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Peasant movements in Ecuador: Do they have environmental rationality?

Abstract:

Peasant protests against mega-mining projects have deployed a variety of strategies, including environmental discourses to protect their spaces and ways of life. The objective of this paper is to determine if the peasants who use this type of discourse have environmental rationality. For that purpose, a field research was carried out where, from semi-structured interviews, the discourses of the actors mobilized against the Loma Larga large-scale project, located in the province of Azuay, were analyzed. The results suggest that the environmental discourses used, contrary to their purposes of protecting the environment, have been strategies to prevent the interposition of other economic activities in their territory. It is concluded that anti-mining peasants do not have environmental rationality. Therefore, the local authorities and the inhabitants of this parish should think about the planning and execution of a sustainable territorial development project.