million metric tons of CO2.Protection of indigenous people in voluntary isolation

Currently there are a number of indigenous groups living within Yasuni National Park: the Kichwa or Naporuna, Huaorani, Tagaeri, Taromenane. They are traditionally hunter-gatherers who are self-sufficient and formed kinship-based alliances. Their subsistence and way of lives are fragile due to the colonization of their territories, evangelization, illegal logging, extraction of non-renewable natural resources and other legal activities such as tourism and scientific research.Closure

In July 2013, President Correa assembled a committee to assess the profit of the Initiative. The committee later revealed that the amount of money pledged by other countries was less than expected-336 million, of which only 13.3 million had actually been delivered. Correa later scrapped the plan on August 15, saying "The world has failed us." He then proceeded to liquidate the Yasuni-ITT trust fund.