Ecuador votes to stop future oil drilling in Amazon’s Yasuni National Park – By Daniel J. Graeber (UPI) / Aug 21, 2023
Aug. 21 (UPI) — Ending a long and contentious fight, results from a weekend vote in Ecuador show the majority of those taking part voted in favor of a ban on future oil drilling in a national park in the Amazon.
With more than 98% of the ballots counted, the National Electoral Council showed 58.9% of those were cast in favor of a ban on drilling in the Yasuni National Park, regional news outlet El Mundo reported.
The referendum asked if voters agreed with a government decision to leave the oil in so-called Block 43 “indefinitely” in the ground. A result of some 20 years of advocacy, the report said the vote was cast in favor of the true wealth of Ecuador — it’s biodiversity, not its oil.
The vote came weeks after eight countries in South America — Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela — signed a joint declaration to end deforestation along the Amazon River.
