Becky Watson

Ecuadors Environmental Revolutions

Chapter 4 Summary

Origins, 1978 to 1987: Ambientalistas and Ecologistas Emerge

This chapter follows a chronological timeline of the environmental movement in Ecuador

starting at its origins in the late 1970s to its recognition as a relevant force in Ecuadorian politics

in the late 1980s. The movement began with the foundation of the first environmental

organization in Quito in 1978: Fundacin Natura (FN or Natura). The organization was founded

by university-educated scientists and self-proclaimed nature lovers and was registered with the

state as a nonprofit with their work focused on the conservation of species and ecosystems.

Naturas first project was a television show about nature called Education for Nature which

was sponsored by Ecuadorian businesses. Natura was very open to working with everyone as

they saw hope in the private sector believing it damaged the environment due to ignorance. They

employed reformist tactics and sought out cooperation, negotiation, and compromise. By

attempting to change the system from within, they were also able to create working relationships

with the industry and government. Just a few months after their foundation, Natura received

funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to create an

Environmental Profile of Ecuador which increased their staff from three volunteers to forty

paid employees. From 1980 to 1987, Natura received three additional funds from USAID for

environmental education projects. Natura was the environmental NGO in the mid-80s as it was

the only active national environmental organization in the country.

 In 1985, the group Sociedad de Defensa de la Naturaleza (Society for the Defense of

Nature, SODENA) was founded. SODENA supported a subgroup called Accin Ecolgica (AE)

which was, and still is, considered the most radical green group in Ecuador. AEs early work is

described as more social than ecological even though the subgroup was created by biologists.

Their projects focused mainly on mining, oil, mangroves, and forests. Members of AE are mostly

women who are often referred to as eco chicas. In 1989, AE fought (and still fights) against the

government and industrys extraction practices. They have fought against oil extraction in the

Amazon since 1989 with their Campaign Amazona por la Vida (Amazon for Life) which

focused on the protection of the Amazonian environment.

There are many differences between the two groups but one main difference is the fact

that AE never received funding from USAID. Natura leaned more towards the concerns for

biodiversity, conservation, the natural environment, and environmental sustainability. These

concerns stemmed from the natural science approach to the environment that the founders

instilled. AEs largest concern focused on human-environment interactions. They included social

and economic concerns in their ecological analysis, including the social and economic pillars of

sustainability. Fundacin Natura consisted of ambientalistas (environmentalists) who sought

solutions within the system such as implementation of environmental policies. Accin Ecolgica

consisted of ecologistas (ecologists) who took an ethical position against the economic system

especially resource extraction. Both groups sought to educate the Ecuadorian community but

they did so in vastly different ways. FN educated to change consciousness in order to garner

support for creating environmental policy while AE educated to mobilize actors and help groups

organize themselves to protect their environments.

 In 1987, the first debt-for-nature swap took place in Ecuador and in a span of seven years

(1987-1994), fifteen countries were the recipients of funds generated from these swaps. In a

swap, an organization from the Global North purchases a portion of an indebted nations debt at

a discount on the secondary debt market in exchange for a commitment by the indebted country

to start a Conservation Trust Fund to carry out environmental projects. The indebted countrys

foreign debt is reduced but continue to make smaller payments into the fund. The beneficiary of

the fund is typically a NGO within the country. The reasons Ecuador favored these swaps was

because they were heavily indebted to the international community, it was on international

conservationists radar due to high biodiversity, and Ecuadors citizens showed, through

developing organizations like FN and CEDENMA, that there was a national concern about the

environment. Fundacin Natura and other NGOs benefitted from these swaps.

This Origins stage ends in 1987 because international economic conditions lead to

national social movement activity. Various countries tried to renegotiate loans with International

Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for agreements to make structural adjustments. These

adjustments included steps to liberalize economies, increase exports, and reduce social spending.

These economic crises reduced debt-stressed states legitimacy with their citizens and led to

protests around the developing world. In an age of globalization, economic crisis creates

vulnerability at the national level as well as the international level. This era was filled with a

state that was weak, indebted, and resource dependent leading the nation to seek out a brighter

future.

If I were living in Ecuador during this era, I would have supported Accin Ecolgica.

Although Natura consisted of ambientalistas, they focused on conservation and biodiversity.

AE on the other hand, focused on the human-environmental interactions such as the use, access,
and control of natural resources within the country. The divide is unfair and it strengthens the

existing inequality relations causing serious impacts on the natural environment on which

community groups depend for their survival (AE, 2017). AE makes the socio-environmental

impacts that large-scale productive activities generate visible and they demonstrate how

sustainability in urban and rural communities as well as the national population is jeopardized.

AE seeks to help the community by bringing awareness of human impacts on the environment

and helping those communities create projects to reduce their impact. As much as I see the

science way of thinking that comes with Natura, AEs focus in on the communities and natural

resources that are being used in ridiculous amounts without regulation. Extraction impacts

everything within the area from populations of people to populations of flora and fauna. I would

support AE because they want to be more connected with the people rather than keeping the

biodiversity of the country in order to continue receiving funding from international countries.

This chapter covered a lot within the Origins era of Ecuadors history. Two big

environmental organizations were created and although they had their differences, they both

sought to bettering the nation and empowering the environmental movement in their own ways.

The era ended when the nation realized that they were dependent on resources that generally

came from international countries and decided that there needed to be a turn of events. Overall,

this chapter opened my mind to the idea that although something like debt-for-nature swaps

should be beneficial to the nation since they helped to reduce debt, it makes the nation dependent

on outside sources and therefore it becomes a weakened state.

 References

Accin Ecolgica (2017). Guidelines: The Organization. Available from

http://www.accionecologica.org/iquienes-somos/nuestros-lineamientos