THE NON-EXTRACTION OF CRUDE OIL IN THE ISHPINGO- TIPUTINI-TAMBOCOCHA (ITT) OIL FIELDS: BEYOND AN ECOLOGICAL UTOPIA?

Transcripción

1 GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES THE NON-EXTRACTION OF CRUDE OIL IN THE ISHPINGO- TIPUTINI-TAMBOCOCHA (ITT) OIL FIELDS: BEYOND AN ECOLOGICAL UTOPIA? The Case of the Yasuní National Park THESIS Submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the Master in Development Studies by Caroline Imesch (Switzerland) Geneva August 2009

2 Nadie se puede abstraer del mundo. (Milagros Aguirre) 1

3 Abstract The aim of this study is to show the implications of conservation policies in the case of Ecuador, with relation to energy governance. This country is extremely rich in biological diversity, but it also faces the symptomatic challenges of a developing country: economic growth is a crucial necessity. Since the country relies heavily on oil production for external income generation and the main oil fields are located in fragile ecosystems, a strong tension arises between development and nature conservation. In June 2007 the different actors along with their diverse agendas were confronted with a new challenge: the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, presented a proposition for the non-exploitation of the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oilfields, located in the heart of the Yasuní National Park, the so-called Yasuní-ITT initiative. By applying an actor-oriented approach placed into a framework of political ecology, I analyze the complex relations and interests of the actors involved within the process of energetic governance in order to contribute to a more holistic understanding of choices and discourses made by the protagonists. 2

4 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT 4 1. INTRODUCTION THESIS STATEMENT HYPOTHESIS 7 2. THEORETICAL PART METHODOLOGY POLITICAL ECOLOGY THE GOVERNANCE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK THE GOVERNANCE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK APPLIED TO THE CASE CONCEPTS GOVERNANCE SUSTAINABILITY BIODIVERSITY 22 THE CASE OF ECUADOR OVERVIEW OF THE ECUADORIAN OIL POLITICS THE YASUNÍ NATIONAL PARK SOME HISTORICAL FACTS BIODIVERSITY: SOME CHARACTERISTICS THE TRADITIONAL INHABITANTS OF THE PARK THE YASUNÍ NATIONAL PARK, A NODAL POINT THE INITIATIVE THE ORIGINS CURRENT STRATEGY OF THE INITIATIVE ANALYTICAL PART THE ACTORS POSITION THE STATE THE OIL COMPANIES ENVIRONMENTAL NGOS THE CIVIL SOCIETY SYNTHESIS CONCLUSION REFERENCES ANNEXES INTERVIEW PARTNERS EXTRACT OF THE POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF EXTRACT OF THE POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION EXTRACT OF ILO CONVENTION NO

5 Acknowledgment The analysis is based to a large extent on the interviews of various actors who are in some way involved in what is now called the Yasuní-ITT initiative. The interviews have been conducted between March 19 th and April 28 th 2009 during a research trip to Ecuador. This field study has been made possible with the generous support of the Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries - KFPE. I want also to express my gratitude to Professor Marc Hufty who was extremely helpful and offered invaluable assistance, support and guidance. I would like to thank also Dr. Tobias Haller for chairing the jury. Special thanks are due to Professor Guillaume Fontaine and PhD student Karen Andrade from FLACSO, Ecuador, whose precious comments improved the quality of this study. Finally, my keen appreciation goes to all the interview partners without whom this research would not have been possible. Last but not least, I want to thank my family and friends for their moral support. 1. Introduction Conservation policies have become major instruments of state governance, at least since the Conference of the United Nations on Environment and Development, that took place in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. The aim of this master thesis is to show the implications of these conservation policies in the case of Ecuador and its energy governance. This country has on its territory an extremely rich biological diversity. It also faces the symptomatic challenges of a developing country where economic growth is a crucial necessity. Since the country relies heavily on oil production for external income generation and the main oil fields are located in fragile ecosystems, a strong tension arises between economic development and nature conservation. This aspect represents the major focus of this thesis. The Yasuní National Park will be taken as a case study to illustrate and analyze it. Beyond that, this case provides an additional practical and intellectual challenge: the Eastern region of Ecuador (locally called Oriente) is the homeland of indigenous peoples. They enjoy a particular status as a minority and are under special protection; their status as minority groups has then to be taken into consideration. However, the interests of 4

