Putting The Environment First Is The Goal Of The Yasuni-ITT Initiative
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by: LillianPowell | Total views: 30 | Word Count: 325
The Earth's natural beauty can sometimes be taken for granted until something happens that destroys it. This can be seen within the jungles of Borneo and the plight of Orangutans who are losing their habitat and becoming critically endangered all because the manufacturers of palm oil practice a technique of harvest and then burning of the surrounding forest. Our need for energy resources, specifically in the form of oil, has becoming more and more insatiable. Fighting against the monetary bottom line, Ecuador's government has proposed and implemented the Yasuni-ITT Initiative.
This treaty is in direct response to the proposal by oil companies to drill within the Yasuni National Park. This area is home to incredible species biodiversity as well as a, number of indigenous tribes that live off of the grid in a more primitive way of life.
Studies done into the country's potential oil reserves have shown that this area houses up to twenty percent of the nation's total oil reserve which translates into over eight hundred million barrels. In exchange for a permanent moratorium on drilling the government has accepted a fifty percent payout for the total worth which is valued at over over three and half billion dollars.
In exchange they will receive a pay out that is worth fifty percent of the value of the oil that would have been drilled, roughly 3.6 billion dollars. This money will be doled out by a number of global nations over thirteen years.
Also, while jungles are commonly referred to as having biodiversity, the Yasuni Park some more that North America combined. There are more insect types than in any forest in the world, as well as over four thousand species of plants, and hundreds of mammals and birds.
This step has been hailed by environmentalists the world over and is a reminder that energy concerns are temporary. There needs to be more time put into finding alternatives for our needs than searching for places in which to drill.
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