WEBVTT - What Ecuador's Yasuní Referendum Really Means for Oil, in Yasuní and Beyond 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:05.960 This episode is brought to you by earth Breeze. Earthbreeze 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:09.960 looks like a dryer sheet, but it's ultra concentrated laundry detergent. 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:12.000 You just tear off a sheet, you throw it in 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:15.280 with your laundry and that's it. It cleans really well. 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:19.520 It's hypoallergenic, free of bleach and dyes. It gets rid 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:23.880 of all the plastic in your laundry situation. Right now, 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:27.480 my listeners can get forty percent off earth Breeze plus 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.280 a free welcome bundle. Just go to earthbreeze dot com 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:35.280 slash Drilled Free. That's forty percent off your earth Breeze 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:38.880 Eco Sheheet subscription. Plus you'll also get a three month 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:43.159 supply of washing machine cleaner and a laundry Symbols magnet 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:48.919 totally free. That's Earthbreeze dot com slash Drilled Free d 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:53.200 R I L L D F R EE To save 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:57.800 forty percent and claim your free gifts earthbreeze dot com 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:09.679 slash drilled Free. Welcome back to Drilled. I'm Amy Westervelt. 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:11.880 You might remember a few years back we did a 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:16.119 season on Chevron and Ecuador and the long drawn out 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:19.760 Saga of Folks living in the Ecuadorian Amazon, trying to 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:25.000 get compensation for damages from Texico and then Chevron for 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:29.440 dumping oil there. We talked in that episode about former 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:34.120 Equadorian President Rafael Correa and his plan about a decade 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:37.479 ago to try to get the world to pay Ecuador 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:41.200 to keep oil in the ground in Yasuni National Park. 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:45.480 Yasuni is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:51.080 It's also been a hotspot of oil production for quite 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:56.600 some time. Last year, a big election made headlines all 0:01:56.640 --> 0:02:01.440 over the world when Ecuadorians voted to stop drilling in 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:06.880 Yasuni National Park, or at least that's how it was reported. Today, 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:11.320 reporter Macy Lipkin brings us the story of what's really 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:15.120 been going on in Ecuador and Yasuni and what this 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:19.120 vote meant, means, and will mean for the future of 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:20.919 Ecuador and oil. 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:41.360 Welcome to Northeast Ecuador, one of the most biodiverse places 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:46.960 on Earth. Kelly Swing founded Tippuccini Biodiversity Station here in 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:50.200 the nineteen nineties. He'd be the first to tell you 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:54.079 how special this region is. Yasuni National Park is right 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:54.880 across the river. 0:02:55.960 --> 0:03:02.960 A hectare of rainforest in Yasuni has probably around or 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:07.800 maybe even over six hundred species of trees per hectare 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:12.280 in the US, if you're in a mature forest in 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:14.840 the eastern part of the country, you could walk in 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.600 the entire morning and maybe not see ten species of trees. 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:24.440 If we talk about birds, the Yese has close to 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.920 six hundred species. If you look at the US and 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:33.440 Canada together about eight hundred species cats. There are five 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:40.400 species of felines in Yeseny, which is also pretty spectacular. 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.000 Of course, when you say five, that doesn't sound like 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:46.960 a gigang number, but if you're talking about cat species 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:52.240 is an enormous number. Any place you impact, it's gonna 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.720 affect more species than it would anywhere else on the planet. 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:00.320 This biodiversity doesn't just make for a spectacular way through 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.360 the jungle. It also bodes well from medicine. 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.360 In business, people use hundreds of species of plants for 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.960 different kinds of remedies. There are pharmaceutical products that have 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.360 been derived from those things that are worth lots of money. 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.039 Why couldn't there be one of those plants, you know, 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:18.840 in Yasuni. 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:27.200 Yasuni Is importance goes beyond even its biodiversity and potential 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:32.320 for pharmaceuticals. Gonzalo Rivas Torres teaches ecology at the University 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:35.600 of San Francisco in Quito. He says that Yasuni is 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:40.479 key for human survival. Plants in the rainforest conduct photosynthesis 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:41.680 and produce water vapor. 