A former president of the Andean parliament will discuss an initiative to keep millions of barrels of oil buried in the Ecuadorian Amazon on Monday, Oct. 8, at noon in Rudolph Hall at the Yale School of Architecture.
Ivonne Baki, secretary of state for the Yasuní Initiative, will discuss “Yasuní-ITT: A New Model for Sustainable Development in the Ecuadorean Rainforest.” Following her lecture, faculty from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) and the Yale School of Architecture will join Baki in a panel discussion.
The Ecuadorian government under President Rafael Correa has proposed forgoing extraction of the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oilfields if the international community compensates Ecuador for the lost revenue. The government has requested $3.6 billion over 13 years from the international community to be put into a capital fund.
The ITT oil is located in the eastern corner of Ecuador 's Amazon region within Yasuní National Park. Yasuníwas named a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1989, and scientists including Jane Goodall and E.O. Wilson have called it “one of the most biodiverse places on Earth.” At least two indigenous tribes, the Tagaeri and Taromenane, maintain their traditional lifestyles in voluntary isolation in Yasuní.
Baki has been a member of the Andean Parliamentary since 2006; was Ecuador’s Minister of Trade Industry, Fisheries and Competitiveness from 2003 to 2005; and ambassador to the United States from 1998 to 2002.
Joining her on the panel are Chadwick Oliver, Pinchot Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies and director of the Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry; Ben Cashore, Professor of Environmental Governance and Political Science and director of the Governance, Environment and Markets Initiative; Alexander Felson, Assistant Professor and founder and director of the Urban Ecology and Design Laboratory; and Keller Easterling, Professor at the School of Architecture.
The event is co-sponsored by the Yale School of Architecture, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry, Tropical Resources Institute, Urban Ecology and Design Laboratory and the Architecture/F&ES joint degree program.
