Ecuador’s Green Backslide: How Noboa’s Policies Threaten Environmental and Indigenous Protections

When Ecuadorians triumphantly voted two years ago to block oil drilling in Yasuni National Park, the decision symbolized a staunch defense of one of Earth's richest ecological treasures. It reinforced Ecuador’s historic leadership in environmental rights — a nation brave enough to enshrine the "rights of nature" in its constitution and protect vast areas of Amazon rainforest and the iconic Galápagos Islands. Yet today, under President Daniel Noboa’s administration, that green legacy is unraveling at an alarming pace. Instead of safeguarding these irreplaceable resources, Noboa is moving swiftly to dismantle key environmental institutions and open the door wider to mining...