Link to article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/16/ecuador-cuenca-votes-to-ban-future-mining-projects
Analysis: Residents of the city of Cuenca and the country’s rural outskirts voted on February 7th to prohibit future large-scale mining activities in five nearby watershed zones. These zones stretch over 3,100 square kilometers, 1,197 square miles, and are home to more than 580,000 people who depend on its water.
Each of the five questions on the ballot received nearly 80 percent support in favor of the ban on mining for any metals, provincial authorities said on February 11, when the final count was released.
The prohibition will also apply to any future large-scale mining activities in Cuenca and surrounding areas. The necessity of the vote came into view, when environmentalists in Cuenca raised concerns over the impact mining projects had on local water sources. Furthermore, these concerns extend down the river, as these river systems provide clean water for communities downstream from unique high-altitude ecosystems called moorlands.
Around 30km west of Cuenca lies the El Cajas National Reserve paramos (paramos means moorland in Spanish). This reserve is the source of most of the city’s water, and currently two mining projects near the reserve are in the exploration phase. Though neither is extracting yet, environmentalists have raised concerns about the mines close proximity to El Cajas, and its effect on local water sources.
Although this vote seems to be a win for the people of Cuenca, it’s actually a double edged sword. On one hand, the results of the vote show that the people of Cuenca clearly do not want mining near their water, and for good reason. Cuenca’s waters will be cleaner, according to the Ministry of Energy and Nonrenewable Natural Resources. But, there are almost 10,000 mining jobs in Azuay province, where Cuenca is located and the ministry stated last month that Ecuador exported 810m dollars in mining products from January to November 2020. That’s a 206 percent increase compared to the same period a year earlier. A ban on future projects will squander any future economic opportunities in the mining industry. This is especially discouraging in light of Ecuador’s current national economic slump.
When examining Geopolitics and Foreign Policy, American Cold War policy has affected the structuring of South America. The US’s use of containment policies and belief in domino theory has shaped the Latin America that we know today. Because of this need to keep any Communist influence out of the Western hemisphere, the US has extended its sphere of influence and permanently affected Latin American states, such as Ecuador. Because Ecuador’s military was perceived as extremely weak, the US used Ecuador as a base for hemisphere security, and as a way to furnish modest amounts of strategic materials and minerals. In terms of hemisphere security, Ecuador provided the US with military bases that could be used in defense of the hemisphere in the event of an emergency. The use of Ecuador for its already limited materials and minerals prompted Ecuador to look to the US for guidance, and the development of current mining projects in the state.