sustainability irvine fv

7/31/2019 Sustainability IRVINE Fv

1/8

1

Greetings, Thank you

The world and sustainability

Intags attempt at sustainability and challenges Reasons why intag is set on sustainability ((THREAT OF MINING, organizing mobilizing- questioning

models,,

Challenges- confronting large-scale mines,, violation of human rights, etc.

Out of this confrontation, questioning and introspection, - MODEL OF RESISTANCE

Challenges

Status quo view of development ,,, Mining, IFIs, etc. (see slide)

Responses:

Ordinance, Organizational excellence; awareness building, alternative, community strengthening productive initiatives (tourism, coffee, womens coop, PROPOSED HYDROELECTRIC) National and international alliances Use of legal system overseas and nationally

UPDATE


2/8

2

INTEREST OF THE STATE, STRUGGLE TO GO BEYOND EXTRACTIVISM,

CRIMINALIZATION OF PROTESTS, ROLE OF INDIGENOUS,

Overview of Ecuador

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[OPENING PHOTO// SLOW FADING 10-20 MORE, communities, wildlife, protests, rivers and streams, last

shot paramilitaries) total 315 seconds

Good morning everyone. It is a real pleasure being here- not too far away, in fact, from where I spent a few

years of my lifethough It seems a lifetime ago. Before continuing, I would like to sincerely thank the

organizers of this event and the University of Irvine for having the vision to bring to the publics attention the

critical issue of sustainability.

In fact, it seems everyone is talking about sustainability these days: books are being published weekly on it,

governments are writing into their laws, and the more recent Constitutions are incorporating sustainability

as national priority. The World Bank, long a promoter of unsustainability and neoliberalist economic

policies, is now sustainable development wholeheartedly. In fact, as oxymoronic as it sounds, industries-

especially extractive industries- are making sustainability their number one priority. And, even though many

of these sustainable policies amount to little more than corporate green-washing created by public relations

firms, yet these steps are necessary towards constructing the sustainable world we urgently need. However

important these steps are, the world is also in need of positive examples of development.

One of those examples lies in the Intag area of Ecuador, where, during the past SIXTEEN years, communities,

local governments, organizations and individuals have been working hard during trying to make

sustainability more than just a catch phrase. Though the idea itself may not yet be fully grasped by many of


3/8

3

Intags residents, I sincerely feel that the desire to attain it is definitely there; and I would venture to say,

perhaps more so than in many other parts of the world.

This has to do with several factors- not least of which is having to confront a large-scale mining project that

threatened our communities, our rivers, our forests and livelihoods. This threat forced Intag's communities

to organize and mobilize. But more importantly, it forced us to examine closely and deeply what well-being

and happiness meant to us, and how to best attain them. It also made us question the dominant model of

development .

Out of this confrontation, questioning and introspection emerged answers to the extractive model of

development and unsustainability that has made Intag a model of resistance)) . This is the silver lining to this

very dark cloud- a cloud that is still very much hanging over us

(I believe that sustainability will never be achieved unless there is a universal revising of what it means to be

happy)

Working towards sustainability has been anything but easy in Intag, especially with transnational mining

companies, aided and abetted by government officials, violating our human rights, criminalizing our leaders,

and creating social chaos in our communities.

For protecting our livelihood, our communities and our environment from the devastation that is large-scale

mining, we have been labeled ecoterrorists, and some of our colleagues, including Polivio Prez who is here

today, are facing terrorism charges for taking part in peaceful protests against illegal mining or petroleum

activities, many activists are in hiding as a consequence of such perversity of the law. And, unfortunately,

more and more governments around the world are criminalizing activists who oppose the large-scale

destruction that extractive industries wreak on the people and the land.

In carrying out our protests we have been fortunate not to lose any of our activists; in other parts of the

world many have been killed.


4/8

4

To give you a glimpse of how transnational extractive companies are able to perverse the judicial system of a

country, in the dawn hours of October 17, 2006, 19 heavily armed police, some wearing ski-masks and

carrying machine guns, violently broke into my home, and ransacked my room. Besides the machine guns,

the police were carrying a search and arrest warrant for my arrest, all of it based on trumped up charges

made against me by someone hired by the mining company that we were fighting against. HAD IT NOT BEEN

for the fortuitous call of a neighbor that alerted me to the police raid minutes before they arrived, rest

assured that I would not be here today.

But before I go too deeply into these issues , I would ask that you bear with me for a few moments as I take

you on a brief trip to Ecuador and our spectacular corner of the world.

*

SHOT OF GALAPAGOS ISLAND

[Google Earth movie]

SHOT OF ECUADOR WITH GALAPAGOS

Most travel guides divide Ecuador into four distinct regions; The Galapagos Islands, the coast, the sierra- or

highlands-, and the Amazon region.

