Saving nature or performing sovereignty? Ecuador's initiative to ‘keep oil in the ground’ (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate) |
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| Authors: | Veronica Davidov |
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| Institution: | 1. Assistant professor of anthropology at Leiden University College in the the Hague. Her current research focuses on how natural resources are constructed and contested in global and local arenas, with a particular focus on oil extraction and mining. Her previous research focused on indigenous ecotourism in Ecuador;2. now she studies both extraction and conservation industries as sites of nature valuation. Her email is v.m.davidov@luc.leidenuniv.nl. |
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| Abstract: | The Yasuní‐ITT proposal by the government of Ecuador to “keep the oil in the ground” in the untouched, highly biodiverse Ishpingo‐Tambococha‐Tiputini sector of Yasuni National Park in exchange for compensatory 3.6 billion dollars from the international community, has been interpreted and analyzed by academics and the media alike as a radical environmental intervention. In this article I argue that the ITT initiative it less of a radical environmental plan, and more of a performative articulation of post‐IMF nationalism. I problematize the notion that the ITT initiative heralds a shift to a radical new environmental paradigm, and argue that it should be understood primarily as a critique of Ecuador's experience with foreign debt and neoliberal restructuring. |
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