Ecuador’s Environmental Revolutions
Neoliberal Boom, 1987 to 2000: The Rise of Ecodependence
During the years 1987 and 2000, but arguably most importantly in 1992, with the first Earth Summit (the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development), was truly when international forces began to shape Ecuador’s environmentalism during the height of neoliberalism. Neoliberalism weakened states and strengthened NGOs. In a neoliberal state there are namely no restrictions on manufacturing, no barriers to commerce, no tariffs, overall free trade; which some believe is the best way for a nation's economy to develop (Martinez & Garcia, 1997). To put this into perspective when looking at a country like Ecuador, their neoliberalism was characterized by reduced state spending, privatization, international exposure, foreign investment, and export orientation with market-determined prices (Lewis, 2016. Pg.102). All this really meant for Ecuador was that international organizations and “foreigners” had a lot of power and influence on the state’s policies and practices. This wasn’t all bad for Ecuador, as its national NGOs were abundant in money and INGO partners to work with and fund projects through. The Earth Summit that took place spoke deeply on trying to reconcile the competing demands of environmental protection and economic growth, and focused on the idea of “sustainable development” now more than ever before (Pg.78). Large ecoimperialists wanted to address both the “environmental problem” and the “development problem” and with these international priorities in place, possibilities for action were greater, especially for Ecuador, who was the first country to sign one of the two binding agreements at the summit.
During this Boom era we see a complete influx of national-level NGOs in Ecuador, unlike the Origins era, when Fundación Natura and Accion Ecologica were the two biggest organizations on the environmental scene. INGOs like USAID and The Nature Conservancy were forced to spread their funds more strictly to organizations that they believed would use it in their best image. National NGOs began professionalizing as their international funders, most often USAID, made guidelines for the ways they would be able to receive funding and the type of work and quality of work that would need to be done in exchange for their funding. With the increased number of NGOs came much broader specialization as well. Organizations were focused on various efforts such as the conservation agenda, social-ecological issues, and specific biodiversity issues and protections, as well as several other important location-based factors.
The Neoliberal Boom does not mark much change in the status of Ecuador’s economic development as an independent state. Even with debt-for-nature swaps and the influx of money to NGOs from ecoimperialist organizations, Ecuador did not have the capacity to act effectively or independently; or to hold out their promises to the international agenda in regards to environmental matters, and therefore were heavily influenced by transnational funding to meet their biodiversity and sustainable development needs (Pg.81). Ecuador reacts by becoming largely ecodependent.
The best part about this period in Ecuador’s history, in my opinion, is that it marked a slight shift towards a managed scarcity synthesis rather than economic; and new environmental laws and regulations were put into place which would really set the scene for greater things to come. Every country needs to start somewhere, even if they are as weak and indebted as Ecuador is through this period. In regard to environmental and development policies, Ecuador saw a new Environmental Ministry, and Law of the Galapagos, expansion of its national parks system, and an abundance of shared “green” and “brown” goals that were being focused on within the country and from abroad (Pg.115). I like to see the shift that is taking place during this period, stemming from the Origin era, as it is clear that environmentalism and sustainable development are starting to seem like much bigger issues and areas of importance not only in Ecuador or the Global South, but across the entire globe as many countries come together at the Earth Summit to share ideas and make promises to the Earth.
References
Lewis, T. L. (2016). Ecuador's Environmental Revolutions: Ecoimperialists, Ecodependents, and Ecoresisters. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Martinez, E., & Garcia, A. (1997, January 1). What is Neoliberalism? Retrieved from https://corpwatch.org/article/what-neoliberalism.
Neoliberal Boom, 1987 to 2000: The Rise of Ecodependence
During the years 1987 and 2000, but arguably most importantly in 1992, with the first Earth Summit (the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development), was truly when international forces began to shape Ecuador’s environmentalism during the height of neoliberalism. Neoliberalism weakened states and strengthened NGOs. In a neoliberal state there are namely no restrictions on manufacturing, no barriers to commerce, no tariffs, overall free trade; which some believe is the best way for a nation's economy to develop (Martinez & Garcia, 1997). To put this into perspective when looking at a country like Ecuador, their neoliberalism was characterized by reduced state spending, privatization, international exposure, foreign investment, and export orientation with market-determined prices (Lewis, 2016. Pg.102). All this really meant for Ecuador was that international organizations and “foreigners” had a lot of power and influence on the state’s policies and practices. This wasn’t all bad for Ecuador, as its national NGOs were abundant in money and INGO partners to work with and fund projects through. The Earth Summit that took place spoke deeply on trying to reconcile the competing demands of environmental protection and economic growth, and focused on the idea of “sustainable development” now more than ever before (Pg.78). Large ecoimperialists wanted to address both the “environmental problem” and the “development problem” and with these international priorities in place, possibilities for action were greater, especially for Ecuador, who was the first country to sign one of the two binding agreements at the summit.
During this Boom era we see a complete influx of national-level NGOs in Ecuador, unlike the Origins era, when Fundación Natura and Accion Ecologica were the two biggest organizations on the environmental scene. INGOs like USAID and The Nature Conservancy were forced to spread their funds more strictly to organizations that they believed would use it in their best image. National NGOs began professionalizing as their international funders, most often USAID, made guidelines for the ways they would be able to receive funding and the type of work and quality of work that would need to be done in exchange for their funding. With the increased number of NGOs came much broader specialization as well. Organizations were focused on various efforts such as the conservation agenda, social-ecological issues, and specific biodiversity issues and protections, as well as several other important location-based factors.
The Neoliberal Boom does not mark much change in the status of Ecuador’s economic development as an independent state. Even with debt-for-nature swaps and the influx of money to NGOs from ecoimperialist organizations, Ecuador did not have the capacity to act effectively or independently; or to hold out their promises to the international agenda in regards to environmental matters, and therefore were heavily influenced by transnational funding to meet their biodiversity and sustainable development needs (Pg.81). Ecuador reacts by becoming largely ecodependent.
The best part about this period in Ecuador’s history, in my opinion, is that it marked a slight shift towards a managed scarcity synthesis rather than economic; and new environmental laws and regulations were put into place which would really set the scene for greater things to come. Every country needs to start somewhere, even if they are as weak and indebted as Ecuador is through this period. In regard to environmental and development policies, Ecuador saw a new Environmental Ministry, and Law of the Galapagos, expansion of its national parks system, and an abundance of shared “green” and “brown” goals that were being focused on within the country and from abroad (Pg.115). I like to see the shift that is taking place during this period, stemming from the Origin era, as it is clear that environmentalism and sustainable development are starting to seem like much bigger issues and areas of importance not only in Ecuador or the Global South, but across the entire globe as many countries come together at the Earth Summit to share ideas and make promises to the Earth.
References
Lewis, T. L. (2016). Ecuador's Environmental Revolutions: Ecoimperialists, Ecodependents, and Ecoresisters. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Martinez, E., & Garcia, A. (1997, January 1). What is Neoliberalism? Retrieved from https://corpwatch.org/article/what-neoliberalism.