It’s assumed that constant development isn’t possible without putting environment on stake. However, oil rich country, Ecuador proved it wrong, as President Rafael Correa has come up with an unusual solution to preserve its environment.
The Latin-American country offers wealthy nations to pay it $350 million a year in exchange for leaving an estimated 1 billion barrels of oil under the ground in the pristine Yasuni rainforest.
The plan involves creating a trust fund for donations or accepting debt pardons from other countries or multilateral lenders like the International Monetary Fund. The $350 million would constitute about half what Ecuador said it could make each year from extracting oil from the field, partly located inside the Yasuni National Park.
Ecuador seeks to ease the poverty of his people, but at the same time, the country wants to ensure its commitment to preserve its lush green forest. Ecuador is a debt-ridden country, where 6 out of 10 people are poor and its idea to develop economy along with the healthy environment without creating an economic burden for a country received applaud from the environmentalists around the world.
Country’s economy depends on oil export, and pumping oil to native oil refinery will be too costly. If it has huge oil reserves, then it makes sense, but its reserve will only satiate the global crude consumption for 12 days. Nevertheless, all episodes seem passing prank on oil drillers.
Although, Ecuador’s plan, on practical ground, seems weak, yet it spreads the exemplary message to other oil rich nations that how oil can be drilled without hurting environment.
Via: IHT
