Sumak Kawsay

Hello again from Becca in Quito, Ecuador! This week has bee quite a whilrwind of activity including getting acquainted with the office, and attending the Quito Climate Change Summit.

Towards the end of this week my project began to take shape. First I will be reviewing their strategic plan for environmental education and second I will be helping them develop one of the other strategic plans that are still in the works (Biodiversity, Pollution Control, Climate Change Adaptation, etc) or delving more deeply into the development of the Educacion Plan.

I have continued to be impressed by the progressive nature of Ecuadorean Policies. This week I read their National Development Plan because it is the nationwide document which proceeds the National Environmental Plan with which I will be working closely. The plan is actually called the National Plan of "Sumak Kawsay" with is a quichua saying that means "good living" or "well being". Basically, they are making a statement that the formal definition of development doesn't always benefit the well being of all citizens. The document takes the time to describe the many failings of neoliberalism "development" activities of the last 40 years which have often not benefited the general population of underdeveloped, "resource-cursed" nations like Ecuador. It then goes on to describe the need for sustainable social, economic and environmental practices that will overall contribute to the Sumak Kawsay of the people. But do not be misled! This isn't some hippie mumbo-jumbo document. For example, the plan embraces one neoliberal philosophy. It pledges to use market mechanisms, when it is possible, sustainable and socially just, to incentivize desired behaviors (like polluting less) in the most economically efficient manner.

Of course all of this is still quite new and still needs much work in order to be implemented. When I express my admiration for these documents to the Ecuadoreans I meet, many express at least some skepticism that these ideas will come to fruition. "Solo palabras", "only words" the most skeptic Ecuadorean I met told me. Nonetheless the groundwork they have laid is astonishing.