Last year, almost 60% of Ecuadorian voters supported the referendum on ending drilling in the Amazon.
Los Ecuadorians they made history when voted in favor of stopping oil drilling in the heart of the Amazonia. However, 12 months later, there is little sign of the industry abandoning the Yasuni National Parkan area of great biodiversity located east of Quito.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Energy and Mines announced that had closed one of the hundreds of wells in the area known as block 43-ITT.
However, the government requested last week to the Constitutional Court a five-year extension and five months for the state oil company Petroecuador completely cease its operations.
Behind him historic referendum last August, in which the 60% of the population voted in favor of stopping drilling in the blockthe Government Ecuadorian It was given until the end of August 2024 to do so.
“The government cannot set its own timetable and has shown little political will to shut down operations,” said Kevin Koenig, climate and energy director at the nonprofit. Amazon Watchin response to Wednesday’s statement.
Furthermore, Koenig recalled that the Constitutional Court gave the Ecuadorian Government one year to close 227 wells and of those it has put the padlock on one.
“They are not complying with their judicial obligation to the Court, they are not complying with the mandate of the ecuadorian town and they are not respecting the rights of the Waorani,” added the Amazon Watch member.
Yasuní National Park, one of the regions with the greatest biodiversity in the world
The national park is a biosphere reserve designated by the Unesco. In addition to the Waoraniis home to two of the last indigenous communities in the world living in voluntary isolation, the Taromenane and the Tagaytay.
The oil industry has been operating in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon for more than five decades, according to the non-profit organization Amazon Watch, which states that large oil spills have been frequent and that at one time Petroecuador had an average of one spill per week.
Koenig stated that the discharges result in high levels of cancerrespiratory ailments, miscarriages and other health problems for people who live nearby.
Juan Bay, president of the main Waorani organization of Ecuadorknown as TOOleads a delegation to the Ecuadorian capital to speak before Congress on Friday. He said his people want to be included in the process.
“The decision of the Ecuadorian people was a relief for the Waorani people, because they see that for six decades, oil has not been a development, it has not been a change, but rather it has brought death”Bay said.
When is the Government’s plan to stop drilling in the Yasuní National Park?
On Wednesday, August 28, the Government said it had dismantled the B-56 well.
“I come to verify that the decision of last year’s referendum is being complied with, where citizens voted in favor of the closure of this field,” said the Minister of Energy and Mines, Antonio Goncalves. “Complying with the closure of the ITT is not an easy job, it requires special and technical planning”.
All wells must be taken out of service by December 2029, the Government has previously stated. put an end to oil prospecting in block 43-ITT could cost $1.3 billion (about 1,200 million euros), according to Government calculations.
ADVERTISINGOil accounts for almost a third of the Ecuador’s GDPwhose economy has difficulty meeting its domestic debt obligations.
