One year ago, Ecuadorian voters approved a national referendum to ban oil drilling in Yasuni National Park, which is classified as a UNESCO biosphere reserve and home to several uncontacted Indigenous tribes. The referendum, which was held concurrent to last year’s snap general elections, was the culmination of a decade of work by environmental activists in the country. It is just one of several citizen initiatives in recent years to ban extractive projects and protect wilderness areas around Ecuador.
Indeed, with 5.5 million votes in favor, the measure to protect the park won greater support than any party or political candidate earned in either round of the election—including current President Daniel Noboa, who won 5.2 million votes in the second-round presidential run-off a few weeks later.
Following the vote and some legal wrangling, the country’s constitutional court ordered the government to bring all oil projects to an end within a year. Nevertheless, oil projects continue to operate today, and the government has requested a five-year extension before shutting anything down. Noboa’s team has barely complied with the letter of the law when it comes to court orders; it has certainly not complied with the spirit of the law as expressed by the majority vote of the country’s citizens.