Indigenous Ecuadorians say axing ministries hurts Amazon forest

• Ecuador puts Environment Ministry under Energy and Mines
• Ecuador ramps up oil drilling and mining in Amazon
• Indigenous groups say moves hurt them and the rainforest 

LIMA - Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa's decision to axe the Environment Ministry and bring it under the Energy and Mines Ministry could prove disastrous for biodiversity, Amazon forest protection and Indigenous rights, activists warned.

Noboa announced in July that more than a dozen ministries would be merged, cutting the number from 20 to 14, in an attempt to rein in public spending.

The Ministry for Women and Human Rights was also folded into the Ministry Of Government. Around 5,000 workers were laid off.

The objective was efficiency, said government spokesperson Carolina Jaramillo.

"The national government has set itself the goal of having an efficient state that truly provides quality public services to citizens," she said.

But environmentalists and Indigenous people say Ecuador needs independent ministries to defend human rights and to protect fragile Amazon and Andean ecosystems from both formal and illegal mining, oil drilling and other forms of damaging development that drive deforestation.

Nemonte Nenquimo, an activist and leader of the indigenous Waorani people, expressed her alarm. "How is it possible that, overnight, the Ministry of Environment disappears and suddenly, oil and mining interests are in charge?" she asked.

The Waorani people have previously won important court victories to protect their ancestral land from oil companies in parts of the Amazon rainforest.

"That is extremely dangerous. It strips away the rights of Indigenous peoples and the rights of nature," Nenquimo told Context.

"It's a strategic move to enable future exploitation in the name of national development or for global markets. They speak of protecting the rainforest, but in practice, they authorise oil drilling and mining," she said.

The government did not respond to requests for comment.

Oil economy

The ministerial changes come as Ecuador aims to ramp up oil drilling in the Amazon despite court rulings and an August 2023 referendum limiting drilling in the megabiodiverse Yasuni National Park.

The nature reserve is home to the Waorani and the Tagaeri and Taromenane people, two of the world's last "uncontacted" Indigenous communities living in voluntary isolation.

In the 2023 vote, more than 10 million people - almost 60% - voted to keep crude in the ground in the Yasuni '43-ITT' oil block.

Business heir Noboa, then a presidential candidate, supported the proposal not to drill in the area.

However, now president after winning a full term in May, Noboa appears to have made a U-turn, insisting Ecuador cannot afford not to exploit its natural resources. The country relies heavily on oil exports to underpin its economy.

Noboa aims to boost oil production and Ecuador expects foreign oil companies to invest around $42 billion in the sector over the next five years.

"How can the body responsible for curbing extractivism be subordinate to those who promote it? Who will safeguard the rights of nature when they get in the way of mining or oil interests?" asked YASunidos, a local civil society group that promoted the Yasuni vote, in a statement.

Mine expansion

Ecuador is also pushing to increase mining due to rising mineral prices, particularly for gold, which has hit record highs.

Analysts predict mining in Ecuador could be worth $4 billion in annual export revenues in 2025 and displace bananas as the country's third biggest export.

Ecuador experienced an economic slump last year caused by drought-driven electricity shortages and budget constraints that stymied investment and normal business operations.

An International Monetary Fund report last month suggested Ecuador make structural reforms to attract private investment in what it called high potential sectors such as mining, hydrocarbons and energy.

Together with the Waorani, another Indigenous people, the A'i Cofan won an important court victory to prevent gold mining in their territory.

Alex Lucitante, an A'i Cofan leader and a Goldman Environmental Prize winner, called the latest government move a "direct attack on Indigenous peoples and every struggle we've led to defend our territories."

"This isn't an isolated decision, it's part of a broader strategy," he said.

He cited a recently approved Protected Areas And Local Development Law, which he called an attempt to exclude Indigenous peoples from the consultation process involving new development projects.

"These actions represent a devastating step backward. They threaten to undermine everything we've achieved and violate our right to self-determination," Lucitante said.

"It's as if the government wants to wipe out both our lands and the lives of Indigenous peoples entirely," he said.

(Reporting by Dan Collyns; Editing by Anastasia Moloney and Jon Hemming.)