Becky Watson

Ecuadors Environmental Revolutions

Chapter 3 Summary

Ideal Types of Environmentalism

In this chapter, Lewis describes four unequal groups of environmentalists:

ecoemperialists, ecodependents, ecoresisters, and ecoentrepreneurs. Ecoimperialist organizations

fund the Ecuadorian environmental organizations from abroad and are tied to ecodependents via

funding. Ecoimperialists provide funding to ecodependent organizations and because of this

relationship, their agendas have become similar. Their main actors include professional

conservationists making their primary agenda biodiversity conservation and sustainable

development and some of their projects include land conservation and sustainable development.

Although the public view of this group is negative, their relationship with the state is mostly

cooperative as they thrived under the neoliberal model and were able to establish national parks.

Ecodependent organizations are national or regional level organizations that rely on international

funding which creates an economic relationship with ecoimperialists. Their main actors include

professional environmentalists and their primary agenda as well as their projects are similar to

ecoimperialists. The states relationship to the ecodependents is mostly cooperative but the

public views them as a nonprofit mafia.

Ecoresisters are at national, regional, and local levels and they receive little to no

resources from abroad in order to have control over their agenda. Ecoresistant groups have

existed in Ecuador since the Origins Era and have been the strongest in the Neoliberal Bust Era.

The main actors within this group are volunteers and a few paid staff. Their primary agenda
varies as it depends on the community and local extractive industries but some of their projects

include defensive and alternative economic development. Their relationship to the state is

adverse and the publics view is mixed. This group favors the buen vivir/sumak kawsay idea of

living and their biggest accomplishments have been the lawsuit against Chevron/Texaco and

delaying mining. The ecoentrepreneurs are similar to ecoresisters in the sense that they are at a

national, regional, and local level and they also receive little to no resources from abroad.

Ecoentrepreneur groups emerged during the Bust but depending on their success, they may gain

more influence in the future. Their funding comes locally through service fees and their main

actors are technicians and financial professionals. Their primary agenda is quality of life issues

including clean water and safe transportation through their urban projects. The states

relationship with this group is cooperative and the public views are positive. Although they are

the smallest group, they created public/private funds to ensure protection of watersheds. With

time, this group has potential to grow with increased state environmentalism and the payment for

ecosystem services approach.

An excellent example of a project headed by ecoentrepreneurs is The Fund for the

Protection of Water (FONAG) which was established in 2000 for a period of 80 years. It is

regulated under Ecuadors stock market law and is an example of the payment for ecosystem

services approach. FONAG works to ensure a sufficient quantity of water of good quality by

supporting actions that protect water resources based on the principles of long-term natural

sustainability (Chiramba et al., 2011). Along with projects to clean water, FONAG has programs

for the communities involved that meet the challenges of building a new water culture: active

participation by stakeholders and actors creates a more just, shared, and sustainable use of the

water resources. The programs have a minimum of 20 years for their time scale and cover the six
key areas of FONAGs activities: water management, site surveillance and monitoring,

restoration of vegetation cover, environmental education, training in Integrated Water Resource

Management (IWRM), and communication.

Overall, I agree with Lewis classification of the groups of environmentalists. Two

groups, the ecoimperialists and the ecodependents, generally have the support of the state but are

seen as negative in the eyes of the public. That being said, they are bad for the small country.

Since they get international funding and are in favor with the state, they can get away with what

they believe is sustainable and in the end harm the public. The ecoresisters do not have the

support of the state and the public has mixed feelings. Since they do not receive international

funding and are mainly volunteer run, they can be good and bad for the state. Ecoresisters are not

explicitly environmental and so they can head other projects that could have nothing to do with

conservation, sustainability, or the health of the local community. Ecoentrepreneurs have support

from the state as well as the public and although they are funded through service fees, they use

the money for projects that the public and state can benefit from. Overall, the ecoentrepreneurs

are the best group for Ecuador because they make sure that everyone is taken care of and that it

benefits the environment as well. However, it does matter that Ecuador is currently not in favor

of helping the ecoentrepreneurs. The state is at a point where they are not as supportive of

environmentalism but over time, this group could flourish.

 References

Chiramba T., Mogoi S., Martinez, I., and Jones, T. (2011). FONAG The Fund for the

Protection of Water, Ecuador. Available from

http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/green_economy_2011/pdf/session_4_biodiversity_

protection_cases_fonag.pdf