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.400 Water vapor is then transforming into humidity that will go 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:51.640 up right in the sky and then through winds will 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:55.920 move towards the west and then it will hit theyend 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:59.480 this right that is literally at this wall to the west. 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:04.520 Then their you know, temperature drops. Also pressure is going 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:06.440 to be different, and then you have precipitation, and all 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.960 that precipitation is then filling up aquifers or the high 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.400 and the enforced here we called paramols that are naterally 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.200 sponges of this water. Un dam is going to be 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:20.760 yield to big water resterours that is the main source 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:24.240 for like millions of Equadorians, millions of South Americans. 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:30.360 On paper, Yasnuni looks pretty well protected. It became a 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.760 National park in nineteen seventy nine and the UNESCO Biosphere 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:37.320 Reserve in nineteen eighty nine, but oil had already been 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:41.520 discovered in the park by then. Currently seven active oil 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.159 blocks overlap with the boundaries of the national park. That's 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.960 despite the fact that in two thousand and eight, Ecuador 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.800 became the first country in the world to ratify rights 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:54.119 of nature and its constitution. You can learn more about 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.880 that in detail in the first season of our sister podcast, 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:01.440 Damages For Our Purposes. It's important to understand that the 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:06.240 Ecuadorian Constitution states that nature or pachamama, where life is 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.599 reproduced and occurs, has the right to integral respect for 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.760 its existence and for the maintenance and regeneration of its 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:18.760 life cycles, structure, functions, and evolutionary processes. But any underground 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:23.119 resources belong to the government, so drilling happens anyway. Rights 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:29.560 of nature be damned. Oil extraction has become less invasive 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.560 over the years, but it still impacts everything that makes 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:33.640 Yasuni special. 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:40.480 The oil industry is far less extensive and expansive in 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:45.400 its operations and impacts today than they were decades ago. 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:50.279 Back then, deforestation was rampant, oil spills were more common. 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.880 Oil companies built roads that led to overhunting, colonization, and 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:58.599 noise pollution, all impacts that the region is still dealing 0:06:58.640 --> 0:06:59.279 with today. 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.760 Technology has changed, They've incorporated different strategies, and a lot 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:08.880 of those strategies benefit them financially too. But it's it's better, 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:13.400 but it does not approach an idea that Rafael Coorea 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:17.160 talked about during his time of we're only going to 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:21.360 impact Uno porm, which is one tenth of one percent 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:25.160 of the land area. It's like, how do you do that? 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:31.680 Oil extraction produces natural gas, and oil companies burn that 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:36.119 extra gas in big flames called gas flares. Ecuador banned 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:38.880 gas flares in twenty twenty one because they appeared to 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:41.960 cause cancer and the people who live nearby. But I 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.320 saw multiple flames coming from different oil blocks in October 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.000 twenty twenty three, so I know that at least some 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:55.840 polluting practices persist. That brings us back to twenty thirteen Ecuador. 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:59.520 As president at the time, Rafael Correa made one of 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:02.880 yasuin these oil blocks famous with his initiative to leave 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.520 its oil underground. It was called Block forty three or 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:10.360 the itt Block, named for the three oil fields inside it. 