The author created these four groups on the basis of funding, level of organization, main agenda, types of projects, their relationship to the state, their position on the trajectory of development, and the public’s opinion of them. Considering that there are only four groups and seven main categories, I would say that more groups could be made, although this is not required. I believe that the four categories span the majority of realistic possibilities and are sufficient for labelling such groups.
The author first delved into the Eco-imperialist Organizations. This group has certain markers that make it distinguishable from the other three groups. For example, it is a strictly international organization, they receive their funding from their home office in Global North, and mostly consists of professional conservationists. The main goal of this group is on biodiversity conservation which they partner with supporting sustainable economic development. The people of Ecuador do not necessarily appreciate this group due to the fact that they view this group as foreign intruders. The Ecuadorians believe this because the group comes into Ecuador with their own funds which allows them to do practically anything that they want. These practices typically involve imposing their ideas on the people, policies, and the land itself. The citizens put it shortly as the “gringos meddling in domestic policies and development agendas.” Although viewed negatively, this group has made some positive impacts in Ecuador. One example of a project that the group had established was the Parks in Peril program which in the end protected forty-five areas and conserved approximately forty-five million acres.
In the article, “Parks in Peril Site Consolidation: A Framework for Strengthening Protected Areas,” the author explains the parks in peril program. This program was implemented in Ecuador from 2001 until 2007 at the Condor Biosphere Reserve site. This program was meant to monitor the different threats and how they impacted conservation actions. One of the main concerns was the population of Andean Spectacled Bears. It was recorded in 2007 that the conservation of this bear was successful with the death and removal of these bears being reduced 50%. The Condor Biosphere Reserve works because they have a system of volunteer park guards which had been elected into their positions in addition to some paid guards for this area. The presence of these individuals heavily reduced forest fires, overgrazing, and uncontrolled tourism.
Lewis shines a negative light on the eco-imperialist group when explaining that they impose their own agendas, they also bypass Ecuadorian organizations as well as some citizens believe that they are trying to purchase land in order to control the water resources and make them into private reserves. I believe that although the public disliked this group, that the group made such a substantial impact on Ecuador that it was good to have had such a group in this area. Since the government was weak, this was the only reason that this group proved to be beneficial. If the government was stronger and more developed, there would not be much reason to praise this type of organization.
Next, the author goes into detail about Eco-dependent Organizations. This group is funded by Eco-imperialist Organizations which is the previous group that the author pointed out. The level of organization of this group is both national and regional with staff acting as professional environmentalists. The public gave this group the nickname of the “nonprofit mafia” due to the fact that they have a close relationship with transnational donors as well as their impressive progress with the goal that is shared by them and the Eco-imperialist Organization. The public sees more problems with this group that range from the groups lack of goal-setting autonomy and the fact that the groups within this group need to compete for funds. This competition allows for hostility among the groups within this organization, which could only lead to eventual feuds. My opinion is that this group was not good for the citizens of Ecuador, regardless of the strength of their government.
The following group that the author writes about is the Eco-resistors. This group works at a national, regional, and local level and the participants of this group are mostly volunteers with the occasional paid staff. The interesting part about this group is that they are able to make their own agendas based on what the area needs. This fact is based off of the independence that this group is modeled on. This group has mixed views from the public for varying reasons. On one hand, they focus on different problems relative to the area that they are working in which means that they are more community based. In addition, they have been receiving support from smaller international groups. On the other hand, the group has had a focus on implementing sustaining economic activities which the public is not keen on. This group was mostly beneficial to the citizens of Ecuador, and it would be regardless of the strength of the government.
Finally, the author introduces Eco-entrepreneur Organizations. This group is funded locally and consists of technicians and financial professionals. This is interesting considering that no other group has had these components to it. The primary agenda of this group focuses on quality of life issues which are typically found in the more urban areas of Ecuador. In other words, their focus tends to lean more anthropocentric rather than biocentric and the specific needs concerning quality of life is fluid depending on the different areas that this group serves. This group works on a national, regional, and local level and are viewed positively by the citizens of Ecuador. This group is beneficial to Ecuadorians and it is more impactful that the government is stronger. With a weak government, it would be harder to make more substantial progress in their goals.
