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This Sunday, Ecuador set a precedent around the world with its plebiscite decision. stop the exploitation of oil from one of its largest fields, located in the Yasuni
This Sunday, Ecuador set a precedent around the world with its plebiscite decision. stop the exploitation of oil from one of its largest fields, located in the Yasuni National Park, which is considered the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon and one of the world’s epicenters of biodiversity.
Nearly 58% of the votes have been counted. 59.14% of Ecuadorians voted “yes” to end block 43-ITT. compared to 40.86% who voted against the termination of the field, operated by state-owned Petroecuador.
The result is a resounding triumph for Yasounidos.the environmental group that promoted this national consultation with the stated goal of protecting Yasuni, an area extremely sensitive to any oil spill, as well as indigenous peoples living in self-imposed isolation who live in the National Park.
is also victory for the indigenous movementwhich manifested itself mainly in favor of “yes”, especially the indigenous people of the Huaorani, the largest ethnic group inhabiting the Yasuni, a one million hectare protected natural area.
Inside this nature reserve more than 2000 species of trees and shrubs have been discovered, 204 mammals, 610 birds, 121 reptiles, 150 amphibians and over 250 fish, as well as the Tagero, Taromenan and Dugakaeri indigenous peoples living in self-imposed isolation.
This result opens up a period of uncertainty for the country, which will have to do without a field where 55,000 barrels of oil are produced daily, which is equivalent to 11% of the national production of crude oil, one of the main pillars of the Ecuadorian economy.
Photo: Reuters file
one year term
According to the decision of the Constitutional Court, which gave the go-ahead to the holding of the plebiscite, The state has a one-year period for the dismantling of facilitiestime that, in the opinion of Petroecuador, is financially impossible due to the work and protocols that must be applied to close wells and dismantle structures.
According to government calculations, the cessation of work at Block 43-ITT will cause damage to the state in the amount of 1,200 million dollars a year in profits from the sale of crude oil, which in 20 years could amount to $13.8 billion.
Executive assessments also include $500 million cost to dismantle the facility which cost about $2 billion to build.
However, environmental groups argue that the economic effect will be less and that heavy crude oil production, such as that at Yasun, may cease to be profitable in a few years as the price of oil falls, so they believe these gains can be offset by a wealth tax.
Photo: Reuters file
environmental standards
Petroecuador has always maintained that since the commencement of operation in 2016, the operation of Block 43-ITT was carried out in compliance with the highest environmental standards to preserve the sensitive environment in which it is located.
Among the methods used were cluster Piercing, So, from the same site, the wells started in several directions, instead of building several sites for each well, which would increase the area of ​​deforestation, which means that the facilities occupy only 80 hectares.
So far there hasn’t been environmental oil spill reports from the facilities of Block 43-ITT, the newest and most productive in Yasun, since oil has been produced in the National Park since the 1980s from Blocks 16, 31 and 67, which are not affected by this consultation.
Election day was held in coincided with a special general election.
The vote passed without major incident, with the exception of problems in the computer platform for telematic voting Ecuadorians registered abroad who, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE), have been the target of cyberattacks from countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, Indonesia and China.
The termination of the activities of Block 43-ITT will fall on the next Government, which will be elected following the results of the second round of the presidential elections to be held Correist Louise Gonzalez and young businessman Daniel Noboa.
(Fernando Gimeno /EFE)
Source: Aristegui Noticias
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