Cycles of Extraction
Breaking down Ecuador's ecological politics and the injustices baked into global economic institutions, from the IMF to ISDS.
In a 2023 referendum, the people of Ecuador voted 59 per cent to 41 per cent to stop exploiting oil in the Yasuní region — one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, with more tree species in a single hectare than in all of the landmass of Canada and the US combined. It was a massive break with the global status quo, in a year when fossil fuel use around the world reached record highs and the top five oil and gas companies paid out over $100 billion to shareholders.
The referendum was not an overnight success. It built on years of struggle, including the failed Yasuní-ITT initiative undertaken by then-president Rafael Correa in 2007, which asked foreign governments to pay Ecuador not to exploit the oil in this region.