Ecuador signs permits for oil drilling in Amazon's Yasuni national park

The Yasuni national park is a Unesco biosphere reserve, containing
pristine Amazon forests and home to two uncontacted tribes.
Photograph: Cecilia Puebla/EPA

23/05/2014 - www.theguardian.com

Drilling for oil in a part of the Amazon rainforest considered one of the most biodiverse hotspots on the planet is to go ahead less than a year after Ecuador's president lifted a moratorium on oil drilling there.

Last August, Rafeal Correa scrapped a pioneering scheme, the Yasuni Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) initiative, to keep oil in the ground under a corner of the Yasuni national park in return for donations from the international community.

He said only $13m (£8m) of the $3.6bn goal had been given, and that "the world has failed us", giving the green light to drilling.

On Thursday, environment minister, Lorena Tapia, said permits for drilling had been signed for the 6,500-square-mile reserve, known as block 43, and oil production might begin as soon... See More