New Crowdfunding Initiative Saves One of the World’s Most Biodiverse Places
Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park is recognized by the scientific community as being one of the one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. Covering an area of 9,823 km², the park holds several records for the number of animal species that inhabit the area, as well as being home to two uncontacted Indian tribes. The Yasuni National Park is also known for being particularly rich in oil; in 1989 it was designated a UNESCO Bisophere Reserve.
Until recently the park was under threat due to possibility of oil drilling, but crowdfunding came to the rescue. In a bold move, and after several protests from the scientific community, the Ecuador government has launched the Yasuni-ITT Initiative. According to the Initative, all oil drilling would be indefinitely suspended if, over a period of 13 years, the country could raise 50 percent of all the revenue it would have from the oilfields exploration – which would be $7.6 billion.
The initiative is already working. According to the United Nations, the Yasuni-ITT initiative has already raised $116 million in donations from several countries, including France, Belgium, Germany, Spain and Australia, as well as from several high-profile individuals, among them Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Gore, Edward Norton and Bo Derek.
If the money hadn’t been raised, the oil exploration in the Yasuni National Park could lead to an ecological disaster and would release over 400 million tons of CO² into the atmosphere.
This new crowdfunding initiative could become a new model to change the way the world protects its most important places.