Ecuador seeks compensation for non-exploitation of oilfield

The Government of Ecuador will wait up to one year to see if the international community offers to compensate the country for not developing a major oilfield in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon. President Rafael Correa and his government say that if the international community can compensate the country with half of the forecasted lost revenues (US$350 million per year), Ecuador will leave the oil in Yasuni National Park undisturbed to protect the park’s biodiversity and the indigenous peoples living there.

The government's offer comes after intense opposition to oil development in the area from Ecuador's environmental and indigenous organizations. The oilfields, known as Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha, are the largest untapped fields in Ecuador, estimated to contain between 900 million and 1 billion barrels of oil, about a quarter of the country’s known reserves. The government will set up a trust fund to receive the hoped-for donations. International lenders will also be able to contribute by forgiving a proportion of Ecuador’s foreign debt.

Sources
Environment News Service, 24 April 2007
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Proposed Mexican fiscal reform meets stiff opposition from civil society groups

The Mexican government has submitted to Congress a proposal for a fiscal reform that would remove existing tax deductibility of donations to charity by businesses and the self-employed. It would also introduce taxation of income generated by charities on the sale of goods and services. The proposed new tax, the Contribucion Empresarial a la Tasa Unica (CETU), has met with strong opposition, spearheaded by the Philanthropy and Civil Society Project (PCSP) of the ITAM university. A number of Mexico’s leading philanthropists had a meeting with President Felipe Calderon and the secretary of the treasury on 13 July to discuss the issue. The thrust of PCSP’s campaign, which has gained the support of some 600 CSOs from all over the country, is that donations under CETU should be tax-deductible; that the non-grant income of non-profits should not be subject to tax; that the list of activities eligible for tax-deductible donations should be expanded to coincide with the 2003Federal Law to Encourage the Activities of CSOs; and that the Treasury should work with civil society to make donations more publicly transparent.

For more information
www.agendafiscalsociedadcivil.org