O I L I N T H E S O I L 99778811444422221111330088__WWEEBB..iinnddbb ii 66//66//1111 1111::0022 AAMM 99778811444422221111330088__WWEEBB..iinnddbb iiii 66//66//1111 1111::0022 AAMM O I L I N T H E S O I L The Politics of Paying to Preserve the Amazon Pamela L. Martin ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham (cid:129) Boulder (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK 99778811444422221111330088__WWEEBB..iinnddbb iiiiii 66//66//1111 1111::0022 AAMM Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2011 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Martin, Pamela, 1971– Oil in the soil : the politics of paying to preserve the Amazon / Pamela L. Martin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4422-1128-5 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-1130-8 (electronic) 1. Environmental policy—Ecuador—Parque Nacional Yasuni. 2. Environmental protection—Ecuador—Parque Nacional Yasuni. 3. Environmental degradation— Ecuador—Parque Nacional Yasuni. 4. Petroleum industry and trade—Environmental aspects—Ecuador—Parque Nacional Yasuni. 5. Parque Nacional Yasuni (Ecuador)— Environmental conditions. I. Title. TD171.5.E2M376 2011 333.78'309866416—dc22 2011010688 ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America 99778811444422221111330088__WWEEBB..iinnddbb iivv 66//66//1111 1111::0022 AAMM To Bill, Gabriella, and William with much love and admiration 99778811444422221111330088__WWEEBB..iinnddbb vv 66//66//1111 1111::0022 AAMM 99778811444422221111330088__WWEEBB..iinnddbb vvii 66//66//1111 1111::0022 AAMM Contents Acknowledgments ix Acronyms xiii 1 Saving Yasuní and the Planet: Toward a Global Politics of the Good Life 1 2 Global Politics from the Canopy 13 3 History in Black, Green, and Red 33 4 Pay to Preserve: The Yasuní-ITT Trust Fund 59 5 Behind the Scenes: Agents, Norms, and Structure in the Quest to Save Yasuní 79 6 The Future of Global Governance in the Amazon: The Yasuní Effect 111 Bibliography 131 Index 139 About the Author 147 — vii — 99778811444422221111330088__WWEEBB..iinnddbb vviiii 66//66//1111 1111::0022 AAMM 99778811444422221111330088__WWEEBB..iinnddbb vviiiiii 66//66//1111 1111::0022 AAMM Acknowledgments THIS STUDY HAS BEEN a personal journey shared with many family and friends since the inception of my research in 2006, and in many ways reflects years of study of and travel to Ecuador as well. The Yasuní-ITT Initiative and its actors are a constant inspiration to me and a symbol of the changing global politics of our time. While global climate change talks, such as those in Cancun in December 2010, labor slowly with few pathbreaking results, the Yasuní-ITT Initiative stands out as a harbinger for change—one that is not waiting until the world decides to agree on real solutions for the urgent problems that impact our very way of life on this planet. The study of this initiative is also a testament to the authority and power vested in individuals in the global system. Given the pioneering nature of this proposal to leave oil underground in a pristine plot of the Amazon, precedent and other case studies are lacking. This manuscript is an attempt to analyze the challenges of such work and document the processes for replication by other policy makers seeking to enact innovative programs in the hopes of reversing the devastating impacts of climate change. Earlier versions of sections of this book are published with Global Envi- ronmental Politics, entitled “Global Governance from the Amazon: Leaving Oil Underground in Yasuní National Park, Ecuador,” and an International Development Policy contribution entitled “Pay to Preserve: The Global Politics of Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT Proposal.” Many of the revisions and much of the continued analysis that are found within this book are owed to exchanges with María Laura Patiño, Grace Jaramillo, and William DeMars at the In- ternational Studies Association conference in 2009, as well as a May 2010 — ix — 99778811444422221111330088__WWEEBB..iinnddbb iixx 66//66//1111 1111::0022 AAMM