Interview: Ecuadorean heritage minister explains the Yasuni-ITT project

This month the Ecuadorean government, together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), launched an innovative project to protect hydrocarbon-rich forests which is the first of its kind in the world. Through the Yasuni-ITT project the government has agreed not to drill in the Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini oil-field in exchange for donations into a compensation fund, from which it hopes to amass US$3.6 billion in the coming years - approximately half the estimated value of the field’s oil reserves. One of the programme’s architects, Minister for Heritage Coordination Maria Espinosa, spoke to Latin Lawyer about the project’s legal framework.