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- Currently — August 22, 2023: Victory on a campaign to protect Ecuador from oil drilling
Currently — August 22, 2023: Victory on a campaign to protect Ecuador from oil drilling
The campaign, 10 years in the making, was successful in a nationwide vote on Sunday.
Eric Holthaus
August 21, 2023
The weather, currently.
Ecuador has voted 59%-41% to protect its Yasuní UNESCO world biosphere reserve in the Amazon from oil drilling.
According to the ‘yes’ campaign, this is the first time in world history that a country has voted to prohibit oil drilling in order to protect its own biodiversity.
“The Amazon is worth more intact than in pieces, as are its people,” said Antonia Juhasz, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, which supported the ‘yes’ campaign.
According to the Guardian, “the move will keep about 726m barrels of oil underground in the Yasuní National Park, which is also home to the Tagaeri and Taromenane people, two of the world’s last “uncontacted” Indigenous communities living in voluntary isolation.”
Una iniciativa que comenzó hace 10 años está a punto de terminar con todo el Ecuador diciendo SÍ a la vida, SÍ a la naturaleza y #SíalYasuní
— YASunidos (@Yasunidos)
Aug 19, 2023
The victory comes in the middle of what’s expected to be the hottest year in history and serves as further momentum for protecting the Amazon after deforestation in Brazil has slowed markedly this year under the leadership of the country’s new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