SHOT OF GALAPAGOS, AND WILDLIFE ((six seconds in between))

The Galapagos is the most famous of the four regions, made famous not only for its spectacular wildlife, but

also because the Islands helped Darwin become aware of evolution and the mechanisms that make it

happen. Galapagos continues to be a hotbed of investigation into evolutions mechanisms, and is no less

spectacular than when Darwin visited it 170 years ago.

Continental Ecuador is no less spectacular, however. Ecuador is one of the worlds 17 megadiverse

countries, yet is only the size of the state of Colorado, or 3% the area of the U.S., and yet harbors many more

species.

SHOT OF BIOLOGICAL HOTSPOTS

Two of the worlds 34 biological Hotspots are within Ecuador. These are areas characterized by having

exceptional biodiversity, high rates of endemic species and have lost at least 70% of their natural habitat.


5/8

5

The Intag region is within the most diverse of these 34 regions- the Tropical Andes Biological Hotspot SHOT

OF TROPICAL ANDES BIOLOGICAL HOTSPOT

. This is far and away the most biologically diverse area in the world.

SLIDES OF INTAG// CLOUD FORESTS *5,

Intag, as these images attempt to show, is an area rich in native cloud forests, clear rivers and healthy

communities. Composing less than 2.5% of the world's tropical forests, cloud forests are one of the least

known of the world's tropical ecosystems, and one of the most threatened. Because they are found in

mountains, mostly between 1500 and 3500 meters above sea level, cloud forests in particular play a

oversized role in protecting watersheds and regulating stream flows, thereby preventing silting of rivers and

streams. In addition, water emanating in these forests provide clean drinking water to millions of people

around the world.

WILDLIFE SHOTS, WATER, COMMUNITIES

The Intag region is approximately 1500 square kilometers and is populated by only 17,000 people of mix

races and backgrounds. The difference in elevation of roughly three thousand meters, makes it a especially

biologically diverse, and its fertile soils produce a mind-boggling diversity of products. The economic base is

small-scale agriculture and ranching, with ecological tourism gaining ground the past decade or so.

Intags forests and communities are threatened by similar forces threatening many other tropical regions

around the world: expansion of agriculture and ranching, and illegal logging. Or better put, by unsustainable

land use. What lies behind the unsustainable land use is material for in-depth debates which I am very glad

to see the University of Irvine is delving into.

As is the case of many other tropical countries around the world, Intag is facing the threat of large-scale

metallic mining. The threat is a direct result of external factors, such as increased in the price of mineral

commodities like gold and copper. In our case, it happens to be copper. Players like the World Bank and

foreign governments are also involved, but well get to these external forces later

Mining threatens much more than our clean rivers, primary cloud forests, endangered species and

communities; it threatens a positive example of community-led sustainable development that we have

evolved as a response to the mining threat. You will hear about some of the examples from Marcia and

Polivio.

What all these initiatives have in common are:

They strengthen local communities and community well-being


6/8

6

Contribute to the conservation of the areas water resources, soil, forests and biodiversity Distribute income more fairly Promote economic activities that use natural resources more sustainably

SHJOTS OF MINING

Mining, and especially large scale mining, creates the complete opposite effect.

(((PHOTO OF OPEN PIT MINE, SOCIAL UNREST, DEFORESTATION;; WATER CONTAMINATION) PROTESTS

Mining highly concentrating economically (the enclave effect); it tears apart communities; it destroys soils,

forests, biodiversity and contaminates water resources: sometimes for thousands of years. And, it is based

on finite, non-renewable resources, making it completely unsustainable.

Economically, it is a well-known fact that mining impoverishes people and lands in developing countries.

Some of the poorest countries in the world, in fact, are developing countries with mining economies. The

Resource Curse is the term that economist invented to describe the effect it produces.

I dont have time to go into the many other negative economic, environmental, and social impacts of mining,

but if you are interested, theres ample information out there about it; just look up the term the natural

resource curse, or the Dutch Disease to start with. And if you are really interested, read the book Natural

Resources and Violent Conflict.

Just so you have an idea of the impacts that a large-scale openpit copper mining project can have in an

area like Intags, let me give you a run down on the main impacts identified by a team of Japanese scientist

involved in making an Environmental Impact Study in the 1990s for a small copper mine in this region. And

when I mean small, I mean less than 500,000 tons of pure copper. If that seems like a large amount, keep in

mind that the world consumed 17 million tons of copper in 2010, and that a half a million ton copper mine

can take 10 or more years to exploit.

The impacts include (all taken from the environmental impact study)

Massive deforestation, which would lead to Drying up of the local climate

Impact to 12 endangered species of mammals and birds; including jaguars, spectacled bears and acritically endangered species of monkeys.

Impacts to the Cotacachi-Cayapas Wilderness Area


7/8


8/8

8

So, for us in Intag and I believe, in most of the world, sustainability starts with peace; peace within families,

communities. Anything that threatens that peace, threatens sustainability.

sustainability irvine fv

Documents