22 December 2009 08:00
Nikolas Kozloff: Ecuador's Rafael Correa: Copenhagen Climate Hero or Environmental Foe?
by HKFor a country like Ecuador, getting at Yasuní's oil is a tempting target: currently the Andean nation derives a whopping 35% of its public spending budget from petroleum exports. Correa could well use the added money: currently half the Ecuadoran population lives in poverty. But Correa, who issued lime-green posters emblazoned with the slogan "citizen revolution" during his first run for the presidency, and who has renamed the oil ministry the "ministry of non-renewable resources," is busily pitching ITT-Yasuní to European governments instead of moving ahead with sensitive oil exploration. In exchange for preserving Yasuní, Correa wants $350 million a year from the Global North for the next ten years.
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