The author ends the chapter by discussing some questions that arise when forming these different categories for these organizations. One of these questions is addressing how the environmental sector is impacted by outsiders. This question is particularly interesting in the sense that outsiders almost always have some contribution to the opinion of certain sectors. For example, organizations that make higher contributions to other organizations tend to have more power and more opinion over those with lesser contributions. Another question that the author brings up is how the organizations that she mapped out interact among one another. She had described in the chapter how the Eco-imperialists and the Eco-dependents shared a lot of the same views, and one was even being partially funded by the other. The last question that she ends the chapter with is focusing on the impact that the transnational funding has on the organizations’ stances on the environment and the usage of the state and its policies. It was fascinating that the author was able to make such connections among different groups of organizations, and condense them all down to four fairly simple categories.
In the article, “Foreign-Funded NGOs in Ecuador: Trojan Horse for Intervention?,” the author discusses NGOs in Ecuador. Although NGOs are typically viewed as being genuinely good, but there are situations where this is not the case. More recently, the Ecuadorian government had investigated Accion Ecologica in connection with deadly violence that had happened to members of an Amazonian tribe as well as police officers that were sent to the area to protect one of the mining projects. Under the administration of President Correa, the government had worked to guard themselves against new kinds of public diplomacy that would come from foreign entities and rather focus on gaining the favor of civil society in order to indirectly execute their political objectives.
Some of the citizens of Ecuador had issues with President Correa as time progressed. In the article, “Ecuador's Choice,” which was written in 2017, it describes the election between President Correa’s Vice President, Lenin Moreno, and a total of seven other candidates. With this, the article also discusses the current ruling president. Under Correa, there were legislative actions made in order to grant the government more power. The government had used the new legislature in order to control the environmentalist movement. Even though the state had this amount of power over the citizens, the environmentalists groups were still able to have those political debates that the governments were trying to abolish. While in office, President Correa had passed a piece of legislature that would allow an individual to run for reelection as many times as they wanted. One of the main reasons that Correa was not one of the candidates in the election in 2017 was that he was barred by term limits that were put in place to protect a country from autocrats coming into power.
The author first delved into the Eco-imperialist Organizations. This group has certain markers that make it distinguishable from the other three groups. For example, it is a strictly international organization, they receive their funding from their home office in Global North, and mostly consists of professional conservationists. The main goal of this group is on biodiversity conservation which they partner with supporting sustainable economic development. The people of Ecuador do not necessarily appreciate this group due to the fact that they view this group as foreign intruders. The Ecuadorians believe this because the group comes into Ecuador with their own funds which allows them to do practically anything that they want. These practices typically involve imposing their ideas on the people, policies, and the land itself. The citizens put it shortly as the “gringos meddling in domestic policies and development agendas.” Although viewed negatively, this group has made some positive impacts in Ecuador. One example of a project that the group had established was the Parks in Peril program which in the end protected forty-five areas and conserved approximately forty-five million acres.
In the article, “Parks in Peril Site Consolidation: A Framework for Strengthening Protected Areas,” the author explains the parks in peril program. This program was implemented in Ecuador from 2001 until 2007 at the Condor Biosphere Reserve site. This program was meant to monitor the different threats and how they impacted conservation actions. One of the main concerns was the population of Andean Spectacled Bears. It was recorded in 2007 that the conservation of this bear was successful with the death and removal of these bears being reduced 50%. The Condor Biosphere Reserve works because they have a system of volunteer park guards which had been elected into their positions in addition to some paid guards for this area. The presence of these individuals heavily reduced forest fires, overgrazing, and uncontrolled tourism.
Lewis shines a negative light on the eco-imperialist group when explaining that they impose their own agendas, they also bypass Ecuadorian organizations as well as some citizens believe that they are trying to purchase land in order to control the water resources and make them into private reserves. I believe that although the public disliked this group, that the group made such a substantial impact on Ecuador that it was good to have had such a group in this area. Since the government was weak, this was the only reason that this group proved to be beneficial. If the government was stronger and more developed, there would not be much reason to praise this type of organization.
Next, the author goes into detail about Eco-dependent Organizations. This group is funded by Eco-imperialist Organizations which is the previous group that the author pointed out. The level of organization of this group is both national and regional with staff acting as professional environmentalists. The public gave this group the nickname of the “nonprofit mafia” due to the fact that they have a close relationship with transnational donors as well as their impressive progress with the goal that is shared by them and the Eco-imperialist Organization. The public sees more problems with this group that range from the groups lack of goal-setting autonomy and the fact that the groups within this group need to compete for funds. This competition allows for hostility among the groups within this organization, which could only lead to eventual feuds. My opinion is that this group was not good for the citizens of Ecuador, regardless of the strength of their government.
