Ecuador abandoned a plan to keep a region of the Amazon rain forest untouched from oil drilling after a fund for the preservation project failed. President Rafael Correa announced the Yasuni-ITT initiative in January, pledging not to drill in the Yasuni National Park if other countries contributed $3.6 billion-half the market price of the crude estimated under the land-to the fund. In a televised speech late Thursday, Correa said the plan failed and drilling in the park would proceed. "We weren't asking for charity," he said of the failed initiative. "We were asking for co-responsibility in the fight against climate change." The president said drilling would commence on an area limited to less than 1 percent of the national park. He said new drilling technology would allow the process to have a minimal effect on the surrounding forest.
