The Ibero-American countries approved a pioneering Ecuadorean plan not to mine for oil in tropical
forests in return for international compensation, the Portuguese presidential office said Monday in a statement.
At the 19th Ibero-American Summit, which is being held in the Portuguese resort Estoril, summit participants approved the plan. Under the
Yasuni initiative, Ecuador would leave some 900 million barrels of oil, worth 6 billion U.S. dollars, underground as a contribution to fight climate change.
The initiative, which will avoid creating over 400 million tons of carbon dioxide, "ensures the conservation of one of the richest ecosystems
in the world," the statement said.
The Yasuni initiative has also been supported by the Non-Aligned Movement, the Union of South American Nations and the Rio Group, among others.