Deep in Ecuador’s rainforest, a plan to forego an oil bonanza
Ecuador's Yasuni National Park is one of the most biodiverse
places on Earth and is home to remote Indian tribes. It also
sits atop a billion barrels of oil. Now, Ecuador and the United
Nations are forging an ambitious plan to walk away from drilling
in the park in exchange for payments from the international
community. Hunched in the back of a pickup truck speeding down
an oil road near the western border of Ecuador’s Yasuni National
Park, Juan Carlos Acacho — a short, wiry Shuar Indian — says
he’s never heard of email or the Internet. But the father of
six, who supports his family on a small jungle farm plot, has
heard that oil companies want to drill in Yasuni, and that the
government has been resisting them — a move he applauds. “But
the oil companies always do what they want,” he said, smiling
and shaking his head. The question facing Ecuador now is: Will
the oil industry have its way in Yasuni? From an airplane, the
Yasuni National Park is a