The result of the referendum held last Sunday in Ecuador was historic: Oil drilling is prohibited in a reserve located in the Amazon rainforest.
The issue was reported by, among others, a British newspaper The Guardiannews channel CNN and news agencies Reuters and AP.
In the referendum, almost 59 percent of the voters wanted to stop oil drilling from the ITT oil drilling area located in the Yasuní National Park. Now the state oil company Petroecuador has to dismantle its oil facilities within a year and leave 726 million barrels of oil in the country’s wasteland.
This is the first time that a Latin American state decides to leave oil in the country by the will of the people, says an expert familiar with Latin American natural resource policy.
– This is a very strong message from a small nation in the global south to the rest of the world that there is a need for a change to the extractivist economic model, i.e. based on extensive exploitation of natural resources, doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki Anna Heikkinen says.
At the same time, a vote was also taken to ban gold mining in Chocó Andino, which is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. 68 percent of voters supported the ban.
Billions in losses for the state
Yasuní National Park is one of the most naturally diverse areas in the world.
The nature park is an area of approximately one million hectares. Yasuní has more animal species than all of Europe and more tree species than all of North America. According to Ecuador’s Ministry of the Environment, there are about 650 tree species and hundreds of animal species in just one hectare.
Yasuní Natural Park is also home to two isolated indigenous peoples, the Tagaeri and the Taromena.
The ban on oil was a great victory for indigenous peoples and especially for environmental activists who have been pushing for a ban on oil drilling in the ITT oil field for about ten years. The referendum was ordered by the Supreme Court, which also last year gave the last word on large oil and mining projects to indigenous peoples.
Ecuador pumps approximately 55,000 barrels of oil per day from the ITT project area. This corresponds to about 12 percent of Ecuador’s entire oil production. The cessation of oil drilling in the area causes the state to lose an estimated one billion euros annually.
Despite this, Ecuadorians voted against oil drilling, even in the midst of a weak economic situation.
– Although the state’s economy has relied heavily on oil exports, the voting result shows that the rule of law and democracy work in Ecuador, Heikkinen says.
Oil spills have caused significant damage
According to Heikkinen, the economy in Ecuador, as in other parts of Latin America, has leaned heavily on the raw materials boom in recent decades. Oil revenues have been used to finance social programs, public infrastructure and various income transfers to the poor.
Now, however, perceptions of the well-being brought by fossil raw materials are being shattered, says Heikkinen.
– The prices of minerals and oil have fluctuated. Indigenous peoples and other people living near oil projects have noticed that most of the raw material income flows abroad. In addition, environmental damage caused by oil drilling has been noticed, says Heikkinen.
Of the population living around the oil fields more than half live in poverty. Multiple oil leaks have caused significant damage to the nature of the Amazon region and the communities living there.
Now the possibilities of the bioeconomy have started to be discussed in Ecuador. According to Heikkinen, the diverse nature of the Amazon can offer an alternative livelihood for local residents.
– There are calculations that local people could obtain revenues equivalent to oil revenues by collecting herbs, berries and plants from the Amazon and selling them to, for example, international cosmetics companies.
The Global North must shoulder its responsibility
Ecuador is known as a pioneer in Latin America in nature conservation and indigenous rights, but only a small part of the Amazon lies within its borders.
At their August meeting, the Amazon countries did not reach an agreement on banning oil drilling or mining projects, or on other concrete measures to protect the rainforest. For example, Brazil, where most of the rainforest is located, is planning a new oil drilling project at the mouth of the Amazon River.
The meeting was hosted by the president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva according to, protecting the Amazon is not only the duty of Latin American countries. He says that rich countries should participate in financing conservation measures and compensating for income losses.
In Ecuador, a former left-wing president Rafael Correa tried to get the international community to help protect the Amazon back in 2007. He promised to leave the oil in the ITT area in the country if Ecuador receives a total of 3.3 billion euros in compensation for lost income. The financing initiative did not catch on, and the oil project went ahead.
According to Heikkinen, giving up extractivism in the Amazon region will not happen overnight because the economies of the countries in the region have been built around raw materials for decades. Therefore, according to the researcher, the Global North has the responsibility to protect the Amazon.
– The Global North is the one that has pushed climate change to the point where it is now with its emissions. Rich countries also historically have their share in the exploitation of natural resources in Latin America, says Heikkinen.
– It is certainly not a sustainable way to raise our hands, as happened at the Amazon meeting. The initiative must come from both directions.
According to Heikkinen, small Ecuador shows climate leadership. Ordinary citizens succeeded where the government of the Amazon countries failed.
– It was one of the first concrete actions towards change, says Heikkinen.
Although oil drilling continues elsewhere in Yasuní National Park, the threshold for new bans is decreasing, Heikkinen says.
– The fact that ordinary citizens in Ecuador managed to influence the protection of an area with significant biodiversity can lead to the fact that in the future even larger areas are protected.