The Battle for Yasuni

    Ecuador's Yasuni National Park is one of the most biodiverse rainforests in the world. Within a few acres there are more species of plants and insect than all of North America combined. And it's not just animals, deep inside Yasuni, roaming indigenous tribes live as they have since pre-Columbian times. Yasuni also happens to sit atop an estimated 850 million barrels of oil. Ecuador's Yasuni National Park has become a battleground for human rights activists, environmentalists, and community groups against Chinese oil companies seeking to develop its oil. Today, Yasuni is a microcosm of many critical issues confronting the global economy and its relationship to energy and the environment: Does Ecuador have an obligation to preserve South America's most biodiverse rainforest? Does the world have an obligation to support Ecuador financially as it faces the trade-offs between conservation and growth? And what does the future of Yasuni tell us about the nature of oil, corruption and political freedoms in Ecuador?



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