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:14.600 Korea asked other countries to pay Ecuador three and a 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.000 half billion dollars, about half the value of the oil 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:22.000 to leave the forest there. Intact, the plan failed, and 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:26.800 the ITT block opened in twenty sixteen. It's the most 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.840 recent block to open in Yasuni and one of Ecuador's 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:33.880 most productive. It's controversial because some of its crude is 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:37.400 low quality and expensive to extract, meaning that it brings 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.880 in little profit, and because it overlaps with what's called 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:44.600 the Intangible Zone, an area designed to protect the rights 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:49.760 of indigenous groups living in the forest involuntary isolation. When 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.040 the ITT initiative failed, a group of young people called 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:57.280 Yasunilos rallied to get Yasuni on the ballot. It took 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:02.120 ten years, but it finally happened. This past August, Ecuadorians 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:05.040 voted whether or not to stop drilling in the ITT block. 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:11.080 Environmentalists argue that the rainforest was worth protecting. Petro Ecuador, 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:15.160 the state run oil company that operates ITT, argued that 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.800 the lost income would be catastrophic for the economy. The 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:23.120 results were decisive. Almost sixty percent of Ecuadorians voted to 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:27.680 stop drilling in ITT. This made international headlines as a 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:28.760 win for the Amazon. 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:33.360 Ecuadorians have voted to stop oil drilling in the Yasuni 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.600 National Park, one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:38.520 which is part of the Amazon Rainforest. 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:42.320 It was an environmental dilemma for an oil producing country, 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:46.240 a dilemma of voters faced in last Sunday's vote. In 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.360 the end, nearly six out of every ten voters chose 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:54.960 to protect the Yasuni. We have saved that the greatest 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:59.160 biodiversity that has been recognized and nationally and internationally. The 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:02.280 leader of one of Yasunie indigenous community said. 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:09.719 Hey, y but in Ecuador, even conservationists didn't know what 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:13.200 would come of it after the break. What the referendum 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:16.439 actually means for the itt block and for Yasuni as 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:16.800 a whole. 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.600 This episode is brought to you by earth Breeze. Earth 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:30.720 Breeze has completely revolutionized my laundry game. I know that 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.600 doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but honestly, I 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:35.920 just love it. Every time I go to put that 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:39.760 little sheet into the wash, instead of lugging a heavy 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.400 plastic jug over to do it, I feel like I'm 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.800 doing things right. Earth breeze looks like a dryer sheet, 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:49.319 but it's ultra concentrated laundry detergent. You just tear off 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.000 a sheet, you throw it in with your laundry and 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:55.720 that's it. It cleans really well, it's hypoallergenic, free of 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.239 bleach and dyes. It gets rid of all the plastic 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.280 in your life laundry situation. 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:02.760 And you save a. 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:07.000 Whopping forty percent when you subscribe Right now, my listeners 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:10.559 can get forty percent off earth Breeze plus a free 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:15.240 welcome bundle. Just go to earthbreeze dot com slash Drilled Free. 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:18.800 That's forty percent off your earth Breeze Eco Shehet subscription. 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:22.280 Plus you'll also get a three month supply of washing 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:27.480 machine cleaner and a laundry Symbols magnet totally free. That's 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:32.360 earthbreeze dot com slash Drilled Free. D r I L 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:36.080 L E ED f R E E to save forty 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:40.760 percent and claim your free gifts earthbreeze dot com slash 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:45.920 Drilled Free. 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:49.880 The ballot question asked voters, do you agree that the 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:53.480 Ecuadorian government should keep the crude in itt known as 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:59.240 Block forty three underground indefinitely? In Spanish is daves de 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:08.640 coude and guilbirno ecoano mantinga elkuns indefini de mine nossulo. 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.040 Below the yes and no boxes was the fine print. 