Ecuador’s president abandons plan not to drill in Amazon preserve in exchange for funding

QUITO, Ecuador – President Rafael Correa says he has abandoned a unique and ambitious plan to persuade rich countries to pay Ecuador not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon rainforest preserve.

The idea was to set a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of going green.

Correa had sought $3.6 billion in contributions to maintain a moratorium on drilling in the Yasuni park in a campaign he launched in 2007 after his first election.

But he said in a nationally televised speech that Ecuador had only raised $13 million in actual contributions.