Documents blow a major hole in Ecuador’s “attempt” to protect the Amazon — salon.com

In May, Ecuador’s government announced that the Yasuni basin — an untouched corner of the Amazon and one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth – was officially open for exploitation. The decision was made all the more tragic for what it said about us all: In a much-publicized gambit, the country pleaded for international help in protecting the region’s wildlife and indigenous populations. If the countries of the world could scrape together $3.6 billion, or half the value of the estimated 800 million barrels of crude oil beneath the preserve’s surface, the government would leave it in the ground.

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