Germany won't consider contributing to a fund for
the Yasuni-ITT project that would compensate Ecuador for not
extracting oil from an Amazon reserve, Dirk Niebel, Germany's
minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, said in a letter
last week.
Niebel wrote the letter on Sept. 14 in answer to a
request on the issue by Ute Koczy, a member of the German parliament
for the Green Party. Koczy posted the letter on her website.
Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, said at a conference in
London last October that Germany had pledged to contribute $50
million a year to the Yasuni-ITT fund. Ecuador then said it was also
in talks with France and Spain about financing the project.
However, Sebastian Lesch, Niebel's spokesman, said Tuesday
that Germany never made a commitment to pay into the fund, but did
follow the initiative with interest. In the letter Niebel said
Ecuador had failed to answer several questions regarding the project,
and that there is a lack of clear statements on what guarantees
Ecuador would give for a permanent abandonment of the project.
Also, so far no other donor has been found who would support
the initiative, the minister said.
Germany was also concerned
that it would be setting a precedent by supporting a project that
pays a country for not doing something, Lesch said.
Niebel
said it is doubtful the Yasuni-ITT project has advantages over other
initiatives, such as the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and
Degradation initiative.
Ecuador's Correa came up with the
nature-for-oil initiative in 2007, and planned to use it as leverage
in global warming deals.
He said the project would keep 850
million barrels--or 20% of Ecuador's proven oil reserves--under the
ground, and save 407 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from being
released into the atmosphere by avoiding deforestation.
Earlier
this year, however, Correa said Ecuador would start drilling for oil
at the ITT field in the Yasuni National Park if the country didn't
get the funds he says it was pledged. The Yasuni Park is the
country's largest nature reserve and a UNESCO biosphere reserve in
Ecuador's Amazon jungle.
Ecuador in August signed an
agreement to create a trust fund for international contributions to
the Yasuni-ITT initiative. Chile so far is the only country that has
contributed--a modest $100,00.