6 these people often clash with those of the state and oil companies. This is where another category of actors intervenes: environmental NGOs. These organizations support the indigenous peoples in their struggle for a protected, preserved and healthy environment, even if they may not share the same final goals, as will be exposed later. As stated by Watts, oil is an arena in which new forms of global regulation and governance are being developed, fought over, and implemented (Watts 2005: 375). In June 2007, the different actors, each with their own agendas, were confronted with a new challenge: the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, presented a proposition for the non-exploitation of the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oil field, located in the heart of the Yasuní National Park. The conjugation of these different elements make the Yasuní case an emblematic example of a situation in which different interests and agendas oppose one another, reflected then by the actors respective discourses and worldviews. This might lead to the situation described by Bottazzi in the following words: Through discourse, each stakeholder is trying to legitimate his position in local arenas, even if the discourse is no more than a reduced and strategically oriented representation of reality (Bottazzi 2008: 102). Consequently, the challenge for the policy makers consists in reducing the gap between the discursive and the practical level. If the gap remains, or worse, widens, the policies in general, and in this case the conservation policies, will face serious incoherencies. 1.1 Thesis statement The Yasuní National Park represents an emblematic case in which different world views confront each other. The Park can be seen as a nodal point (Hufty 2007) where the interests of the national state, transnational oil companies, NGOs, and those of its inhabitants (indigenous peoples and colonos) concentrate. It is thus the scene of enduring conflicts between these interest-groups. At the same time it represents also an example of the challenges that the Ecuadorian jurisprudence faces. In June 2007, the stakeholders of this contradictory debate were confronted to a new challenge, when the proposal, now called Yasuní-ITT initiative, was launched. This proposal foresees the non-exploitation of the presumably biggest oil fields in 5

7 the Ecuadorian history as an extractive country. The non-exploitation would nevertheless not be for free. With the ITT initiative, the president proposes a mechanism of compensation, in which the International Community 1 should contribute up to 50% to the renounced oil-revenues, an estimated 350 million dollars per year. In my analysis, I am going to examine the inner implications of this proposal, which has undergone profound modifications since its first announcement in As Ecuador has a long history of oil-extraction in highly sensitive regions such as the Amazon tropical forest, it is legitimate to ask why this shift in the oil- and conservation policies should be feasible at this particular moment. Therefore, I will not only introduce and analyze the content of the initiative; I will also put the initiative into a national context of contradictory policies, which is peculiar to this Andean country. Indeed, the possible implementation of the initiative challenges the government insofar as it is also an opportunity for the authorities to demonstrate their ability to go beyond a purely discursive level if they accept the non-extraction of the ITT fields. I am convinced that the whole process of decision-making around the initiative is set largely on a national level; therefore I choose not to approach the proposal from an international point of view. The fact that there is an international participation a mainly financial support of the proposal - will nevertheless be taken into account. This is due to the fact that although the Ecuadorian state is doubtlessly the protagonist in the process of decision-making, it largely depends on the goodwill of the International Community in order to finance the project. The support of the OECD-countries to the initiative will also bring forward their formal engagement agreed in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. However, the decision-making at the national level is also a controversial debate as it touches one of the weak points of the Ecuadorian policy-making, i.e. its paradoxical legal frame which, in relation to the Yasuní case, promotes on the one hand the conservation of the biosphere and, on the other hand, authorizes oil extraction in the exact same geographical sphere. The initiative could therefore be seen simply as one more tool in an already complex and contradictory setting of 1 I take up this denomination used in the initiative (comunidad internacional). 6

8 legal standards. The aim of this research paper is, amongst others, to illustrate how the initiative could emerge as a new instrument for conservation policies. Although its final goal is the protection of the Yasuní National Park, it goes beyond a purely ecological level by including also the economic and social concerns. This combination of stakes set at different levels requires the initiative to be well defined and the consequent actions to be well planned in advance; are the Ecuadorian institutions able to put into practice such a complex issue? Will the International Community assume its responsibility? Who contributes how and why to the success (or the failure) of the initiative? These are only some of the question to which this thesis will attempt to answer. 1.2 Hypothesis Different categories of legal norms deal with the management and the structure of the Yasuní National Park (YNP). This superposition includes not only different approaches on the matter, but allows also contradictions between some of their contents. In this sense, the initiative, providing a protection mechanism for one small part of the Yasuní National Park, the ITT oil fields, represents an additional category in the panoply of conservation policies of the Ecuadorian state. It should be asked, therefore, why and how this new approach to conservation can be successful in the long run. My thesis consists in stating that the proposal of a non-extraction of the ITT oil fields will only be successful if the concept of sustainability 2 is adopted in its original sense, i.e. if it can be admitted that - ceteris paribus - in an area of extreme biodiversity, the general benefits of conservation will be superior to those of oil-extraction. The government has the responsibility of finding the optimal balance between income generation and a sustainable implementation of its policies. In my opinion, the initiative has the capability to include both conditions. 2. Theoretical Part 2.1 Methodology The present thesis is inspired by the theoretical framework of political ecology, an interdisciplinary perspective that covers inter alia geography, ecology and 2 The concept of sustainability and the way I use it in this thesis will be explained under point

