The new President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, 35, will take command of his country this Thursday (23). His expectation is to at least calm a nation that has been in great political and social crisis for several years, while its suburbs and prisons continue to be bathed in blood.
But there are other urgencies that, while not as worrisome and mediadriven, are knocking hard on your door. One of them is the climate.
In a referendum in August, the Ecuadorian population voted to stop oil exploration in Yasuní Park, one of the most important in the region. The victory, thanks to an intensive and long campaign by environmental NGOs and indigenous peoples, was clear, with 59.1% versus 40.8%.
The celebration was equally festive. It’s not every day that environmentalists and forest people have reason to celebrate. In fact, there are no precedents for a country’s population to say so categorically no to the exploitation of a resource.
Yasuní has an immense diversity of fauna and flora. There are more than 1,700 tree species alone, more than in Canada and the United States combined. Three of the various indigenous peoples who live there have no contact with the rest of the country by their own choice.
However, the joy didn’t last long. Even at the end of his term in office, the conservative businessman Guillermo Lasso, who had failed in his attempt to govern the country and had to dissolve parliament and call new elections in May to avoid impeachment, found a loophole in the socalled “crossdeath” attempt to undermine the referendum.
First, a video was leaked from a ministerial meeting in which he said he would not stop exploring the protected area known as “Block 43.” 55,000 barrels of oil leave there every day, 11% of national production. There is also illegal exploitation that attempts to circumvent the referendum result in order to continue operations, such as wild timber trading, mining and illegal fishing.
Explaining the video, Lasso added that projects like the Yasuní exploration “cannot be completed overnight.”
According to the result of the referendum, measures to stop oil activities should begin immediately and be completed within a year.
When asked what actions he would take once installed in the Carondelet Palace (seat of the Ecuadorian government), Noboa minimized the matter on the subject. He was still campaigning, looking for young, urban and engaged voters in Quito. He explained that the country’s economy cannot fail to explore the Yasuní region as there are other sustainable options.
The point is that Noboa has not presented them yet. And we don’t know what he will do if he actually calculates the losses in oil revenues without Yasuní nor what arguments he will use to address the sector’s entrepreneurs, who have a lot to lose if they accept the result submit to the referendum.
The truth is that Yasuní’s future has been threatened on multiple occasions. The government of Rafael Correa (20072017) tried to accommodate the wishes of the local population and asked the international community for help in granting funds for sustainable exploration of the park. Since there was no response, he ultimately approved continued use of the spring, which sparked anger among environmentalists and indigenous groups.
Since October 2019 [quando ocorreram intensas manifestações em Quito], the government of Ecuador has an unresolved problem with its indigenous people. The protests were stopped with a fragile agreement and are always on the verge of flaring up again.
Noboa knows that the 2019 climate agenda is even more important in 2023. Initiating the mandate by resolving the Yasuní drama could be a way to put the government on the right track.