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.360 If the yes vote wins, it said, there will be 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:19.360 an organized progressive withdrawal of all activity related to oil 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:24.920 extraction within a year of the notification of the official results. Additionally, 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.440 the state will not be able to take action toward 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:33.079 initiating new contracts to continue the exploitation of it. The 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:37.000 vote passed, but some loud voices said the government could 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:41.120 ignore it. In early September, a video surfaced of then 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:46.120 President Guillermo Lasso saying the vote was unenforceable. Separately, the 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.160 Minister of Energy and Minds said the outcome depended only 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.679 on the vote in the province where it is located, 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.800 not in the country as a whole. Odajana, province home 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.600 to it, voted to keep drilling, so did its neighbors. 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:04.680 Sukum more on that in a minute, Ecuador's twenty two 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.520 other provinces voted to stop. If the minister were correct, 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:13.920 then drilling would continue. In itt Environmental lawyer Ugo Achividia 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.480 says the government was talking about a consulta previa, a 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:20.920 different kind of vote that allows indigenous Equadorians and Afro 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:25.400 Ecuadorians to vote on projects that may impact their ancestral homelands. 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.520 He says that the vote on drilling was a consulta popular, 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:33.520 a national vote that is final madraza de los pronoun 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.640 regardless of what the politicians say. It's a final decision 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.480 that has to be obeyed. Legally, it has to be 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:48.160 obeyed and will be obeyed. The timeline for closing down 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:53.559 ITT caused even more confusion. PetroEcuador asked the Constitutional Court 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:56.520 for three years to stop drilling, but the court stuck 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:59.640 to one. The court also demanded that within the same 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.200 time frame, the oil company start repairing the forest where 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:06.960 it had drilled. In mid November, Petro Ecuador announced that 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.720 it will stop drilling in ITT on August thirty first, 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.920 twenty twenty four, that's the day of the court's deadline. 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.600 It plans to extract eleven million more barrels of oil 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:19.920 by them, which is slower than peak production, but it's 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:22.960 still unclear how long Petro Ecuador has to remove its 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:29.120 equipment and what it means to repair the forest. Fifty 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:32.480 nine percent of voters across Ecuador voted to stop drilling 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.400 in ITT, but in the province of Vodajana, where the 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:39.440 ITT block is located, residents voted to keep drilling fifty 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:43.160 eight to forty two percent. The big reason was jobs. 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:47.080 Ramiro San Miguel has worked as a guide at Tipputini 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:51.600 Biodiversity Station for more than twenty years. His face lights 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.840 up when he spots monkeys. He led my group trampling 0:14:54.840 --> 0:15:05.120 off the trail just to get a better look. That's 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:09.160 Ramiro imitating the wily monkeys call. In some of my recordings, 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:11.920 I can't tell which noises come from Ramiro and which 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:16.480 are for monkeys. Before coming to Tipputini, Romeiro capped in 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:19.720 the barge for an oil company. He's seen firsthand what 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:22.520 oil extraction does to the forest is. 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:30.480 Simpre the guy. 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:34.560 Whenever there's drilling, there's a big impact, primarily in deforestation. 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:42.600 Habitais yes, I'll gok okay. 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:47.440 They destroy certain animals' habitats. Now we're dealing with global 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:51.280 warming from so much deforestation, so much burning of gases. 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:53.400 Sequences. 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.160 But when it came to the I t T referendum, 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.480 Romiro voted to keep drilling. He worries about what his 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:02.400 sons will do if they lose their jobs. 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:02.960 Then go. 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:12.960 And lunus capitatos maginista transportang los Caro. 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:15.120 I have two sons who work at Block forty three. 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.720 They work on the barges. One's a captain and the 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:30.760 others an engineer. If they're going to stop drilling, what 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:33.320 will they do? Where will they work? It's something I've 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:37.120 asked myself and sometimes mentioned to my colleagues. These people, 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:40.400 where are they going to find work? It's a little complicated. 