9 anthropology. Another concept conducts through this study, governance. In order to explain it, I will refer to the Governance Analytical Framework (GAF) suggested by Hufty (Hufty 2007). I will also use an actor-centered approach, for as Brechin et al. recall, the biodiversity conservation problem is mainly a matter of human organization [therefore the] search for responses needs to focus internally not externally (Brechin et al. 2002: 20). The analysis is based on the four central actors, i.e. the state, the oil companies, environmental NGOs and the civil society in general. In the analytical part, I will focus on their discourses. Indeed, I share the idea created by Hajer who states that actors group in what he calls discourse coalitions. 3 These coalitions help them to achieve their specific aims. He rightly concludes that we no longer analyze ecological problems, but socio-ecological problems (Hajer 1995: 18). Conceptually, this interrelation between economic, ecological and cultural access to resources can best be approached by the political ecology framework, in combination with the Governance Analytical Framework Political Ecology Political Ecology presents a Jekyll and Hyde persona, which attempts to do two things at once: critically explaining what is wrong with dominant accounts of environmental change, while at the same time exploring alternatives, adaptations, and creative human action in the face of mismanagement and exploitation. (Robbins 2004: 12) The origins of political ecology can be found already in the 1970s, although at that time the designation itself did not yet exist. It is the result of a fusion between cultural and human ecology on the one hand, and with political economy on the other (Escobar 1999: 2). Today, political ecology constitutes a vast interdisciplinary work-in-progress. One central idea is common to the different applications of this field: the individual human being builds links with society, which are related to its natural environment. This interconnectedness can best be illustrated with the following scheme: 3 What unites these coalitions and what gives them the political power is the fact that its actors group around specific story-lines that they employ whilst engaging in environmental politics (Hajer 1995: 13). 8

10 Individual Society physical Environment (Personal notes obtained during the seminar Ecologie Politique, spring semester 2009, GIIDS) For Schubert, one of the characteristics of political ecology is that it is not a coherent «grand theory», but rather a specific lens through which one can examine the interactions between the environment and society (Schubert 2005: 9). From its first appearance, the field of political ecology has evolved very slowly due to several factors according to Byrant and Bailey. During the neo- Malthusianism period, which dominated the ecology discourse in the 1970s, the term of a political ecology had a negative connotation. The work of Meadows et al. The Limits to Growth had left a major impact on the ecological thinking. Political ecology on the contrary opposes the approach of neo-malthusianism, and refuses the idea of reducing the ecological crisis to a simplified correlation between a demographical explosion in the Southern hemisphere and the environmental degradation. It rather suggests that the analysis should be based on the structures of society, and of an explanation of local conflicts as results of the process of global production (1997: 14). When the discipline was founded in the mid-seventies, it was subsumed under the field of neo-marxism. Such an approach allowed to link local social oppression and environmental degradation to wider political and economic concerns relating to production questions (Bryant et Bailey 1997: 13). This concept strongly focused on structures, a fact that was more and more criticized at the beginning of the 1980s. The reason was, amongst other things, that such an approach neglected the role of actors, like for instance the state. With the development of the international cooperation, the awareness of the important role of the actors increased and attracted the growing interest of the researchers. According to Bryant and Bailey, this moment marks the second phase of the development of political ecology. It was also in that period that one of the most influential works in the field was published: Land Degradation and Society by Blaikie and Brookfield, published in This second phase can be associated to the notion of poststructuralism. The analysis in political ecology research centers now, amongst 9

11 others, on peasant- and social-movement studies (1997: 14). At the same time, much importance was attached to unequal power relations. Discourse analysis discovered then a new application in the socio-political field. Another important work in this context, especially in the context of the present paper, is the one by Bryant and Bailey Third World Political Ecology. This book provides a useful overview of the evolution of the field. The authors highlight the importance of what they consider the key actors in relation to the environment: states; multilateral institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; businesses; environmental nongovernmental organizations; and grassroots actors, including tribal and peasant populations, pastoralists, and laborers. (Grossman 1999: 151) The authors demur the importance that is attributed to the discourse analysis and raise their concern about the potential disregard of the material problems (Grossman 1999: 151). Such a critique is certainly justified, if one considers that political ecology precisely intends to cover a universal point of view by taking the actor (discourse) and linking him to its environment. For this reason an analysis limited to discourse analysis is not able to give a complete picture of the problematic. This, however, is what political ecology claims. Nevertheless, discourse analysis can [ ] contribute to a political ecology sensitive to the political construction and use of scientific knowledge and multi-level nature of interactions between institutions and environmental change (Adger et al. 2001:709). The main contribution of political ecology is the attempt to complete the image of an (neoliberal) economy which exacerbates the situation of the poor by introducing the idea of a politicized environment. This approach is based on the analysis of the actors, of their discourses and interests (Bryant and Bailey 1997: 27). What Peluso and Watts particularly value in the approach of political ecology [is] its careful documentation of a panoply of differentiated actors, and the ways in which they operate in historically and culturally constituted fields of power (Peluso and Watts 2001: 25). The inclusion of this panoply of differentiated actors allows the analysis of power relations, which find their expression in a confrontation between classical actors such as the state and transnational corporations, and emerging actors like the indigenous peoples and the colonos. Power is for political ecologists a key concept in efforts to specify the topography of a politicized environment (Bryant and Bailey 1997: 38). The indigenous population and the 10

