Ecuador’s President, Rafael Correa, recently withdrew
a deal he offered to make with the world six years ago. The deal included governments
from around the world donating 3.6 billion dollars into a trust fund that would
protect roughly 4,000 square miles of the Amazon Jungle, and Ecuador, in return,
would refrain from drilling for oil in the rain forest. The deal/ “pioneering
effort” was a solution offered up by the United Nations Development Program in
order to preserve the unspoiled plants and wildlife within the rain forest The
plan also was projected to diminish future climate change by preventing more
than 400 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the
atmosphere. But, unfortunately, the world was not able to come through for
Ecuador, although the United Nations backed the solution, only 13 million
dollars was raised. Now a solution will lie in the hands of protesters and
environmentalists. Even though the deal could have been used as a “model for
other sensitive areas,” since it has failed something else will have to appeal
to and attract the attention of the governments. Governments serve as the
ultimate barrier to any of these solutions, as they are the entities that must decide
whether it is worth enforcing regulations in order to preserve the rain forest Other
barriers include money and the oil companies. Ecuador has been involved in two
decades of lawsuits against an oil company called Chevron. Chevron lost a case
in 2011 but refused to pay more than 18 billion dollars in damages, arguing
that its predecessor, Texaco, had done a cleanup and that most of the pollution was caused by Petroecuador, an
old partner of Texaco. Monetary barriers also come into play when noting that
the Ecuadorian government still relies on oil for one-third of its tax revenue,
and the government is experiencing a large budget shortfall. Personally, I
believe that something must be done to reduce and prevent harmful oil drilling
in the rain forest. Ultimately, I think that the issue will fall into the hands
of the people and the governments, leaving them to choose between revenue and
profit or the preservation of the environment.
This is quite unfortunate. When you take in to account that the world is still having major financial issues and our own country is about $59 trillion in debt, it is understandable why the UN could not pull together the funds. Even with the effects of the recent oil spill still upon us, I still firmly believe that we should continue with offshore drilling, I personally believe it could help with the tremendous national debt. The rain forests are delicate, rare places and we should do all we can to protect them. There are some species that only exist in the rainforest and it would be a shame to lose them because of oil drilling. Like you said Emily, the issue will eventually come to the governments who will have to choose between making a profit and protecting the environment, and with the world economy in the state it is in now, it can be a difficult decision for many countries, especially the ones with a smaller more delicate economy.
ReplyDeleteI think the country Ecuador still needs to try to go through with the plan to stop oil drilling in the Amazon forest. I would be very devastating to see a place so majestic as the amazing because of greed. There could also be devastating effects on the environment. If there are no trees to filter carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere then the ozone layer will be further damaged. With the ozone layer continuing to deplete then global warming will continue to happen causing climate changes and less protection from the sun’s harmful rays. I do not think that the Ecuador’s government is fighting hard enough for the amazon. I don’t think that they want to stop the drilling because of economic reasons. If they really wanted to they would have found a way to raise the money.
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