By Belen Delgado
Lima, Jul 24 (EFE).- The Ecuadorian government and the United Nations Development Program are expected to sign an agreement on Aug. 3 creating a trust fund to manage international contributions to the Yasuni-ITT initiative.
Cultural Patrimony Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa told Efe Friday at an international book fair in Lima, where she presented the project, that her focus is already on the direct negotiations to raise funds in interested countries.
Following more than four months of technical work, the UNDP and Ecuador will sign an agreement establishing the trust fund, which will enable the Andean nation to receive compensation in exchange for leaving an important oil deposit in the Amazon region underground indefinitely.
To protect that extremely bio-diverse area within the limits of the Yasuni National Park, Ecuador is demanding it receive compensation equal to at least 50 percent of the revenue it would receive if it were to exploit the Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha, or ITT, oil reserve.
According to Espinosa, the 200-page agreement establishing the fund is "extremely complex" and has been negotiated "line by line" since neither the UNDP, which will administer the fund, or Ecuador had ever faced a "such a unique" challenge.
The next step is for the Ecuadorian government, starting in August, to convince potential donors of the viability of the project, whose aim is to combat climate change and turn Ecuador into a "post-petroleum" country.
The initiative calls for Ecuador to refrain from producing some 850 million barrels of heavy crude oil and thereby avoid emitting some 407 million metric tons of carbon dioxide that would result from burning these fossil fuels.
Ecuador has received "political" support for the project but it now needs to define what each potential donor country is prepared to contribute.
Espinosa cited Germany as the only country in the European Union that, in addition to expressing tacit support for the initiative, has pledged an exact monetary figure - 50 million euros ($64.5 million) annually over 13 years.
Spain, Belgium, Italy and France also have been receptive, while Espinosa said that in the case of Norway there already have been formal contacts since that country is a "big oil exporter but very environmentally conscious."
The second block of the countries that Ecuador wants to win over are Arab members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Espinosa said.
Ecuador will visit its fellow OPEC members individually and convince them to come on board as "strategic partners" in the Yasuni-ITT initiative, she said.
In the case of the United States, the minister said that country's interest in the project stems from the impact of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and President Barack Obama's commitment to combating climate change during his administration.
In addition to governments, contributions to the Yasuni trust fund also will come from private and public companies, intergovernmental or non-governmental organizations, private-sector organizations and the public at large.
Other countries such as Nigeria and Guatemala have requested technical assistance to replicate this model of development, but Espinosa said it is first necessary to prove it works before sharing it with other nations.
"This model isn't for every country," but rather for those that are extremely bio-diverse, oil-producing and on a path to development, the minister said.
Espinosa said the world is faced with a global environmental crisis and called for rethinking "the values and ethics of development." EFE
bds/mc
