World's conservation hopes rest on Ecuador's revolutionary Yasuni model
In their first hour in Yasuni's Amazonian forest, many people will see more creatures than they have seen in their entire lives, including some that have yet to be documented by science. To paddle up the Ayango creek that leads from the traffic and pollution of the Napo river into the most biodiverse region on Earth is to encounter a wall of noise, frequent bursts of colour and unimaginable combinations of life.
A tiger heron flaps lazily past our canoe, electric blue Morpho butterflies jolt the eye, spiders the size of an adult's hand sit on branches, and kingfishers flash past. On a mud bank, a lizard suns itself, while high up in the tree canopy, we catch glimpses of flying monkeys and grunting Hoatzin "stinky turkeys" – prehistoric survivors with claws that grow into wings, which could have inspired the creatures in James Cameron's film Avatar.
Yasuni national park is the most biodiverse region on Earth. Photograph: Corbis
The thick vines, exotic plants, stunningly colourful birds and huge reptiles of the forests and water systems here far outstrip the wildest imagination of any film director, but they are at risk from the worldwide trend of rising extinction rates and from local economic pressures to exploit underground oil fields. Yasuni, which is home to two of the world's last uncontacted tribes, has moved to the frontline of a global battle between living systems and fossil fuels. Animal populations across the planet are 30% smaller now than in 1970, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). In tropical regions such as Ecuador, the rate of decline is almost double the global average.
Just as the species must innovate to survive, Yasuni has inspired the planet's most creative and ambitious approach to biodiversity conservation, social development and climate change. Ecuador – which is also home to the Galapagos Islands – is the only country in the world to have recognised the rights of nature in its constitution. After the discovery of a $7.2bn oil reserve inside a pristine corner of the Yasuni national park, the government has proposed leaving the fossil fuel in the ground if the international community will give them half that amount. It has been hailed as an alternative to the ineffectual efforts of the United Nations to deal with climate change and biodiversity loss. The ITT Initiative, as the project is known, promises to the keep carbon in the ground in a 200,000- hectare corner of the park and, in the process, help to redistribute wealth from rich nations to the developing world andwildlife.
But a little more than a year after it was launched, this bold project is as much at risk as the wildlife. Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, told the Guardian the results have been disappointing. "This was a revolutionary idea. With a logic that I would call perfect: it implied a substantial change in the management of natural resources in the fight against climate change. It meant a transfer of resources from the richest countries – which are the biggest polluters – to poorer countries," he said. "But what has happened since has been the opposite: because the US, UK and others can consume the assets generated by the amazon jungle for free, they have committed absolutely nothing. The Yasuni ITT initiative has raised a lot less than expected."
With enthusiasm for the project cooling, the Guardian has discovered evidence that the oil companies are moving closer. A road is being built in a neighbouring oil exploration block inside the Yasuni park. Huge ecological wealth is at risk. One Yasuni hectare – the area of two football pitches – is home to a wider variety of trees, birds, reptiles and amphibians than in the US and Canada combined. "One hectare per continent is a figure that slaps you in the face. Whatever group you look at, they are crazy numbers," says Kelly Swing, founding director of the Tiputini biodiversity station run by the San Francisco University in Quito." I have been coming to Yasuni since 1979 and I still can't walk five minutes without seeing something I haven't seen before. That's why I'm still here. It's like a gift every few minutes."
The comparisons with Britain are still more mind-blowing. There are only about 50 native tree species in the UK, compared to 2,200 species in Yasuni. Terry Erwin of the Smithsonian Institution estimates there are more than 100,000 different types of insects per hectare. When scientists elsewhere find new species, they publish papers in journals and give them clever Latin names. Erwin has found so many that he has started to play with the appellations. He has named one beetle after the actor Kate Winslet and punned with another of the Agra genus by adding "vate"... Read more:
