The spine-covered palm, Bactris riparia,[3] and aquatic plant Montrichardia linifera typically line the edges of these slow moving rivers, often referred to as Igapós.

[citation needed] The park contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of crude oil – 40 percent of Ecuador's reserves.

The initiative promised to protect the park's biodiversity in exchange for compensation from the international community, but the effort did not raise enough money.

[4] Yasuní National Park (YNP) is arguably the most biologically diverse spot on Earth and a convergence point for three unique regions, the Equator, Andes Mountains, and the Amazon rainforest.

[5] The park is at the center of a small zone where amphibian, bird, mammal, and vascular plant diversity all reach their maximum levels within the western hemisphere.

In spite of covering less than 0.15% of the Amazon Basin, Yasuní is home to approximately one-third of amphibian and reptile species.

Pteronura brasiliensis, commonly known as the giant otter, an endangered species endemic to rivers in and surrounding the national park, are forced to adjust to constant seasonal changes in water levels that concurrently alter food availability.

These creatures are key components to many trophic levels of the ecosystem as they serve as seed dispersers and remove insects from plants for nourishment.

[9] In spite of covering less than 0.15% of the Amazon Basin, Yasuní is home to approximately one-third of the amphibian and reptile species.

[12] The diverse levels of canopy available have supported many different lifestyles for birds, including pollinators like hummingbirds who can often share close relation with certain plant groups.

In response, President Rafael Correa launched the Yasuní-ITT Initiative to protect the park's natural resources in June 2007.

[19] Not drilling in the park would prevent 400 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the air, officials said.

[2] At the time, the plan was hailed by environmentalists as a precedent setting decision that would reduce the burden of environmental preservation on the world's poorer countries.

[2] Actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Edward Norton, filmmaker and global ecological activist/scientist Michael Charles Tobias, and former Vice President of the United States Al Gore were among those who pledged support to the Ecuadorian government.

[citation needed] However, fundraising efforts were inhibited by Correa's insistence that Ecuador alone would decide how the funds would be spent.

He said expanding Ecuador's oil production was essential to furthering his economic projects that won him widespread support among the nation's poor.

[23] A referendum on banning oil exploitation in Yasuní National Park was held in Ecuador on 20 August 2023 alongside general elections.

The referendum was a popular initiative demanded by indigenous communities for more than ten years before being finally validated by the Constitutional Court in May 2023.