Ecuadorians voted to end oil extraction in the Amazon; a year later, nothing has happened

It’s been a year since the people of Ecuador voted to end oil extraction in a national park in the heart of the Amazon, and nothing has been done to begin winding down operations. For closure advocates, that’s not even the worst part: The government is now seeking a five-year extension for the state oil company to pull out.

The Waorani people — an indigenous group whose territory overlaps with Yasuní National Park — and others are frustrated by the failure to implement the referendum.

“We should have an advanced result, almost 100% closure, but the government has not dedicated itself to that,” said Juan Bay, president of the Waorani Nationality of Ecuador (NAWE), the main Waorani organization in the country. “There has been no political will to guarantee the rights of the Ecuadorian people that the polls decided.”

He Yasuni National Park It is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. In addition to being home to the Waorani, it is home to two of the world’s last indigenous communities living in voluntary isolation, the Taromenane and the Tagaeri, according to the nonprofit organization Amazon Frontlines.

Supporters were jubilant last year when nearly 60 percent of voters backed a referendum to end oil drilling in a block known as 43-ITT. They said it was a historic vote that would keep some 700 million barrels of crude oil in the ground to safeguard nature and indigenous communities there.

A constitutional court gave the government and state-owned company Petroecuador a year to close wells and roads and dismantle oil infrastructure. But earlier this month, Ecuador’s government asked the court for an extension of the August 2024 deadline to close the oil block by at least five years and five months.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Energy and Mines did not respond to requests for comment. Antonio Goncalves, appointed to head the ministry in July, told local media that they were working with Petroecuador on an “exit plan” and “the dismantling” of its facilities.

“This has never been done before — neither in the country nor in the world. It has to be done in a responsible manner. We have a tight timeline, but we believe we can achieve it,” Goncalves said in a televised interview with Teleamazonas on August 21.

Some experts said one year was not enough time to dismantle the operations and that President Daniel Noboa needed the large revenues from the oil industry to combat the spiral of violence in the country which led to a state of emergency being declared in January. Oil accounts for almost a third of Ecuador’s GDP and its economy is struggling to meet its domestic debt obligations.

“It was going to be very difficult to do considering everything that has been happening inside the country,” said Beatriz Nice, an associate in Ecuador at the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, which provides analysis and perspectives on global affairs.

But Nice added that the request for a five-year extension shows the government is in no hurry. “Obviously, the government is buying time,” he said. “It tells people, and especially indigenous communities, that ‘your situation is not a priority for us.’”

The oil industry has operated in Ecuador’s northern Amazon for more than five decades, according to the nonprofit Amazon Watch, which said major oil spills have been frequent and that at one point Petroecuador averaged one spill per week. Petroecuador did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Kevin Koenig, director of climate and energy at Amazon Watch, said the spills translate into elevated levels of cancer, respiratory illnesses, miscarriages and other health problems for people living nearby. He said it was telling that the government did not include funding to decommission oil drilling in its budget this year.

“They already knew they weren’t going to deliver on this,” he added. “They’re using a lot of technical arguments, but it seems like they’re just trying to fool people and it’s very clear that they want to keep pumping oil and get as much oil as they can out of those fields before they close them down.”

The Union of People Affected by Texaco’s Oil Operations (UDAPT), which tracks oil spills, reported that the Ecuadorian Amazon registered an average of 10 spills per month from 2016 to 2021, said Donald Moncayo, coordinator of the group.

Bay, the Waorani leader, will lead a delegation to the Ecuadorian capital to speak before Congress on Friday. He said his people want to be included in the process.

“The decision of the Ecuadorian people has been a relief for the Waorani people, because they have understood that, for six decades, oil has not brought development, it has not brought change, but rather it has brought death,” he added.

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