The following group that the author writes about is the Eco-resistors. This group works at a national, regional, and local level and the participants of this group are mostly volunteers with the occasional paid staff. The interesting part about this group is that they are able to make their own agendas based on what the area needs. This fact is based off of the independence that this group is modeled on. This group has mixed views from the public for varying reasons. On one hand, they focus on different problems relative to the area that they are working in which means that they are more community based. In addition, they have been receiving support from smaller international groups. On the other hand, the group has had a focus on implementing sustaining economic activities which the public is not keen on. This group was mostly beneficial to the citizens of Ecuador, and it would be regardless of the strength of the government.
Finally, the author introduces Eco-entrepreneur Organizations. This group is funded locally and consists of technicians and financial professionals. This is interesting considering that no other group has had these components to it. The primary agenda of this group focuses on quality of life issues which are typically found in the more urban areas of Ecuador. In other words, their focus tends to lean more anthropocentric rather than biocentric and the specific needs concerning quality of life is fluid depending on the different areas that this group serves. This group works on a national, regional, and local level and are viewed positively by the citizens of Ecuador. This group is beneficial to Ecuadorians and it is more impactful that the government is stronger. With a weak government, it would be harder to make more substantial progress in their goals.
The author ends the chapter by discussing some questions that arise when forming these different categories for these organizations. One of these questions is addressing how the environmental sector is impacted by outsiders. This question is particularly interesting in the sense that outsiders almost always have some contribution to the opinion of certain sectors. For example, organizations that make higher contributions to other organizations tend to have more power and more opinion over those with lesser contributions. Another question that the author brings up is how the organizations that she mapped out interact among one another. She had described in the chapter how the Eco-imperialists and the Eco-dependents shared a lot of the same views, and one was even being partially funded by the other. The last question that she ends the chapter with is focusing on the impact that the transnational funding has on the organizations’ stances on the environment and the usage of the state and its policies. It was fascinating that the author was able to make such connections among different groups of organizations, and condense them all down to four fairly simple categories.
In the article, “Foreign-Funded NGOs in Ecuador: Trojan Horse for Intervention?,” the author discusses NGOs in Ecuador. Although NGOs are typically viewed as being genuinely good, but there are situations where this is not the case. More recently, the Ecuadorian government had investigated Accion Ecologica in connection with deadly violence that had happened to members of an Amazonian tribe as well as police officers that were sent to the area to protect one of the mining projects. Under the administration of President Correa, the government had worked to guard themselves against new kinds of public diplomacy that would come from foreign entities and rather focus on gaining the favor of civil society in order to indirectly execute their political objectives.
Some of the citizens of Ecuador had issues with President Correa as time progressed. In the article, “Ecuador's Choice,” which was written in 2017, it describes the election between President Correa’s Vice President, Lenin Moreno, and a total of seven other candidates. With this, the article also discusses the current ruling president. Under Correa, there were legislative actions made in order to grant the government more power. The government had used the new legislature in order to control the environmentalist movement. Even though the state had this amount of power over the citizens, the environmentalists groups were still able to have those political debates that the governments were trying to abolish. While in office, President Correa had passed a piece of legislature that would allow an individual to run for reelection as many times as they wanted. One of the main reasons that Correa was not one of the candidates in the election in 2017 was that he was barred by term limits that were put in place to protect a country from autocrats coming into power.
Figure 1: An image of a protest that was performed by a group of indigenous citizens of ecuador.
Resources
Balloffet, N.M. and Martin, A.S. 2007. “Parks in Peril Site Consolidation: A Framework
for Strengthening Protected Areas”. Series: Innovations for Conservation. Parks in Peril Program. Arlington, VA, USA: The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/pa/tools/Parks%20in%20peril%20site%20consolidation.pdf
Cohen, N. (2017, February 18). Foreign-Funded NGOs in Ecuador: Trojan Horse for
Intervention? Retrieved from https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Foreign-Funded-NGOs-in-Ecuador-Trojan-Horse-for-Intervention-20170217-0013.html
Ecuador's Choice. (2017, February 15). Retrieved from
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/15/ecuadors-choice
for Strengthening Protected Areas”. Series: Innovations for Conservation. Parks in Peril Program. Arlington, VA, USA: The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/pa/tools/Parks%20in%20peril%20site%20consolidation.pdf
Cohen, N. (2017, February 18). Foreign-Funded NGOs in Ecuador: Trojan Horse for
Intervention? Retrieved from https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Foreign-Funded-NGOs-in-Ecuador-Trojan-Horse-for-Intervention-20170217-0013.html
Ecuador's Choice. (2017, February 15). Retrieved from
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/15/ecuadors-choice
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