12 colonos play a crucial role in the ecological distribution 4 because the struggle for power is fought precisely in their environment. 5 This last argument is also taken up by Bryant and Bailey to explain the resistance of weaker actors, the indigenous population in particular, a resistance that is linked to the great difficulties that even the most powerful actors face when seeking to exert control over the environment of others (Bryant and Bailey 1997: 44). However, this resistance reaches its limits when powerful actors [ ] seek to impose a new political and ecological order, thereby overriding existing local patterns of human-environmental interaction (1997: 44). The potential for conflicts is evident. It can best be seen in the increase in the number of social movements that try to counteract this environmental colonialism (Varese in Fontaine 2007d: 229), the strategy of which consists en «culturalizar» la política y contraponer la diversidad de identidades colectivas a la homogeneización que conlleva la globalización (Álvarez in Fontaine 2007d: 228). In this context, political ecology is able to explain the traditional marginalization of the indigenous and the colonos by linking the cultural aspect to the political dimension of the conflict. My analysis of the ITT case will therefore be put into the theoretical framework of political ecology. The omnipresent pluralism in Ecuador, most evident in the superposition of different applied categories in the Yasuní, has a strong impact on the conservation policies. According to Fontaine, this pluralism can lead to a governance crisis, that could be expressed by la confusa división o la superposición de competencias entre los poderes ejecutivo, legislativo y judicial, la ineficiencia de los mecanismos de control y la insuficiente responsabilidad del Estado frente a la ciudadanía [ ] (Fontaine 2006: 4). Other forces, such as indigenous groups and NGOs, are also part of the stakeholders. The access and the control of the Yasuní National Park constitute a field of interest for all actors; and their interactions will in the end determine the future conservation policies. 4 I use this term in reference to Escobar: Los economistas ecológicos han sugerido la categoría de distribución ecológica como medio para hacer visible esta complejidad y un nuevo campo, la ecología política, para el estudio de los conflictos de distribución ecológica (Escobar 2005: 126). 5 As Langton et al. rightly stand, for indigenous peoples and local communities, concern about the preservation and maintenance of traditional knowledge is not only motivated by the desire to conserve «biodiversity» as an end in itself, but also by the desire to live on their ancestral lands, to safeguard local food security and, to the extend possible, exercise local economic, cultural and political autonomy (Langton et al. 2005: 24). 11

13 2.1.2 The Governance Analytical Framework Indeed, the Governance Analytical Framework (GAF) by Hufty will be applied to the case study. The situation of a potential oil extraction of the ITT fields and the set of multiple problems that it entails can only be tackled with a multi-level approach, as the one of governance. The latter can be divided into three parts: the energy approach, the socio-economic approach and the environmental one (Fontaine 2008: 171). According to Fontaine, the concept of governance can comprise the mechanisms which underlie this process influenced by different actors. Part will provide a more detailed explication of the concept of governance. The framework suggested by the GAF allows a better view of the stakes and actors involved in the negotiation process, and to connections between them. The model suggested by Hufty is composed of five main elements: 1. The stakes 2. The actors, individuals or groups. Hufty provides a classification into strategic, pertinent and secondary actors, corresponding to their relative level of power (Hufty 2007: 18). 3. The nodal points. According to Hufty these are «des interfaces physiques ou virtuelles où convergent les problèmes, les processus, trajectoires d'acteurs, et où des décisions sont prises, des accords sont conclus et des normes sociales sont élaborées» (Hufty 2007 : 13, author s emphasis). 4. The norms. In relation with governance, norms constitute a meaningful element, considered as the rules of the game. At the same time these rules allow to determine the definition of new ones and the identification of who defines them (2007: 13). In this respect, it is important to mention the normative pluralism which can eventually lead to situations of conflict. 5. The processes are successions of states (i.e. conditions) through which the interactions between actors, norms and nodal points pass (Hufty 2007:21). They introduisent l'historicité au sein des modèles de gouvernance (2007: 21). These categories will be applied to this case study. 12

14 The Governance Analytical Framework applied to the case The stakes The main stake in this research paper is the Yasuní-ITT initiative itself and the different problems that it encounters. To a certain degree, it shows the beginning of a willingness of the actual government to change the energetic policies of the country. As I will point out, however, the content of the initiative reveals the contradictory position held by the state when it comes to include the indigenous peoples in the decision-making process. On the international level, the initiative tests the commitment of the industrialized countries to finance such initiatives that try to counter the global warming. In a few words, the initiative proposes to compensate the non-extraction of the ITT oil fields in the Yasuní National Park. As it will appear later in the analysis, the Park corresponds to what Hufty defines as a nodal point, a physical space where stakes, actors interaction, processes and norms are gathered together, and their often contradictory worldviews confronted. These heterogeneous visions of the same issue are source of many conflicts in the Ecuadorian Amazon in general. They have to be isolated and analyzed in order to relate them to the initiative itself. Another significant element is the fact that, for the first time in the history of Ecuador as an oil-producing country, the state supports an initiative which is not in favor of the extraction of oil. The classical opposition between exploitation and conservation faces here a new challenge, in the form of an innovative and original approach. 6 The present paper includes an analysis of the actors response to this challenge. The objective is to identify the actions that can potentially lead to a success or a failure of the initiative. The following part gives a short overview of the challenges and stakes that the different actors are facing. The state: The Ecuadorian state relies strongly on oil revenues. First of all, the non-extraction of the ITT fields means a financial problem which can only be solved 6 One fundamental element distinguishes the initiative from the existing mechanisms such as the REDD-mechanism: Sólo la propuesta ecuatoriana integra las cuatro dimensiones mencionadas (no explotación de combustibles fósiles, desarrollo de energías alternativas, protección de la biodiversidad y de los pueblos indígenas, y desarrollo con equidad ( 13

