Quito - On 13 September, the Government of Chile contributed US$100,000 to the Yasuní-ITT Trust Fund that is administered by UNDP, aimed at protecting an ecological site in an oil-rich area of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Quito - On 13 September, the Government of Chile contributed US$100,000 to the Yasuní-ITT Trust Fund that is administered by UNDP, aimed at protecting an ecological site in an oil-rich area of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Chile is the first country to contribute to the Fund that will leave untouched 846 million barrels of crude oil lying under the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) fields of the Yasuní ecological reserve in the country’s Amazon region. The Fund contributes to the fight against climate change by preventing the discharge into the atmosphere of more than 400 million metric tons of carbon which would result from the burning of fossil fuels if oil were extracted.

At a ceremony held at the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alfredo Moreno Charme, formalized his country’s contribution by handing his Ecuadorian counterpart, Ricardo Patiño, a certificate of deposit for US$ 100,000. “The commitment and contribution of the Government of Chile to this fund, while it may not be a significant sum in monetary terms, is what we can do in the light of the earthquake that struck Chile a few months ago and of other needs of our population” said Mr. Moreno.

The ceremony also involved the signature of a Standard Administrative Agreement between the Chilean Foreign Minister and UNDP’s Representative in Ecuador, José Manuel Hermida, who voiced hope that the example set by Ecuador and Chile would help mobilize the contributions needed for the success of the Yasuní-ITT initiative.