Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Gonzalo Ortiz QUITO, Aug 4, 2010 (IPS) – "The trust fund that we have just established is historic, not only for Ecuador but for the entire world," said Rebeca Grynspan, associate administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), after signing an agreement with the government of [...]
ECUADOR: New Deadline for Renegotiating Oil Contracts
May 11, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS Gonzalo Ortiz QUITO, May 11 (IPS) – The government of Ecuador hopes to sign new services contracts with foreign oil firms operating in the country, to replace the 34 contracts currently in effect, by the end of the year. Wilson Pástor, who was named minister of non-renewable resources [...]
ECUADOR: Saving the Condor – A Mission Possible
May 8, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Gonzalo Ortiz* – Tierramérica QUITO, May 8 (IPS) – Indiscriminate hunting and ecological changes in the Andean highlands have dramatically reduced the condor population in Ecuador. Experts say there are likely no more than 50 of these large birds of prey in this country. A century ago their numbers [...]
ECUADOR: Native Groups Poised for Nationwide Protests Over Water Bill
May 6, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Gonzalo Ortíz QUITO, May 6 (IPS) – Indigenous organisations in Ecuador opposed to a water reform bill that they say would give mining companies and agribusiness privileged access to water have threatened to extend their protests around the country in order to keep the legislature from passing the bill [...]
ECUADOR: Native Groups in Showdown Over Water Bill
April 30, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Gonzalo Ortiz QUITO, Apr 29 (IPS) – The second and final parliamentary debate of a new water bill to regulate water resource management in Ecuador is due to begin May 4, amid stark divisions among indigenous movements and between them and the government of left-leaning President Rafael Correa. IPS [...]
ECUADOR: Co-op Proves that the Poor Can Eat Organic, Too
April 26, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Gonzalo Ortiz CUENCA, Ecuador, Apr 25 (IPS) – ”There is no reason why we poor people have to eat badly,” says Ecuadorian farmer Juan Anguisaca. ”It’s not true that organic products have to be expensive. They can be profitable and within the reach of the poor,” Rodrigo Aucay adds. [...]
Crunch Time for Ecuador’s Biological Treasure Trove
April 21, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Gonzalo Ortiz QUITO, Apr 21 (IPS) – These are decisive days for the Yasuní National Park, one of the world’s most biodiverse areas, because of the danger that its wealth of underground oil poses to this unique and fragile ecosystem in Ecuador’s Amazon jungle region. Final efforts are under [...]
ECUADOR: Environmental Inspection in Yasuni Park
April 9, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Gonzalo Ortiz QUITO, Apr 10 (IPS) – Representatives of Ecuador’s ombudsman’s office and environmental groups are visiting the Yasuni National Park on Saturday, home to some of the world’s last indigenous people still living in voluntary isolation, in order to verify reports of illegal activity by oil companies. Ecuador’s [...]
ECUADOR: Native Leaders Call for Anti-Government Protests
March 11, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Gonzalo Ortiz QUITO, Mar 11 (IPS) – ”This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” The words of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill after the 1942 defeat of Germany’s forces in Africa are an [...]
ECUADOR: Oil Giant Is Gone, Legal and Environmental Mess Remains
October 28, 2009 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Matthew Berger WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (IPS) – The story began almost 40 years ago, but when filmmaker Joe Berlinger ”saw villagers eating canned tuna fish because the fish in their rivers were too contaminated to eat, [he] knew [he] had to do something”. The product of that realisation is [...]