15 by compensation. The state cannot afford to make conservation for conservation. 7 This is a well-known problem in developing countries, observed also by Bryant and Bailey, who claim that many Third World leaders thus have little choice but to perpetuate practices that contribute to environmental degradation in the absence of alternative sources of national income (Bryant and Bailey 1997: 59). The NGOs: For the radical environmental NGOs, the oil extraction represents in itself a danger which has to be prevented and hampered by all means. At the same time, they oppose also to the mechanisms of the CO 2 market, because it is part of the neoliberal logic. They are in fact pushing forward to seek for other solutions in order to achieve an Ecuador post-petrolero. The indigenous groups: These people want to participate in the modernization and in the development process. Even tough their rights were formally introduced in the Constitution of , they are still often excluded from participative mechanisms. Another way of reducing their sphere of influence consists in putting them into stereotypical categories, as for instance the guardian of the Amazon, or the noble savage, or, what is more, the nativo ecológico (Fontaine 2007d: 229), an image that environmental groups often refer to. The phenomenon and challenges concerning the Yasuní National Park are not new; but the initiative and its potential benefits provide a new approach to the old pattern. The norms A whole set of norms exists to define the rules in the Yasuní. These norms are completely disparate, and are often used in a contradictory way. Their paradoxical character and the consequential incoherence are often a source of conflicts. 9 The actors The state El Ecuador es un Estado constitucional de derechos y justicia, social, democrático, soberano, independiente, unitario, intercultural, plurinacional y 7 As Narváez argues, para el Estado es de prioridad estratégica la explotación petrolera a partir de los requerimientos económicos para la conformación del presupuesto general del Estado. (Narváez 2007a: 44). 8 See See annex

16 laico. Se organiza en forma de república y se gobierna de manera descentralizada. 10 The state is the main interlocutor for the oil companies, through the Ministry of Energy and Oil and the Ministry of Environment (founded in 1996). The public oilcompany concludes contracts with transnational oil companies through joint ventures. The Ecuadorian state keeps all natural resources which are located in the subsoil as its property. This legal configuration leads to numerous conflicts, as will be shown later. The current president of the Republic, Mr Rafael Correa, was elected in November 2006 and formally took office in January It is the first time that Ecuador is governed by a leftist 11 regime. This drift towards to leftist regimes is a tendency that can be observed also in other South-American countries. After one year of continuous development and elaboration at the asamblea constituyente, the new constitution was approved in April 2007 by the Ecuadorian electorate with an overwhelming 63,98% score. This new constitution includes for the first time the rights of the nature, expressed in the following words: La naturaleza o Pacha Mama, donde se reproduce y realiza la vida, tiene derecho a que se respete integralmente su existencia y el mantenimiento y regeneración de sus ciclos vitales, estructura, funciones y procesos evolutivos. Toda persona, comunidad, pueblo o nacionalidad podrá exigir a la autoridad pública el cumplimiento de los derechos de la naturaleza. Para aplicar e interpretar estos derechos se observaran los principios establecidos en la Constitución, en lo que proceda. El Estado incentivará a las personas naturales 10 Article 1 of the new constitution, see Correa s political movement is called Alianza PAIS (Patria Altiva y Soberana). He follows the political concept of the socialism of the XXI century, a concept developed by Heinz Dieterich and put into practice by Correa s Venezuelan homologue Hugo Chávez. This concept is based on the idea that the social programs should be funded with the country s non-renewable resources ( The implementation of the socialismo del siglo XXI should be put forth by the revolución ciudadana, a project of different political movements and Alianza PAIS. It is defined by five main axes: 1. The Constitutional Revolution. 2. The fight against corruption. 3. The Economic Revolution. 4. The Revolution of Education and Health, 5. The Reclamation of dignity, sovereignty, and the search for Latin-American integration (< The vocabulary alludes to a socialist terminology, typical of the leftist turn that some Latin-American countries have taken recently. The Ecuadorian leader, who holds a PhD in economics, defines himself as a humanista cristiano de izquierda y un economista neoestructuralista (< The result is a mix of socialist and market-oriented policies, as for example the decision to increase the tax on imported goods of up to 35%, a protectionist measure, which did not have a strong impact on the lower income-classes (because they can not afford the imported goods anyway), but which caused some serious problems to investors and entrepreneurs (< 15

