In 1992 at a United Nations (UN) Conference on Environment and Development, Ecuador signed the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Climate Convention. After this conference and receiving attention from foreign states, Ecuador made efforts to work towards sustainable development. However, Ecuador's weak state led to ecoimperialists and ecodependents taking a more established role in the state's environmental movements.
From the years 1987 to 2000, Ecuador experienced a neoliberal boom. Neoliberalism is the ideology based on free-market competition. Sustained economic growth is commonly associated with neoliberalism. Even though many individuals believe that sustainable development reduces economic growth during Ecuador's neoliberal boom, many types of environmental groups emerged. New Ecuadorian based ecodependent organizations developed due to the increased presence of transnational funders in Ecuador that sponsored new NGOs. During this influx of ecodependent groups the definition of sustainable development, which has been the main focus of ecoimperialists and ecodependents, shifted to include a focus on humans as well. This led to the new groups specializing to focus on specific sustainable development goals. In addition to specializing these groups were pressured by their donors to be more “professional”. The practices associated with constantly documenting their actions and funding distribution to please transnational funders posed many procedural limitations on these groups. Another limitation, which ecodependents always have to contend with, is the agenda set by the ecoimperialist organizations that fund them.
Ecoimperialist groups did shift to include more than just a conservation focus but their funding agenda was still limited. For example, funding for the urban environment was not put on their agenda but a majority of Ecuador’s population resides in urban regions. With the ecoimperialist agenda and environmental problems due to the decisions of the state ecodependents took action to develop solutions. One way ecoependents filled the void left by the state was adopting ecotourism practices. In the 1990s the number of NGOs grew substantially and their influence enacted new environmental policies within Ecuador. NGOs continued to have great influence during the neoliberal period due to the decentralization and promotion of public-private partnerships occurring.
Even though NGOs had increased potential to make environmental changes, they were still dependent on ecoimperialist funding. As discussed in Chapter Three, ecodependent organizations must compete against one another for funding which caused animosity among some NGOs weakening the environmental movement. Overall, the ecoimperialists influenced the agenda in ways that reduced the successfulness of a potential collective environmental movement pushing the ecodependent organizations to specialize and compete. The ecodependent organizations were successful at protecting land, but the core issue that Ecuador faces, resource extraction, was not solved during the neoliberal boom.
Reflecting on the events that occurred during this period in Ecuador it is easy to see how the greenwashing practices attracted more donors and made it seem like lasting change was occurring. Greenwashing in this context is when an action is perceived as beneficial to the environment but in reality, has no real positive impact. While ecodependents did help slow environmental degradation in Ecuador the environment would be completely different if these organizations had more control over their agenda. Additionally, if ecodependent organizations did not have to compete for funding an impactful collective movement could have been enacted during this time period. A collective environmental movement combined with a weak state could lead to significant environmental/social changes. However, as Lewis points out in Chapter Five, one major issue with NGOs filling the role of the state is a lack of democracy. A lack of democracy is not only unfair but could lead to potential rejection of change. Even if the NGOs have power the citizens could reject the changes proposed if they feel the power they have is unjust.