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:46.960 Other folks I talked to were frustrated that people far 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.680 away in Quito who work off his jobs and don't 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.360 understand life in the Amazon voted to stop drilling when 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:56.720 they benefit from oil money too, and some people were 0:16:56.760 --> 0:17:00.480 confused by the wording of the referendum. One man he 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.920 voted yes because the region needed oil jobs, but the 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.600 yes vote was to stop drilling. Others suspected that the 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.680 government would ignore the vote and drill anyway. Some cited 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:14.840 a debunked conspiracy theory that Peru could extract the oil 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:18.680 with some kind of horizontal pipe. My taxi driver voted 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.119 to stop drilling, but thought the vote to keep drilling 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:25.439 had won. PetroEcuador has argued that it's helped the communities 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.399 where it drills. It has built hospitals and schools, and 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:34.280 provided water filters. To indigenous families, but some folks in Coca, 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:37.960 the capital of Odajana Province, are frustrated because they don't 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.919 feel the benefits. They only see oil money leave the region. 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:44.960 One man pointed out that there's not a single university 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:49.560 in the province of Odajana. Other residents have experienced the 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:55.320 downsides of oil extraction, like oil spills firsthand. Jose Makania 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:58.159 is also a guide. It to Buccini. He grew up 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:01.480 in an indigenous Quichua community moved to Coca for high school. 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:04.359 One morning, he went to bathe in the river before 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:05.879 walking the two hours to school. 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:24.280 Mayana Ante saliarmi Io fil Rio Scuro viving in trail Rio. 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:27.639 I got in the river to bathe one morning and 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.639 came out a little black. The river was full of oil. 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.119 The pipeline had broken your Coca. My dad saw me 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:36.120 covered in that black stuff and told. 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:38.399 Me it was oil Petrolia. 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:43.040 Jose later worked for an oil exploration company. His job 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.200 was to make sure the other workers didn't do too 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.720 much damage to the forest while creating trails, but he 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:51.720 saw how underground explosions which were set off to find 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:56.040 out whether there was oil in the ground scared the animals. 0:18:55.880 --> 0:19:17.240 Los animos borquesta group was esperando but yeahando, yeah says yeah, 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:18.200 you're kles pass. 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.239 The animals were scared. They went crazy, running in all 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:28.320 directions without knowing where to go. The monkeys screamed. It 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:29.480 made me so sad that I. 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:33.760 Said no more, no mass, no mas. 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:36.000 Jose left the. 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.560 Oil company and became a guide to Tippuccini sixteen years ago. 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:42.399 Four years in he came face to face with a 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:50.480 black panther. That's his favorite wildlife encounter to date. It 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:52.800 was like a dream for me seeing the black jaguar, 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:57.439 the black panther. Jose voted to stop drilling in the 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:00.000 I T T Block and was glad the referendum passed. 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:11.320 Is tamo vibn tiendos impacto los cambia klimatic pediril mundo uyatos. 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:12.880 Well living and feeling the effects of climate change. I'd 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:15.920 ask the world to promote caring for nature, because it's 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:21.119 everybody's lung, not just Latin Americans or Amazonians. The world 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:27.320 is for everyone. Indeed, the referendum was celebrated around the 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:30.879 world as a step toward protecting nature and slowing climate change, 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:34.399 but the vote only stops extraction in one oil block. 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:39.520 When ITT closes, six others will still overlap Yasuni National Park, 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:43.560 and there are dozens more around Ecuador. The vote doesn't 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:47.720 affect trilling in any of those blocks. The good news 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:50.879 is that closing ITT will leave about seven hundred million 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:54.879 barrels of oil underground. That oil alone means three million 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:58.200 metric tons of carbon dioxide won't be emitted to the atmosphere. 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:02.200 But the symbolic impact of this referendum maybe even stronger. 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:04.040 Here's Kelly swing again. 