17 y jurídicas, y a los colectivos, para que protejan la naturaleza, y promoverá el respeto a todos los elementos que forman un ecosistema. 12 This is an important step towards a more sustainable (oil) policy, and shows clearly the government s ambition to bring along a profound change of the system. The whole constitution is based on the idea of buen vivir. 13 Yet, even before the implementation of the new constitution, the president surprised the public with another proposal, which is the idea of the non-extraction of the ITT oil fields. The content of this proposal shall be analyzed in part 6. Environmental NGOs Regarding the initiative, one NGO is of particular interest: Acción Ecológica, one of Ecuador s most radical movements which was founded in 1986 and dedicates itself since then to socio-ecological issues. Several radical campaigns have been conducted under its auspices such as Amazonía por la Vida in 1989 or the campaign against TEXACO in the nineties (see footnote 36). The actual campaign El Yasuní depende de tí is the resumption of the campaign. It has officially been launched on June 5 th, 2007 at the official presentation of the government s plans for the ITT oil fields. This moment was a great success for the NGO as it has been pushing the idea of a moratorium since the mid-nineties and has been strongly involved in the formulation of the initiative. Its current position will be discussed in point The indigenous groups Ecuador has ratified the most important international treaty for the protection of the indigenous peoples in 1998, namely the ILO convention 169. The main clauses of this convention have been included into the 1998-Constitution (see 10.5) and are still valid in the new constitution. These articles recognize and protect above all the plurality of cultural, political and territorial rights. 12 Article 71 of the new constitution, see Acosta et. al summarize it in this way: La Iniciativa recibió (indirectamente) un respaldo político nacional el 28 de septiembre del 2008, cuando la sociedad ecuatoriana aprobó mayoritariamente la Constitución de la República redactada en Ciudad Alfaro, en Montecristi. Su eje central es el concepto del Buen Vivir o sumak kawsay y el reconocimiento de los Derechos de la Naturaleza (Acosta et. al 2009: 3). 16

18 In the context of the oil extraction, part II of the ILO document is of particular interest. It explains the value of the territory for the indigenous groups in its cultural and spiritual dimension. 14 The territory cannot be sold due to the fact that the ancestral history and the current life of the indigenous are based on it. The land shall thereafter be recognized as legal indigenous possession protected by the state. 15 According to the constitution, the natural resources in the subsoil are property of the state and are managed by the latter. Formally, the indigenous peoples have the right to participate in the extraction, administration and conservation of these resources. 16 The contradiction of this task sharing is evident as it disagrees strongly with the philosophy of the indigenous people and their cosmovisión where the land is perceived as something that cannot be divided into territory and resources. According to the classification suggested by Hufty into strategic, pertinent and secondary actors (Hufty 2007: 19), I propose the following categorization of the actors of the ITT. Strategic: The actors who possess sufficient resources to endanger the well functioning of the rules and who are able to implement conflict solutions (Hufty 2007: 19) are represented by the state, the (transnational) oil companies and only to some degree the NGOs, because they often lack of resources in order to implement concrete solutions. The pertinent actors are represented by the NGOs and the indigenous groups. However, I would reverse Hufty s definition by claiming that the pertinent actors are those who are able to mobilize funds and the public opinion, but who do not have enough resources to really have an impact on the events (instead of defining them by saying that they have enough resources but do not mobilize 17 ). 14 Art (ILO No. 169). 15 Art (ILO No. 169). 16 Art / 15.2 (ILO No. 169). 17 Following the definition given by Prats in Hufty, the strategic actors are «tout individu, organisation ou groupe avec des ressources de pouvoir suffisantes pour empêcher ou perturber le fonctionnement des règles ou des processus de prise de décision et de mise en œuvre de solutions aux conflits collectifs» (Hufty 2007: 19). 17

19 The secondary actors are the colonos, the peasants who came to the Oriente in the 1970s. Since they do not play a major role in the question of the non-extraction, they are not considered a determining factor in this research. The nodal points I assume that the Yasuní National Park corresponds to a nodal point in the sense Hufty uses it: a physical space where different problems, trajectories of actors, processes (time and space) converge and where decisions are made, agreements concluded and social norms elaborated (Hufty 2007: 20). In the Yasuní National Park, one can witness a clash of perceptions: while for some people the Park is just one additional piece of land to be divided into oil fields, some others perceive it as the expression of a superlative of biodiversity; others simply call this space their home. This hypothesis of the YNP as a nodal point will be verified in order to give a satisfactory answer in part 5. Processes In order to fully understand the processes - above all linked to oil in this case, but also to indigenous rights among others - one has to go back to the 1960s when Ecuador started to become an oil-exporting nation (this will be specified in a historical overview on the oil policies in chapter 3). The Park has been a zone of influence since its creation what yields in various amendments of its territory. One of the causes was the introduction of new legal categories meant to regulate the oil production within its borders. The content of these categories, paradoxical in some aspects, raises questions. It will be described later more precisely. At this point, it is important to emphasize that Ecuador has been governed by highly unstable regimes. This instability has more than likely had an impact on the legal system and ultimately shaped the politics of the government. Nonetheless all the governments in power during the last decades have one point in common: the oil extraction has always appeared on top of the economic agenda of the country. The Correa administration has now broken with this tradition a fact that should not be underestimated. The challenge for Correa s administration is to demonstrate that this reform has a future and that it is not just a discursive rupture. 18

