Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
donors to read. Their primary goal is to resist the forces of “develop-
ment,” particularly resource extraction, due to its negative impacts on
the environment and communities. Rather than focus on projects, they
focus on “processes.” For example, through workshops, they teach com-
munities how to monitor their environment, grab media attention, and
pressure the government. In this way, ecoresistant organizations facilitate
the process of local, popular movements standing up to fi ght in defense
of their territories and rights.
An example of an ecoresistant organization is Acción Ecológica (AE).
AE did not disclose its funding sources to me, but explained their funding
philosophy: “It depends whether we accept foreign funds. We are very
cautious. It is unacceptable to accept funds that come with an agenda
or from a bank. Our funds come from social organizations. [Funding
sources] must match our priorities and our agenda. Those are the condi-
tions” (translated from Spanish).
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AE was founded in the 1980s and
over the years, their campaigns have focused on a range of issues, includ-
ing resisting oil extraction in the Amazon, helping coastal communities
prevent the expansion of shrimp farming into mangroves, demanding
changes in the structures of international fi nancial institutions (IFIs) to
favor Latin America, and recently, working with a local organization,
Quito para Todos/Colectivo Cuidadana (Quito for All/Citizens' Collec-
tive), to improve the quality of life in Quito. Other organizations of this
type include Defensa y Conservación Ecológica de Intag (DECOIN),
whose main fi ght is against foreign mining, and FUNDECOL, which
works on the coast to prevent further development of large-scale shrimp
operations. AE is allied with South-South networks, such as the Latin
American network against genetically modifi ed organisms.
AE's acts of resistance to oil extraction, deforestation, and mining are
reactive, a quality of many environmental justice movements. However,
it is also forward looking in its calls for the restructuring of IFIs and its
work to build sustainable local communities. The “environmental
justice” frame is not used in Ecuador. The label “radical” is partially a
proxy for it, though not a perfect fi t. Other organizations call AE radical,
meaning extreme and impractical. To AE, it means being concerned with
workers and social and economic justice. AE's critique of sustainable
development helps to distinguish it from the ecodependent organizations.
To paraphrase (and translate) from their website, they essentially argue
that the concept of sustainable development is used to justify almost any
proposal that favors economic growth and exploitation of natural
resources. Its inherent logic is that economic growth solves the problems
