Chapter 2: The Ecuadorian Context

Summary:

It’s hard to compare nearly any country that isn’t in the West to all other countries,

mainly because the definition of the value of life may change from place to place, as well as the

economic status of states may have a different standing relative to its placement in the world

and its relations to other nations. As for Ecuador, it had a very typical Latin American

socioeconomic place in the world in terms of global powers between the years of 1978 and

2015, which are the years that Ecuador has been the most active (p. 32). In 2004, the gross

national income per capita was $2210, which is a bit below other LAC countries at $3576.

Contributing to the “buen vivir” (good living), life expectancy of Ecuadorians is 74.5 years, this is

higher than that of the local regions which is 72.2 years. Of the population who have access to

clean water, 94% of Ecuador’s citizens have clean water, whereas 91% of civilians have access

to clean water in the region. The declining poverty percentage is just about the same for

Ecuador as is for the region as well. On the human development index, Ecuador rates high. The

human development index (HDI) ranges from zero to one (one being the highest human

development); it constructs the index based off life expectancy, years of schooling, and gross

national income per capita. In 2012 Ecuador’s HDI ranked at 0.724, putting them at the bottom

of “high” human development group. The average HDI for LAC nations was 0.741.

So far now, I have illustrated how Ecuador has a lot of very “average” statistics about it,

what about how it differs from separate nations. For one, two fifths of the nations’s revenues

from oil exports. Ecuador is also known for their exports in bananas, shrimp, cut flowers, cacoa,

coffee, wood, and fish. US is the main trading partner for exports and imports (37% of exports,
28% of imports). Also, 68% are urban dwellers, either residing in Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca.

Ecuador is the fourth smallest nation in Latin America. The most interesting part of Ecuador,

and what attracts so many tourists, is that Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse and

megadiverse nations in the world. Ecuador holds 10% of the world’s plant species, and 17% of

the world’s bird species, including rare birds. Lewis brings up a very interesting point in regards

to how the biodiversity relates to economic stability. She said that “most of biological rich

countries are those facing economic problems, which do not have resources to establish

protected areas/national parks on their own” (p. 40). Based on this information, a lot of foreign

countries invested in the biodiversity of Ecuador. For example, in 1991 Ecuador ranked number

5 in the world in amount of US-based funding received for biological diversity research and

conservation projects from public and private donors, receiving $4.5 million out of $105 million

spent on all nations per year. Tammy Lewis introduced the word “hotspot” as an important

term, which became the title for a primary global investment strategy. Petroleum was still a hot

commodity that foreign countries tried to go after. After all, Ecuador has the third largest oil

reserves in South America. From 1972 to 1990 Texaco, an American oil company, and

Petroecuador pumped more than two million barrels of oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The start of the extraction period in 1972 brought about a lot of change in the nation,

both for good and bad. From the military takeover the civilian government, Ecuador saw an

income rise, the development of an infrastructure, investments in education and health, a

decline in illiteracy, an increase in the percentage of people with access to safe water and

electricity, and the establishment of national parks. On the other hand, the military reforms

caused unequal growth, a negative impact on the indigenous peoples, pollution in the land and
air, and roads built by petroleum corporations assisted migration to Amazon which eventually

caused colonization and mass deforestation. There was plenty of environmental harm that was

caused by the oil extractions; under Forestry and Wildlife Law of 1981, petroleum exploration

and other forms of extraction were supposed to be prohibited in protected areas, but there is a

provision that states with the approval of Minister of Agriculture and Grazing that extraction is

permissible. Other popular exports besides oil had a negative environmental impact as well.

Shrimp farming on the coast destroyed mangroves. The tourist development has and

increasingly will have a negative impact on the ecologically sensitive Galapagos Islands.

Environmental health problems have arisen from the use of pesticides in the production of cut

flowers. In addition, Ecuador has the highest deforestation rate in South America. Lewis ends

chapter 2 with the introduction of the four eras in Ecuador’s history, which she goes into

further detail later in the book. The four eras are the origins (1978 to 1987), the neoliberal

boom (1987 to 2000), the neoliberal bust (2000 to 2006), and the citizens’ revolution (2006 to

2015).

Review:

The exports of Ecuador are their main source of income. Ecuador’s main exports are oil,

bananas, shrimp, canned fish, flowers, cacao, and coffee. According to the website of the

Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) on the economic breakdown of Ecuador (2016), as

of 2016 crude petroleum makes up 30% of their exports, bananas make up 16%, crustaceans

make up 15%, processed fish make up 5.3%, cocoa make up 3.7%, cut flowers make up 4.8%

and gold make up 1.6%. The total revenue collected from Ecuador’s exports came to $16.8

billion. Although I know Ecuador is in need for these exports in order to keep up a good
economic status for the comfortability and health of its citizens, I question if the state is using

their resources in the wisest way. As mentioned before, exploiting the natural life of the land

has plenty of repercussions, especially from extraction. Exploitation of natural resources has

already led to soil erosion, deforestation, and stress on many species of animals and plants. Not

to mention, civilians encounter a series of issues from these same exploitations such as

pollution of the air and their water systems. The indigenous peoples of the Ecuador are those

who have gotten the short end of the stick more than anyone else. In fact, in 1993 a class action

lawsuit against Texaco by an environmental law organization in New York was filed on behalf of

five indigenous groups (Lewis, 2016, p. 44). Even though Texaco was found guilty in court and

was ordered to pay $18 billion in damages, the company refused and appealed the decision,

the issue still has not been resolved. This is a great representation of how dangerous and how

powerful the oil industry has come to be in the world. The destruction of the homes of these

indigenous people was evident and Texaco was even found guilty, yet they had the power to

abstain from taking any action in paying for the repercussions of their greedy actions. In a way,

all of the exports can relate in this increasingly popular ideology of “economy is worth more

than nature”. I have mentioned before, that nearly every export that Ecuador relies on is

severely damaging in its own way. Consequently, if Ecuador and the transnational organizations

that seemingly are interested in the well being of the biodiversity of the nation, then there may

be no more natural resources to collect these exports from.

Sources:

OEC. (2016). OEC- Ecuador (ECU) Exports, Imports, and Trade Partners. Atlas Media. Retrieved

from:
https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/ecu/