Yasuni: Ecuador abandons plan to stave off Amazon drilling

Overlooked ... an aerial view of the Yasuni National Park,
 in Ecuador's northeastern jungle.
Photograph: Dolores Ochoa/AP

16/08/2013 - http://www.theguardian.com

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has abandoned a unique and ambitious plan to persuade rich countries to pay his country not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon rainforest preserve.

Environmentalists had hailed the initiative when Correa first proposed it in 2007, saying he was setting a precedent in the fight against global warming by reducing the high cost to poor countries of preserving... read more