Yasuní-ITT Initiative — Ecuador's Oil-Left-in-the-Ground Compensation Fund That Raised 0.4% of Its Target

In 2007 Ecuador proposed a permanent moratorium on extraction in the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oil block inside Yasuní National Park, asking the international community for $3.6bn over ten years (about half of the forgone revenue) in exchange for avoided emissions estimated at ~407 million tonnes of CO2. Contributions were to flow into a UNDP-administered trust fund.
According to the UBC Open Case Studies and Americas Quarterly, only about $13 million was actually deposited (roughly 0.36% of the target) plus about $116 million in pledges. President Rafael Correa cancelled the initiative on 15 August 2013, saying 'the world has failed us', and oil permits followed.
Analysts note that donor confidence was undermined by conflicting government priorities, including oil-sector investments and already-divided concessions covering ~40% of Yasuní, and by initial resistance to international management of the funds.
Included as a cautionary case: an ambitious sovereign-scale payment-for-non-extraction design whose funding mechanism did not deliver any measured biodiversity or climate outcome.

Read the full analysis: https://cases.open.ubc.ca/yasuni-itt-project-in-ecuador/