The small South American nation of Ecuador is one of the planet's 17 megadiverse countries, a group of nations that harbor the majority of the Earth's species. It's also one of world's poorest nations, with 40 percent of citizens living below the poverty line. All this despite the massive stores of oil tucked away beneath the ground.

Since the 1970s, the government in Quito has allowed companies to pump oil out of the country, with little thought to the effects this would have on the environment. Ecuador has profited little from its natural resources and it's now realizing the environmental mistakes that have been made.

Which is why they have come up with an offer to take with them to Copenhagen this December. They want money from the international community to invest in infrastructure and biotechnology, and in return they'll leave half of the available oil in the ground. It's one alternative, and if it works, other developing nations home to both immense biodiversity and oil – like Venezuela and Nigeria – might follow suit.