20 2.2 Concepts Governance There are almost as many ideas of governance as there are researchers in the field. 18 This quotation points out the difficulty to find global acknowledgment on one single definition of the concept of governance. For this research, I would like to introduce the definition made by the Commission on Global Governance. They consider that governance is: [l] ensemble des différents moyens par lesquels les individus et les institutions, publiques et privées, gèrent leurs affaires communes. [...] Elle inclut les institutions officielles et les régimes dotés de pouvoir exécutoires tout autant que les arrangements informels [...] (Commission on Global Governance in Hufty 2007: 6) This definition highlights clearly that the actors or the stakeholders to be taken into account are as much the formal, as well as the informal actors. This observation will be of great importance when applying the concept to the Yasuní case. The initiative will show that the decision-making is no longer something that happens only on state level. Another definition which is more explicit for what concerns the process of decision-making is the one that is used by Utreras, who states that [g]overnance is defined as the process of interactions between the actors in a collective issue that lead to decisions and the formulation of social norms (Hufty in Utreras n.y.:16). The concept of governance plays an essential role in the context of the Yasuní National Park and especially of the question of the exploitation of the ITT oil fields. This project represents indeed a threefold problem for the state as Fontaine explains it: an energetic, a socio-economic and an ecological problem. This complex problem-formulation can best be handled, according to Fontaine, with the different approaches linked to governance (Fontaine 2008: 171). I do not want to enter into governance theory at this point; it suffices to say that I agree with this conclusion 18 Björk and Johannson in Hufty 2007: 1. 19

21 insofar as the initiative is not only a proposal to leave the oil in the soil, but has far reaching consequences as I will show in the analytical part Sustainability The concept of sustainability is without any doubt very en vogue in the ecologists community. However, it is - like the concept of governance - so vast that it can include anything or everything. Its use must be clearly defined in order to understand the limits of its applicability. In his paper The concept of environmental sustainability, Goodland divides the concept of sustainability into social, economic and environmental sustainability. The concept applies in a wide range of fields and is not only limited to environmental questions. This is also the approach adopted here, i.e. without reducing the concept to environmental sustainability. One of the biggest difficulties with this concept is that one cannot really measure it. 19 Referring to the famous definition of sustainability of the Brundtland report 20, one could ask: how much sustainability would be enough for the future generation?. As a matter of fact, this cannot be defined scientifically; its answer is purely subjective. In order to use the concept in this paper, as it is part of the main hypothesis, I therefore agree with the following quotation of Fricker: Sustainability, however, is more than just the interconnectedness of the economy, society and environment. Important though these are, they are largely only the external manifestation of sustainability. The internal, fundamental, and existential dimensions are neglected. Sustainability, therefore, may be something more grand and noble, a dynamic, a state of collective grace, a facet of Gaia, even of Spirit. (Fricker 1998: 367) 19 Agenda 21 puts forth a local development of indicators in order to measure sustainability: Chapter 40 of Agenda 21, the action plan adopted in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, calls on countries, as well as international, governmental and non-governmental organizations, to develop indicators of sustainable development that can provide a solid basis for decision-making at all levels. Agenda 21 also calls for the harmonization of efforts to develop such indicators (Indicators for Sustainable Development, < However, there is still a great variety of indicators, which makes it difficult to present one particular. In most of the cases, the indicators cover sustainability on the economy, ecology and on the social level. It is a complex cluster of the three fields, so that in the popular application of the concept, the indicator of the ecological footstep has been able to become generally accepted thanks to its simplicity (for further reading consult for instance: < although the data collection is also contested. 20 Our common Future: < 20

