The plan to combine Ecuador’s energy and mines ministry with its environment ministry has raised questions about whether ecosystem protection will become permanently subservient to extractive activities such as oil drilling and mining. (Photo by Joel Heim, WWF Ecuador)
In 2008, Ecuador became the world’s first country to recognize the rights of nature in its constitution, establishing environmental protection as a top national priority. On Aug. 14, the government of President Daniel Noboa sent what critics call the opposite message when it announced the country’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition will be combined with the Ministry of Energy and Mines. The surprise move has alarmed scientists and green advocates, who are warning it will undercut institutional oversight of environmental matters, weakening ecosystem protections in the face of stepped-up extractive activities, particularly oil-drilling and mining. Noboa ordered the ministerial restructuring by executive decree. The new agency is now called the Ministry of Environment and Energy, with environmental-oversight functions overseen by a vice ministry. In comments to the media, former Energy and Mines Minister Inés Manzano, who is the minister of the newly configured agency, said... [Log in to read more]
