RE: News article26 Jul 2025 10:33
Indeed IP this is massive
“The Ecuadorian president eliminated six ministries, including the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition (MAATE), as part of his Administrative Efficiency Plan.
Through Executive Decree No. 60, signed on July 24, 2025, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa ordered the abolition of the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition (MAATE) and the merger with the Ministry of Energy and Mines. This means that, from now on, environmental protection will be the responsibility of the same entity that promotes extractive activities, particularly the mining and oil sectors.
The decision was announced by Carolina Jaramillo, spokesperson for the Ecuadorian government, who stated that the merger is part of the Administrative Efficiency Plan, which seeks to reduce bureaucracy and improve efficient decision-making.
However, this was not the only ministry affected by this decree. The government eliminated a total of six portfolios, including Culture, Women's Affairs, Sports, and Housing. In addition, approximately 5,000 public officials were dismissed.
These measures are aligned with the commitments made in the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), through which the Ecuadorian government pledged to reduce public sector payroll spending by 1.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2028.
Various collectives, Indigenous and environmental organizations, as well as academic and political sectors, warn that this provision weakens environmental institutions, threatens the most fragile ecosystems and Indigenous territories, increases the risk of socio-environmental conflicts, and reduces the oversight and control of extractive activities.
“This is not an administrative decision: it is a political act that deepens the extractivist model, further endangers the conditions for reproducing a dignified life, and blocks the possibility of imagining a future where life, not capital, is at the center,” the environmental group YASunidos states in its statement.