Ecuador’s thirst for oil threatens wildlife

One of the most biodiverse places in the world is at risk as work begins to remove oil from an untouched corner.

Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park park is a refuge to more than twenty types of endangered mammals, and a single hectare of forest is home to more than 100,000 species of insects.

An estimated eighty percent of the species living there are still unknown to scientists.

But now, the threat of oil extraction means those species could be destroyed before they are even discovered.

Al Jazeera’s David Mercer reports from the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve.

Source: Al Jazeera