Constitutional Court of Ecuador blocks oil exploitation in Yasuní

The action eliminates the decree signed by former President Moreno that sought to expand exploitation in this territory

With seven votes in favor and one against, the Constitutional Court declared the unconstitutionality of the Law that allowed exploitation, within the Yasuní National Park, which had entered into force, through an Executive Decree issued by former President Lenin Moreno.

Decree 751 had the objective of reducing the intangible zone of the Yasuní reserve and expanding the hydrocarbon extraction area in the National Park in the buffer strip, for which the Constitutional Court partially invalidated this regulation that had been signed on May 27. of 2019 by former President Moreno.

The former president, prior to the signing of the decree in 2018, convened a Popular Consultation regarding oil exploitation in Yasuní and the territory of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation (PIAV), which read:

Do you agree to increase the intangible zone by at least 50,000 hectares and reduce the oil exploitation area authorized by the National Assembly in the Yasuní National Park from 1,030 hectares to 300 hectares? said question obtained 68% of votes in favor, however, the consultation did not have any type of annex that specifies how compliance with said Law was going to take place and, on the contrary, Moreno decided to expand the exploitation in the area.

In this context, the Court affirmed that articles 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 of Decree 751 were unconstitutional, for which reason it allowed only the original wording of articles 3, 4 and 5 of the Decree to be preserved. Executive 2187 signed on January 3, 2007 by former President of the Republic Alfredo Palacio.

Thus, all types of extractive activity within the buffer strip of the Tagaeri Taromenane Intangible Zone (ZITT) are prohibited, so if President Guillermo Lasso or any other future president wishes to exploit the area, he will have to face constitutional law.

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