Oil extraction plays a central role in Ecuador’s development policy and economy. At the same time, it has caused irreversible environmental, economic and social damage to local communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Why are these communities still asking for more oil activities in their community when they suffer its consequences so acutely? This one-pager provides the answer.
One-pager: Maria’s Paradox: Oil Extraction and Missing Development Alternatives in the Ecuadorian Amazon
The one-pager can be viewed here. It is available for downloading at the bottom of this page.
About the research
The findings in this case study show that oil extraction does not lend itself as a viable and sustainable development policy, and that communities can exhibit paradoxical relations to the oil industry.
The research was conducted by Professor Murat Arsel and Dr Lorenzo Pellegrini from the International Institute of Social Studies together with Carlos F. Mena from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. It was published in the book Immiserizing Growth: When Growth Fails the Poor, written by Paul Shaffer, Ravi Kanbur, and Richard Sandbrook.
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We’ve developed this infographic for fellow academics, policy-makers, international organizations, think tanks and practitioners interested in extractive-led development and effects on environment, economy and welfare.
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- Full article – This one-pager is based on the article Arsel, M, Pellegrini, L, & Mena, C.F. (2019). Maria's paradox: oil extraction and the misery of missing development alternatives in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In R. Kanbur, R. Sandbrook, and P. Shaffer, (Eds), Immiserizing Growth: When Growth Fails the Poor (pp. 203–225). Oxford: Oxford University Press. (pp. 203–255).
- Research on the Amazon – Prof. Murat Arsel and Dr. Lorenzo Pellegrini continue to do research in the Amazon as part of the All Eyes on the Amazon Project.
