Global News - July 2007

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Ecuadorean president proposes environmental solution

Tue 24 July 2007 12:30 UK — South America

Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa has proposed a novel idea in a bid to protect the rare animals and flora of the South American country's rainforest.

The government in the country is under pressure to both protect the endangered animals which live in the Yasuni rainforest and alleviate the poverty of the local human population.

According to Reuters, Mr Correa has come up with a solution - he is proposing that wealthy nations pay Ecuador $350 million a year in exchange for not drilling for the estimated one billion barrels of oil which are under the Yasuni rainforest.

The news agency reports that Mr Correa told people at a recent meeting in the Amazonian oil town of El Coca: "I think oil has brought us more bad than good.

"We need to do something about it."

The Yasuni rainforest is home to a number of rare and endangered animals, including white-bellied spider monkeys, the Lophostoma yasuni bat and a unique species of jaguar.

However, environmentalists fear that these animals would be threatened if the government decided to try and extract oil from the region.

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