By MAGGIE I. JARUZEL
High-level discussions about ways for international financing institutions (IFIs) to address global climate change are entering a new era – one in which nations could be paid for not drilling for oil in environmentally sensitive regions.
“This initiative is so exciting because it comes from a developing country’s government that wants to protect its biodiversity and take on the issue of climate change,” said Jonathan Sohn, senior associate for World Resources Institute (WRI), a Washington, D.C.-based environmental research organization.
“So often, the pressures facing developing countries force them to make decisions that do not protect these sensitive areas.”
The Ecuadorian government should be regarded as a “bold leader” for putting forth such a proposal, Sohn said, because the plan provides an innovative way to protect the Yasuni Rainforest, located in the Amazon basin, and its indigenous people while simultaneously avoiding carbon emissions by keeping approximately one billion barrels of oil off the global market.
However, he cautioned that every step taken to bring the Yasuni proposal to fruition needs to be taken carefully and correctly so the plan can be used as an international model and replicated.
With support from a Mott Foundation grant, WRI and the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador co-hosted a meeting in mid-September with public and private international finance and development experts, venture capitalists, and others to discuss financing options for the Yasuni proposal.
To date, the governments of Italy and Spain have expressed interest in possibly providing debt relief to Ecuador in exchange for not extracting oil from the Amazon basin, Sohn said.
WRI, one of several Mott grantees receiving support under the Environment program’s International Finance for Sustainability focus, is working with international leaders in hopes of shifting the global focus so natural resources left in the ground are considered just as valuable as those that are extracted.
Another grantee, Amazon Watch, helped develop the Yasuni proposal by providing advice and technical support to Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa presented the proposal to international leaders at the U.N. General Assembly’s meeting on climate change at U.N. headquarters in New York City in September 2007. To date, that was the largest gathering of world leaders to discuss the topic, says Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch’s executive director.
With support from Mott and the Wallace Global Fund, the Ecuadorian government is hosting a workshop November 26-30 in Ecuador as a follow-up to the D.C. event. The goal is to determine the next steps to take toward financing and implementing the proposal, including developing ways for the Ecuadorian government to invest in a sustainable economic development strategy with resources raised from this initiative, Soltani said.
Following that meeting, world leaders will gather again on the Indonesian island of Bali in December for the 13th U.N. Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP 13).
Because Ecuador would forego an estimated $9.2 billion in oil revenues, the government is seeking compensation from nations, foundations, corporations, nonprofit groups, and individuals for half, or $4.6 billion total. Backers of the proposal are trying to raise $360 million to meet the first year’s payout.
Solanti said it is feasible to raise between $3.5 billion and $4.6 billion from people around the planet because so many people are affected by what happens in the region.
“When we look globally at the role of the Amazon Rainforest, we see that it literally drives the weather around the world. It affects rainfall from California to the agricultural belt in Iowa,” she said.
“This proposal is not only protecting an important rainforest, but also recognizing and addressing climate change. In my 11 years of doing this kind of work, this is the first time I’ve seen such a progressive proposal from a government.”
Although the Yasuni oil represents 20 percent of the nation’s total known oil reserves, Soltani said, there has been broad support for the proposal from Ecuadorian citizens.
The proposal also has received support from people elsewhere because it addresses climate change in two ways, said Sohn of WRI.
First, keeping the oil in the ground would reduce deforestation in the Yasuni Rainforest because trees would not be cut down to make roads to reach the oil reserves. Second, there would be less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere if the nearly one billion barrels of oil were not drilled and used as fuel, he said.
“We need to start weaning ourselves off foreign oil, and this proposal helps us think in that direction.”
Additional Links
- View WRI’s media release about the Yasuni proposal.
- View a media release from the government of Ecuador.
- View an announcement about the Energy and Climate Change Commitment for the Ecuador proposal from the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI).
- View a video of the CGI award presentation to the President of Ecuador.
- View an Amazon Watch video clip about the Amazon Rainforest narrated by actor Martin Sheen.