I heard a story on the radio the other night. actually a 'Geo Quiz'(quiz answer) about Ecuador (here is a print article if you dont feel like listening). Basically the Ecudor's government has found oil reserves under an ecologically important area of the rainforest and want to sell the drilling rights but is willing to forgo selling them if the international community will pay $350 million a year for ten years.
At first blush this sound like they are holding the rainforest ransom. But then I thought about it some more and I figured this is a global resource for biodiversity and carbon sequestration. Why should a developing country like Ecuador have to bear the entire burden for keeping this land pristine? Curious
