NEWS FLASH
Illegal Gold Mining in Yasuní:
A Constitutional Test for Ecuador
Yasuní National Park is internationally recognised as one of the most biologically diverse rainforest ecosystems on Earth. In 1989, Ecuador voluntarily sought and obtained UNESCO's designation of Yasuní as a Biosphere Reserve through the intergovernmental procedures of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme. By doing so, the Ecuadorian State accepted the international responsibility of conserving and managing Yasuní in accordance with the principles and objectives governing the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
Those principles and objectives are directed towards the conservation of biodiversity, the maintenance of ecological integrity, scientific research and environmentally sustainable development. Industrial extractive activities that undermine the ecological values for which a Biosphere Reserve has been internationally recognised are inconsistent with, and contradict, the principles and objectives governing UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme.
Ecuador's international commitments are reinforced by its own Constitution, which recognises the Rights of Nature and imposes upon the State a constitutional duty to protect the nation's protected areas and biological heritage.
On 20 August 2023, the Ecuadorian people exercised their sovereign constitutional authority by approving a binding national referendum requiring the cessation of oil extraction in Block 43 (ITT) within Yasuní National Park. A binding referendum is not a political recommendation. It creates a constitutional obligation upon the Government to implement the sovereign will of the Ecuadorian people.
Yet, as of 28 July 2026, the available evidence indicates that approximately 55,000 to 57,000 barrels of crude oil continue to be extracted every day from Block 43—more than 20 million barrels each year—from the very oil field that the Ecuadorian people voted to leave permanently underground.
These facts demonstrate that the constitutional mandate expressed through the 2023 referendum has not yet been fully implemented. The continuing large-scale extraction of oil from Block 43 therefore constitutes compelling evidence that the sovereign will expressed by the Ecuadorian people has yet to be fully carried into effect.
Recent investigative reports broadcast by Ecuador's national television network, Ecuavisa (Channel 8) present further evidence of illegal gold mining within Yasuní National Park.
Taken together, the continued extraction of oil and the expansion of illegal gold mining reveal two converging threats to one of the world's greatest rainforest ecosystems.
They also raise profound constitutional and international questions concerning the responsibilities entrusted to the Government of President Daniel Noboa.
As Head of Government, President Daniel Noboa bears the constitutional responsibility for ensuring that Ecuador's Constitution is respected, that the democratic mandate expressed in the 2023 referendum is implemented, and that Ecuador fulfils the international conservation commitments it voluntarily accepted when Yasuní was recognised by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve.
These matters deserve urgent national attention and, if necessary, constitutional review. The protection of Yasuní is not merely an environmental issue. It is a constitutional obligation owed to the Ecuadorian people and an international responsibility owed to humanity.
For more than two years, the Ecuadorian people have been waiting for the promise they made to themselves to become reality.
Yet every sunrise still carries tens of thousands of barrels of crude oil out of Yasuní, while new reports reveal that gold is now leaving the same forest through another open wound.
Constitutions can be ignored. Referendums can be delayed. International commitments can be neglected. But the rainforest keeps its own calendar. Every day that passes, another fragment of one of Earth's greatest living forests disappears into history.
One day the last barrel of oil will leave Yasuní.
When that day arrives, may there still remain a Yasuní worthy of the name that inspired Ecuador to seek its recognition as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve—and worthy of the promise its own people made to protect it forever.
The following three investigative reports by Ecuavisa (Channel 8) are reproduced because they are of exceptional public interest and deserve the widest possible national and international audience.