Referendum:the citizens of Ecuador have decided to ban drilling in the Amazon

In Ecuador, almost 60% of the population set a world precedent by choosing in a referendum to block oil exploitation from one of its most important deposits, located in the Yasuní National Park, the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon.The result of the referendum - which took place yesterday in parallel with the presidential elections, which will result in a run-off between the candidates Luisa González and Daniel Noboa - represents a sensational victory for the environmentalist coalition Yasunidos, which promoted the consultation, and all the indigenous movement against the excessive power of the oil companies.

The referendum had been called for ask to the 13.45 million Ecuadorian voters if they wanted the exploitation of oil in the Yasuní, which has been underway for some years, whether to continue or not.The question read:“Do you agree that the Ecuadorian government keeps the ITT crude, known as block 43, underground indefinitely?”.An issue that has split politics and itself Ecuadorian left, divided between the "indigenist" faction, in favor of the stop, and the "urban" one, which instead hoped that the State would continue to confiscate the royalties resulting from the oil exploitation of the area.Nevertheless, the final result was clear:Yasunidos and the indigenous movement were right, represented in particular by the Waorani, the largest ethnic group that inhabits the National Park.

Parque Nacional Yasuní was established in 1979 on an area of ​​1,022,736 hectares.In 1989 UNESCO declared it Biosphere Reserve and in 1999 the Zona Intangible Tagaeri-Taromenane (ZITT) integral reserve was created.Although they have been reported in Yasuní surprising data on biodiversity for different  groups of flora and fauna – more than 2 thousand species of trees and shrubs, 204 mammals, 610 birds, 121 reptiles, 150 amphibians and more than 250 fish have been found here – in October 2013 the Asamblea Nacional of Ecuador approved oil extraction in an area of ​​1,030 hectares in the so-called hey ITT.Three years later thecrude oil extraction, which according to the state oil company Petroecuador has brought the state more than $4,500 million in revenue.

As indicated by a ruling of the Constitutional Court, the State will have now a year to dismantle the structures, at a cost of approximately $500 million.Petroecuador states that, due to the protocols that must be applied for this purpose, respect the dead line it will be physically impossible.The government estimates that the damage will amount to 1,200 million dollars a year of lost profits, while environmentalist movements minimize the economic consequences of the closure, stating on the contrary that the management of heavy flocks like that of Yasuní could end up being profitable within a few years due to the fall in oil prices.

In any case, in order for the State to be able to recover the oil revenues that it will lose with the blocking of extractions, Yasunidos proposed the reduction of tax exemptions, the renegotiation of tariffs for large telephone companies, the collection of millionaire debts from the first 500 debtors of the Servicio de Rentas Internas (SRI) and the promotion and increase of tourism.

[Stefano Baudino]