Friday, February 8, 2013

What happens when the environment has "rights"?

NPR reports (via):

Ecuador prides itself on being pro-environment. Its constitution gives nature special rights. But Ecuador is a relatively poor country that could desperately use the money from the oil.

In 2007, Ecuador's president proposed a way around the dilemma: Ecuador would promise to leave the forest untouched if countries in the developed world would promise to give Ecuador half the value of the oil — $3.6 billion.

"He proposed that we want to keep the oil there," says Ivonne A-Baki, who works for Ecuador's government. "What we need in exchange is compensation." These days, A-Baki is traveling the world, asking for contributions. She chooses her words carefully....

"The joke we always used to always talk about was, you know, 'Give me the money or I'll shoot the trees,' " says Billy Pizer, a former deputy assistant secretary for environment and energy under President Obama.

1 comments:

trailbee said...

Texaco is the main petroleum player. Go and find a map of where this Park is. This Park is in a unique spot. Yes, I agree. But:

I took the following note from Wickipedia: Drilling controversy

[..."There has been extensive controversy over the construction of "oil" roads by Texaco for the exploitation and production of petroleum within the park. Famous scientists including Jane Goodall, E.O. Wilson, and Stuart Pimm have protested against this construction.[3]
Since June 2007, the Ecuadorian government has been promoting the Yasuní-ITT Initiative, a proposal that seeks to leave the Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha (ITT) oil fields untapped under the core of Yasuni National Park in exchange for compensation from the international community for lost revenue.[4] The government will receive, in turn, an international compensation fund equivalent to at least of 50% of the profits that it would receive were it to exploit the reserves.[5]
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton, global ecologist, writer, filmmaker and activist Dr. Michael Charles Tobias, and former Vice President of the United States Al Gore are supporting the Ecuadorian government.[6][7] Some of the donors thus far have included other countries, such as Turkey, Chile, Colombia, Georgia, Australia, Spain and Belgium."... ]

Now, if Texaco were to put their money where Ecuacdor's mouth is, the solution is simple. Use that multi-million dollar technology available to Texaco, employ Ecuadorian and South American labor, build the pipeline UNDER the Park and ship the oil down one of the many rivers flowing from the Andes. Or since oil is already being extracted in Northern Ecuador on the border between it and Colombia, have the pipeline connect with an existing one.

This is just like NPR - another sob story, without providing the other side. Anything that has Al Gore and DiCaprio connected to it should ring a BIG bell.
Better yet, why not have Hollywood pay for it and make a blockbuster movie of the entire "Event." Just think how many people could get rich off the Environment. The American Bailout/Blackmail of Ecuador. What a hoot.

Good story, though. Thank you. My eyes have been glued to the Middle East and Ethiopia, and I would have missed this.