Organizational Bust, 2000 to 2006: Opportunities for Ecoresisters and Ecoalternatives
From 2000 to 2001 funding for Ecuador's projects plummeted way down. This caused the ecodependents and ecoimperialists funding to drop way down which then allowed for the ecoresisters and ecoalternitives to come into play.
There were a few causes that led to this great drop in funding for these organizations. The first cause of this drop in funding was because of the financial crisis, everything was more expensive and the organizations that funded these projects did not want to give as much more or dropped out all together. The second factor that led to the loss of funding was the terrorist attack in the US in 2001. Funding from the US dropped greatly because the funding from the US was then given to fund the Middle East. There were also two large projects that had been funded that were coming to and end around this time. Once these projects were over the work was gone.
Due to the lack of funding ecodependents had four options to deal with the lack if funds. The first option was to shutdown completely, which obviously seems like one of the easiest options. The second option was to shift their agenda. This meant that the ecodependents would simply just shift their focus towards what funders are looking for so that they could get funding. It was said that over half of the environmental organizations had shifted their agenda so that they could get funding. The third option was called proyectismo which was basically the organization puts in a request for proposals to funders. The problem was they were changing their goals so they could get funding as well as they were going from project to project with a set timeline. The last option was to find a regular income but providing services for money such as tourism.
During all that was happening it was wondered as to whether this was an environmental movement. I believe that this would and should be considered an environmental movement. Allthough not every single group had the same agenda, they were all working towards making/bettering the environment of Ecuador.
Because the ecodependents and ecoimperialists were struggling to find funding, the ecoresiters started to step up. A group that formed was called DECOIN. They emerged to stop mining that was happening by finding alternative jobs. I feel like this is a very strong strategy to fighting against mining. Because mining demands lots of workers and many people need jobs, if you are able to find alternative jobs for the people they may change. Ecoentrepreneurs also started to step up. Ecoentrepreneurs wanted to find ways to deal with local problems and to improve their quality of life. FONAG was found in 2000 by Quito to protect the sources of water in the city.
This period ended with the election of president Rafael Correa. He integrated the ideas of different organizations into his initiatives. He was said to had lead the "citizens' revolution."