22 As this citation illustrates, the idea of sustainability goes far beyond a purely external manifestation. This is crucial for the initiative: I assume that it can only be successful if the internal part of sustainability is also included. This implies a change of way of thinking. People, and above all the government which holds the responsibility for the well-being of its population, must become aware that similar oil extraction as it has been done during the past 40 years in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon will not be feasible, neither socially, nor ecologically. 21 This shift in policies is part of the government plan 22, according to the minister of foreign affairs, Mr F. Falconí. 23 The fact that the initiative is placed at the top of the political agenda is also in relation with the idea expressed by Dryzek: In a world dominated by market liberalism, sustainable development s prospects are poor unless it can be demonstrated that environmental conservation is obviously good for business profitability and economic growth everywhere (Dryzek 2005:160). Another stereotype associated with sustainability is the idea that poverty reduction is the primary goal of sustainable development, even before environmental quality can be fully addressed (Goodland 1995: 2). This has often been used as justification for inaction by the cooperation-community on the international as on the national level. Bryant and Bailey rightly conclude that the desperate need of most Third World countries to develop out of poverty, and the perception of most Third World leaders that industrialization is the only way to achieve such development, has lead to a sharp discrepancy between pollution regulatory regimes in the First and Third World (Bryant and Bailey 1997: 40). In this context, the initiative sets new standards. It does not only address the environmental level (extremely rich biodiversity of the Yasuní), but also the social question (indigenous peoples, and within them groups living in voluntary isolation), and the economic preoccupation (compensation for missing oil revenues). For that reason, the initiative takes into account the whole spectrum of possible conflict sources and should be considered more seriously, and not simply be declared as an 21 El primer requisito para el desarrollo sostenible de un país debe ser el basarse en la utilización racional y renovable de sus propios recursos (Narváez 2007:63). 22 Plan Nacional de Desarrollo , p.163: < 23 [ ] nosotros no podemos permitir como sociedad volver a una explotación similar a la de la Amazonía del Norte (Interview with Fander Falconí ). 21

23 utopian environmentalism (Fontaine 2008: 180). Moreover, as stated in Agenda 21, developed countries are required to reduce their use of natural resources and production of waste while simultaneously improving human amenities and the environment (Fricker 1998: 369). As he rightly concludes, this reduction does not necessary imply a lowering of the living standard. For developing countries, the situation is slightly different, but in the end, the result is the same. Although their societies have not yet reached the same welfare as in industrialized countries, the importance of a healthy environment (ecologically, economically and socially) is in both cases of the exact same importance. This is why the initiative, coming from precisely such a developing country as Ecuador, is of greatest significance. The term of social justice is also related to the question of sustainability. Developing countries in particular often consider that the industrialized countries of the North are completely responsible for the ecological crisis of the 20 th century, having consumed more substantial amounts of environmental sinks capacity (Goodland 1995: 12). This is a fact which cannot be denied. However, this should not be a pretext for developing countries to lean back and let the North resolve the problems. The Ecuadorian initiative merits here special attention as an expression of sovereignty. I will not analyze more in detail the discourse of the president about Ecuador as sacrificing its richness for the collective good. 24 I conclude this overview on sustainability by stating that it is a useful concept if it is well-defined and approached in a holistic way. This is the way the concept will be used in this thesis Biodiversity The most widespread definition comes from the Convention on Biological Diversity which describes biodiversity as the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems Speech of the President at the General Assembly of the UN, , < >. 25 Convention on Biological Diversity: < 22

24 Yet, as Hufty maintains (Hufty 2001: 3), this definition leaves aside the notion of cultural diversity. This is also true for the Yasuní case. Whereas a wide range of scientific data describing the Park s fauna and flora is available, the anthropological diversity has not yet been fully explored. 26 This neglect of the human being as part of the biological diversity is another critical point in the content of the initiative, where the protection of the area as living space for human beings plays only a secondary role. Indeed, the cultural diversity of the Park is represented almost exclusively by the Tagaeri and Taromenane, the people in voluntary isolation. 27 It is certainly true that these people need special protection as they are highly vulnerable; nevertheless, they are not the only inhabitants of the Park, neither the only ones who need protection. Therefore, I would like to emphasize that if one talks about the Amazon forest as a virgin space, one should not forget that it is also the living space of approximately 22 millions of people. The Yasuní National Park is no exception. Hence, a definition of biodiversity that includes living species without stressing the cultural diversity is in my opinion too reductive. This cultural diversity is a main component of Ecuador s social composition. It is not only the Oriente with its indigenous peoples that constitutes the cultural diversity of the country; the whole nation is characterized by a multi-ethnic composition that makes the policy-formulation even more difficult, due to the number of interest-groups. As it will be shown later, this exclusion is of the cultural component can be traced back to a subliminal racism still prevailing in the Ecuadorian society (see also chapter 3). Furthermore, the concept of biodiversity is often linked to the idea of conservation, a concept often mistaken for a synonym of preservation. The latter refers to the idea of preservation without the interference of any human being; conservation on the other side is compatible with human sustainable activity in the area, i.e. ancestral use of territories. 28 The concept of conservation is therefore 26 Y no han sabido presentar los valores o algunos valores que a mi me parecen bien, por ejemplo: Ellos siguen presentando de la Amazonía los conflictos, pero no la belleza, no la riqueza histórica, no la riqueza de sus pueblos, no la cultura prehispánica que está ahí enterrada, que está todavía por descubrir, la Amazonía es una mina sin explotar desde el punto de vista cultural (Interview with Miguel Ángel Cabodevilla, ). 27 A more detailed description of this people will be given in chapter A useful distinction gives the following definition: Preservation means maintaining natural resources by not using them and preventing human interference as much as possible. Alternatively, 23