Ecuador rejects petition to stop oil drilling in Yasuni national park
Source: TheGuardian
Nearly two thirds of the signatures on a national petition to stop oil being exploited on a large scale in one of the most biodiverse parts of the Amazon rainforest have been rejected, leading to demonstations across Ecuador and accusations of bias and manipulation.
Objectors to oil exploitation in the Yasuni national park in the east of the Ecuador were required to collect 583,323 signatures, or 5% of the electoral roll, to trigger a national referendum on wherther oil companies should be allowed to exploit the 864m barrels thought to lie below the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) block of forest.
The plan to exploit the oil was strongly backed by President Correa who had argued that the $7b that Ecuador could eventually earn from the oilfield would be used to address poverty in the Latin American state.
Around 850,000 signatures, or 25% more than was required, were presented two weeks ago by a coalition of political and social groups calling themselves the YASunidos, but after a 10-day count by the National Electoral Council (CNE) only 359,762 signatures were considered legitimate.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/08/ecuador-rejects-petition-oil-drilling-yasuni
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