Ecuadorian Citizens Cast Votes to Cease Oil Drilling in the Amazon Rainforest’s Biodiverse National Park

Ecuadorian Citizens Cast Votes to Cease Oil Drilling in the Amazon Rainforest’s Biodiverse National Park

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Aerial view of the Tambococha oil platform of state-owned Petroecuador in Yasuní National Park, northeastern Ecuador, on June 21, 2023. RODRIGO BUENDIA / AFP via Getty Images

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Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park is home to one of the most biodiverse concentrations of plant and animal life on Earth. In an historic vote of nearly 60 percent in favor, Ecuadorian citizens chose to stop the development of new oil wells in the park, the country’s National Electoral Commission said.

Approval of the referendum means about 726 million barrels of oil will stay in the ground, reported The Guardian.

The park is also the home of three of the last “uncontacted” Indigenous communities on the planet, the Taromenane, Tagaeri and Dugakaeri people, who live in voluntary isolation, Reuters reported.

By passing the referendum, Ecuador became one of the first nations to vote to restrict the extraction of resources. The measure was passed during the first round of the country’s presidential elections.

“Today is a historic day! As a Waorani woman and mother, I feel overjoyed with Ecuadorians’ resounding decision to stop oil drilling in my people’s sacred homeland,” said Nemonte Nenquimo, an Indigenous Waorani leader and Goldman Environmental Prize winner, as reported by The Guardian. “Finally, we are going to kick oil companies out of our territory! This is a major victory for all Indigenous Peoples, for the animals, the plants, the spirits of the forest and our climate!”

Yasuní National Park became a UNESCO world biosphere reserve in 1989. The biodiversity hotspot consists of 2.5 million acres that are home to 121 reptile species, 139 amphibian species and 610 bird species.


Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park is a world biosphere reserve and biodiversity hotspot. Alan & Flora Botting / CC BY-SA 2.0

Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment and Water said 2.5 acres in Yasuní contains 650 tree species and hundreds of animal species, Reuters reported.

“This referendum presents a huge opportunity for us to create change in a tangible way,”

118 thoughts on “Ecuadorian Citizens Cast Votes to Cease Oil Drilling in the Amazon Rainforest’s Biodiverse National Park”

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