Lori Gorczynski

Chapter 6

Organization Bust, 2000 to 2006: Opportunities for Ecoresisters and Ecoalternatives

The organizational bust period from 2000-2006 started with a decline in transnational

funding. The three main reasons for the decline include: the 2000 financial crisis and

dollarization which lead to a loss of confidence in Ecuadors political-economic system, the

2001 terrorist attacks that shrunk funding as interests were diverted to the Middle East, and

two large scale projects funded by USAID that came to an end. To cope with this, ecodependent

groups either shut down, shifted their agenda to meet donor desires, adopted an extreme form

of agenda shifting described as proyectismo (going form project, to project, to project), or

generated regular income. This further divided the ecodependents and fragmented the

movement. Even big development projects such as the OCP pipeline could not unite

environmentalists. Rather than organizing a unified front against the development of the crude

oil pipeline, NGOs competed for contracts for the environmental concessions and let the

extractive development program flourish.

The decline of ecoimperialist support and ecodependents, paired with the weak state,

created an opportunity for ecoresisters to succeed. Unlike ecodependents, ecoresisters are not

dependent on funding and work with communities alongside the indigenous movement. They

are against the extractive development model and focused on buen vivir. An example of an

ecoresister group would be the Denfensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag (DECOIN). This

group was formed in 1995 as a direct result of Bishi Metals plant mine in the Intag Valley. The

mining plans would relocate four communities, create massive deforestation and threaten the
lives of threatened mammals and birds, contaminate water bodies, and dry up the cloud forest.

DECOIN, founded by a local priest and landowner, worked with citizens to educate and raise

environmental consciousness. Bishi metals was eventually sold to Ascendant Copper, but

DECOIN did not stop resisting the extractive development model and continued to stand up to

the company. DECOIN burned mining camps to the ground, protested, and were arrested by

police. This radical approach is very different than how the ecodependent groups operated.

Another group, Coordinadora Nacional para la Defensa del Ecosistema Manglar (Coordinating

Committee for the Defense of the Mangrove Ecosystem(C-CONDEM), has a good relationship

with DECOIN and other ecoresisters. Ecoresisters, like most of the indigenous groups, believe

people are interconnected to nature and that it is integral to their lives. A paraphrased quote

from C-CONDEMs website states, Mangroves are not trees, but they are thousands of men,

women, children, old people who inherited the land from God; they are a way of life, of singing,

of smiling (149). C-CONDEM was successful in creating national laws to protect the mangroves

and created economic independence for the community who manages the mangroves.

This period was also the rise of two ecoentrepeneur groups: Fondo para la Proteccion

del Agua (Fund for the Protection of Water, FONAG), and Corporacion de Salud Ambiebtal de

Quito- Vida Para Quito(Corporation for Environmental Health of Quito-Life for Quito). These

groups focused more on the brown issues that were ignored by the ecodependents.

Ecoentrepreneurs did not resist extractive development or respond to a local crisis as the

ecoresisters did, but they addressed local urban environmental issues and made choices that

benefitted local citizens.

 In 2005 CEDENMA organized the first National Environmental Assembly (ANA). This

assembly brought together groups focused on environmental issues, social issues, and issues of

democracy. ANA brought the environmental movement up in terms of national importance and

represented groups that were resisting resource extraction. Although ANA was uniting the

social, democratic, and environmental community, the state was still politically and

economically unstable. In ideology, the state was moving towards an ecological synthesis, but

in reality it was shifting back towards and economic synthesis.

Reflection

One difference between national organizations in Ecuador and national organizations in

America is a tradition of membership and philanthropy. In the US when people donate to

national organizations they might receive a sticker, a tee-shirt, a tote bag, a calendar, etc. It

makes us feel good that we donated to a cause and that we now have something to show for it,

when in reality these gifts are not needed and could go towards the actual cause itself. Im

guilty of this, since I have numerous stickers and calendars from organizations such as the

National Parks Conservation Association, Animal Welfare Association, and the Sierra Club. I find

it interesting how this is not the case in Ecuador, since in America we are taught that is it

important to donate and volunteer at young age. Sometimes Americans donate to charities and

volunteer because it is a social norm that is expected, and often even recorded to complete

volunteer hours or tax deductions.

One of the goals of ecoresister groups was to make a community economically

independent. One way of doing this is through ecotourism. Lewis describes Mindo as a top

ecotourism site for international visitors. The town has a population of only 800, but 20,000
visitors pass through each year. Rose Gomez de la Torre states, The more tourists are aware of

how delicate an ecosystem can be, the more they want to preserve it (Albernaz, 2007).

The history of the environmental grassroots movement in America shares some

similarities to that of Ecuadors. The first grassroots environmental action in America took place

on Earth day, April 22, 1970. Twenty million students, housewives, laborers, farmers, and office

workers filled the streets, town squares, and parks and demanded that the government do a

better job at protecting the environment. Groups that fought against oil spills, deforestation,

nuclear testing, power plants, and other environmental problems all united together on this

day to take a stand (Harris, 2017). This is similar to how Ecuadors ecoresister groups worked

together against the government and industry sectors. Recently, the Dakota Access Pipeline has

become a rallying point for Native American rights and the fight against fossil fuels. People have

come by the hundreds to protest the pipeline which would pass through sacred tribal sites and

impact drinking water supplies (Hersehr, 2017). This reminds me of the ecoresister groups in

Ecuador who resist development to protect the environment as well as the indigenous groups.

In the end, the pipeline won, but it wasnt without a fight from the environmental and social

community.
 References

Albernaz, A. (2007). Letter From Mindo. Science & Spirit, 18(1), 13-20.

doi:10.3200/sspt.18.1.13-21

Harris, U. S. (2017). Engaging communities in environmental communication. Pacific

Journalism Review, 23(1), 65. doi:10.24135/pjr.v23i1.211

Hersher, R. (2017). Key moments in the Dakota access pipeline fight. Washington: NPR.