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Following a decade-long fight led by Indigenous activists and environmental leaders, Ecuadorians voted decisively to end oil drilling in one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth \u2014 a move heralded by supporters as \u201chistoric.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly 60 percent of voters supported the ban on oil drilling in the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini area of the Yasun\u00ed National Park, a UNESCO world biosphere reserve<\/a> , according to the Associated Press<\/a> . Sunday\u2019s referendum also included a vote to stop further mining exploration in the Andean Choc\u00f3 region, a cloud forest in northern Ecuador that is also a UNESCO biosphere reserve.<\/p>\n \u201cThe decision to say \u2018no\u2019 to drilling in Yasun\u00ed National Park and the Andean Choc\u00f3 region is good for Ecuador\u2019s biodiversity, local and Indigenous communities, as well as us all,\u201d said Conservation International CEO M. Sanjayan, who has spent significant time in the park.<\/p>\n Located at the intersection of the Amazon and the Andes, the roughly 1 million-hectare (2.5 million acre) national park is home to Indigenous groups, including the Tagaeri and Taromenani people, who live in voluntary isolation \u2014 as well as more than 2,000 species of plants, and hundreds of species of birds, mammals, reptiles and fish.<\/p>\n This biodiversity haven also holds some of Ecuador\u2019s largest oil reserves. As climate change and biodiversity loss have accelerated, those reserves have been at the center of a drawn out legal and bureaucratic battle that pitted protections for nature against economic pressures to drill in a country that is heavily reliant on oil extraction.<\/p>\n In 2007, then-President Rafael Correa pledged to prevent oil exploration<\/a> in an area known as Block 43 on the condition that the international community create a $3.6 billion fund to compensate for the billions in lost oil revenue. When that effort failed, plans to drill went ahead \u2014 and in 2016, the Ecuadorian state oil company broke ground. Today, this region produces roughly 12 percent of Ecuador\u2019s oil<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the years since, however, Indigenous communities and environmental activists have continued to push for a ban on drilling \u2014 which culminated in a major victory when voters cast ballots in Sunday\u2019s referendum.<\/p>\n \u201cI am thrilled that, when given the choice, the people of Ecuador chose nature and a healthy future,\u201d said Rachel Biderman who leads Conservation International\u2019s programs in South America. \u201cThe vote to ban oil drilling in the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini area of the Yasun\u00ed National Park and mining exploration in the Andean Choc\u00f3 region is a win for not only one nation, but for the entire world.\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n While Indigenous groups and environmentalists are celebrating this victory, the recent vote applies only to Block 43, which covers about 1 percent of the national park<\/a>. Oil production continues in other parts of the park and on Indigenous lands.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is still hard work ahead,\u201d Biderman noted. \u201cBut this is a critical first step and demonstrates that together we can combat the climate crisis and continue a path towards a post-extractives economic model that values nature.\u201d<\/p>\n Mary Kate McCoy is a staff writer at Conservation International. Want to read more stories like this? Sign up for email updates<\/a>. Also, please consider supporting our critical work<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n