Traduction by: Michael Blosser and Liz López

Plan C: Redistribution of wealth in order to not exploit the Yasuni and to save the indigenous peoples of voluntary isolation.

For the Center of Economic and Social Rights – CDES

Challenging poverty in our country does not depend on the exploitation of the Yasuni-ITT since it is the result of an unjust structure of income distribution. This economic structure produces a highly concentrated economy where most of the produced resources will end up enriching a small and elite percentage of the population, while the majority of the population will improve their living conditions in a slow and limited way. It is not possible to overcome underdevelopment without affecting the excessive concentration of wealth. It is possible to generate greater economic resources but if significant changes are not made in the income distribution structures, the benefits of economic growth will always be significantly less for the poor. Although economic stability can improve the living conditions of the population, this contribution is only moderate compared to what can be achieved by more decisive policies of social equity.

For these reasons, the president Rafael Correa has claimed that the problem lies in poor income distribution:“Poverty (in Ecuador) is not the consequence of lack of resources, but rather it is basically the result of inadequate systems, perverse systems (…) we are in one of the countries that are world champions of inequality” In spite of this, the national government is currently promoting a new discourse about «the fight against poverty», which omits the need to inquire into other mechanisms for achieving a better distribution of wealth. Instead, Correa´s government argues that it is necessary to obtain new oil resources in order to counteract the economic crisis.

This new discourse involves a situation in which we have to choose the lesser of two evils. It creates a false dichotomy that says: we can have oil extraction or greater poverty for the country. This argument seeks to justify the extractive operations in Yasuní, which (according to official information) 2 is considered to be one of the most bio-diverse areas in the world and is a home for indigenous people of voluntary isolation. The oil activity in this territory involves threats to the environment, and even more disturbing, this activity threats the lives and inalienable rights of the indigenous peoples in isolation, who depend on this region for their survival.

Read complete document: PLAN-C-YASUNI_english-translation