Voters in Ecuador have passed a referendum to prohibit oil drilling in a protected area of the Amazon rainforest, a move hailed as “historic” by environmental activists.
With nearly all the votes counted on Monday, almost 60 percent supported the ban on oil development in Yasuni National Park, often described as one of the world’s greatest havens of biodiversity.
The referendum was part of a snap general election on Sunday that included votes for the presidency and National Assembly.
“Today we made history,” Yasunidos, an environmental group that backed the referendum, said in a social media post. It applauded the vote as a “historic victory for Ecuador and for the planet”.
Original from www.aljazeera.com rnrn