Management and taxation in environmental projects: Ecuador's Yasuni-ITT initative (Yasuní ITT trust fund)

In 2007 the government of Ecuador initiated an ambitious environmental project to prevent the exploitation of the most significant oil reserves in the country located in the Yasuní National Park. To make the project operational an international trust fund was constituted in 2010. The following article will focus mainly on analyzing the legal support that the trust fund has provided in the management and administration of the Yasuní-ITT (Ishpingo, Tambococha, Tiputini) Initiative. With this intention, we examine the objectives and internal structure of the Yasuní ITT Trust Fund, its administration of the international contributions, its monitoring system and its transcendent taxation aspects. This study reveals that during the three years that the Yasuní ITT Trust Fund was in force, it was the instrument for the international implementation of the Initiative, despite its early termination due to the lack of international cooperation and the inconsistencies and contradictions of the Ecuadorian government.