LatAmOil: Ecuador votes to ban drilling in Yasuni National Park

Ecuador has taken “a giant step to protect life, biodiversity, and indigenous people,” with votes for the “yes” option, which provides for banning oil drilling in Yasuni National Park in the Amazon rainforest, coming to 59% of all ballots, reported the country’s two main indigenous organisations, CONFENIAE and CONAIE.

The Ecuadorean electorate voted on August 20 in a referendum held in tandem with the presidential elections for a ban on mining in the province of the nation’s capital city of Quito.

In 1989, Yasuni was designated a world biosphere reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Covering an expanse of more than 1mn hectares (2.5mn acres), it boasts 610 species of birds, 139 amphibian species and 121 reptile species. Each hectare of Yasuni forest is thought to contain at least 100,000 insect species.

Ahead of the vote, Ecuador’s outgoing President Guillermo Lasso appealed to voters not to ban oil drilling, stressing oil’s “pivotal role for the country’s economy” and warning that the country stood to lose an estimated $16bn over the next 20 years.