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:11.000 Yes to me, probably eighty percent of that land area 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:14.600 is still pretty much what it was one hundred years 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:18.439 ago or three hundred years ago. When you see, you know, 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:20.560 the people turn out and vote for something like this, 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:24.000 you say, oh, this is not a lost cause. There's 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:28.200 plenty out there to save, and there's plenty of interest 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:29.040 in saving it. 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:33.600 Oil has been Ecuador's biggest export for fifty years. It 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:37.520 spurred huge economic growth in the seventies. The country sends 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:40.840 a good chunk of oil to the US too. It's 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:45.200 California's second largest source of crude. But that oil won't 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:49.200 last forever. By some estimates, Ecuador will become a net 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:53.520 importer of oil by twenty thirty one. Ecuador will have 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:57.360 to outgrow its oil dependency sooner or later. The referendum 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:01.719 means that that move is coming early for itt. Carlos 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:04.919 Larrea is an economist to help design Gorrea's proposal to 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:07.919 leave the IT block untouched back in two thousand and seven. 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:11.679 He says the most important thing for Ecuador's economy is 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:14.080 to diversify. 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:18.399 Oil has been the most important single export product for 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:25.720 about fifty years, and Ecuador badly needs a policy of 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:36.040 economic diversification. And our position is that actually the most 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:43.800 important endowments of ecuadors its biodiversity and its cultural diversity 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:50.120 and richness. Ecuador needs to preserve nature in the future 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:54.480 in order to survive as a peaceable country. 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:58.560 Larrea points to growing exports from the Amazon, like chocolate 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:02.280 and guayusa, a plant that's brewed like tea. The region 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:06.200 could also expand its tourism sector, though Ecuador's recent increase 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:10.399 in crime might scare off potential visitors. La ree stress 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:14.240 that diversification is key, not just shifting dependence from one 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:17.960 export to another. He doesn't want to see Ecuador rely 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:21.400 too heavily on another product or service that could run out, 0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:26.919 lose value, or get shut down by a popular vote. 0:23:28.440 --> 0:23:32.560 Gonzolo Rivestors. The ecologist sees the ITT result as an 0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:35.199 opportunity for Ecuador to take control of its future. 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:38.760 It is a precedent for whatever can happen, and I 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:42.200 think also opens now the door to have the discussion 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:45.159 on what to do next, because in twenty years is 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:47.440 not going to be Ecuadorians voting to the old companies 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:50.199 to leave. The old companies are are going to be 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:53.080 gone because there's not going to be more oil to stract. 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:55.439 So I think now is a good moment. If you 0:23:55.480 --> 0:23:59.320 ask me once you know I tit or wild ITTs 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:04.680 retired that we said, okay, what is coming next for Jamison. 0:24:10.119 --> 0:24:14.000 Drilled is an original Critical Frequency production. This episode was 0:24:14.000 --> 0:24:17.600 reported and written by me Macy Lipkin. Our senior editors 0:24:17.640 --> 0:24:19.520 are Alien Brown and Sarah Ventry. 0:24:20.040 --> 0:24:22.560 Our senior producer is Martin Saltz. 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:25.440 Austwick, who also does our sound design and compose most 0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:26.960 of the music in this episode. 0:24:27.160 --> 0:24:29.919 The episode was mixed and mastered by Peter Duff. 0:24:30.200 --> 0:24:34.360 Fact checking by Wudan jan Al Atwick is by Matt Fleming. 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:36.960 Our first time in My attorney is James Wheedon. 0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:39.960 The show was created by Amy Westerboldt, who also helped 0:24:40.080 --> 0:24:41.680 edit this episode. 0:24:41.720 --> 0:24:44.320 You can find related videos, photos, and print stories for 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:46.800 this series, along with all the documentation that we have 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:49.560 to go along with the series, at drill dot Media. 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:52.760 You can also subscribe to our newsletter there. It comes 0:24:52.760 --> 0:24:55.000 out once a week and includes a little bit of 0:24:55.000 --> 0:24:58.240 analysis on what's happening in climate, plus a roundup of 0:24:58.280 --> 0:25:01.080 the top five stories or studies check out each week. 0:25:01.440 --> 0:25:03.760 It's never more than a ten minute read, and people 0:25:03.800 --> 0:25:05.840 tell us it helps them stay on top of all 0:25:05.960 --> 0:25:06.760 things climate. 0:25:07.240 --> 0:25:11.639 Upgrade to a paid newsletter or a podcast subscription to 0:25:11.760 --> 0:25:15.359 fund more recording and get access to ad free and 0:25:15.440 --> 0:25:18.280 early episodes, as well as bonus content. 0:25:19.359 --> 0:25:21.760 Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.