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Masooma Ranalvi is the founder of WeSpeakOut and has campaigned to end FGM/C.

By Mariya Salim
NEW DELHI, India, Feb 6 2021 (IPS)

Survivors of female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C), are determined to share their stories to end this practice – even though they face ostracisation by their communities.

Masooma Ranalvi, an FGM/C survivor and founder of ‘WeSpeakOut’, an organisation committed to eliminating FGM/C or khafd/khafz/khatna explains that FGM/C is practised by various communities in India but is prominently practised among the Dawoodi Bohras.

However, speaking out against the harmful practice has not been easy for Ranalvi and the many others who have dared to relive their childhood memory of being ‘cut’ and share it with the world to end it some-day.

“There is a culture of fear around this issue, a culture of silence. Many do not speak out as there are social boycotts against who do – unofficially declared but carried out by the community,” says Ranalvi in an exclusive interview with IPS.

“Twenty years ago, even burial rights after death would be denied to those who dared to differ and economic sanctions against families who did not comply and spoke out,” says Ranalvi, who has been a leading voice in pushing for a legal and social end to FGM/C in India and across the globe.

According to a study conducted by ‘WeSpeakOut’, of the two million people who belong to India’s Bohra community and its diaspora, nearly 75%-80% of Bohra women are subject to FGM/C.

Ranalvi is also a petitioner in the legal action initiated in 2017 by lawyer Sunita Tiwari.

Tiwari filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court of India seeking a ban on FGM/C among the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Community. This practice, which has been the community’s best-kept secret and practised by many others worldwide, is increasingly being spoken about, especially by the survivors.

Mariya Taher is the co-founder of Sahiyo an organisation aimed at ending FGM/C across the globe.

FGM/C involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Religion, culture, and tradition are often cited as motives for those practising it. There are about 92 countries where FGM/C is practised out of which 51 countries have expressly prohibited it under their national laws in some form or another.

In Asia, however, there is not a single country which has a law enacted to prohibit the harmful practice.

Based in the United States, Mariya Taher has co-founded Sahiyo, a non-profit working to end the practice globally and among the Bohra Community. She is a survivor and has been active passing state-level legislation in Massachusetts against it.

“It took five years to do so, but this past August 2020, we were able to pass a law. I am currently working with a group in Connecticut to pass a state law there. In the U.S., while we have a federal law, we also need state legislation, only 39 states have laws against FGM/C at this point,” Taher told IPS.

Aarefa Johari, journalist and co-founder of Sahiyo, adds that “enacting legislation against FGM/C has to be preceded by, accompanied and after that followed by intense and robust community activism at the grassroots level. It needs education, awareness and dialogue.”

Aarefa Johari is a journalist and co-founder of Sahiyo

A survivor, she believes that though “a law against FGM/C is vital as a deterrent and as a means of making the State’s stance on the practice clear, laws alone cannot bring an end to deep-rooted social norms.” This would require a long-term commitment and legal intervention to change the community’s mindset, Johari says.

Since many within the various communities use religion to justify the practice, it is important to note that there has been extensive research and writing around the issue by Islamic scholars and others, based on Quranic texts and Hadith (a collection of traditions containing sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad) which discredit the practice as Un-Islamic.

Karamah, Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, in a study published on FGM/C, concludes that FGM/C is a harmful practice that lacks religious mandate.

“The Qur’an does not provide a single verse or instance in which female khitan (FGM/C) is mentioned as obligatory or desirable. Furthermore, contrary to general belief, there is no single authentic hadith of the Prophet that requires female khitan.”

Ten-year-old Munira’s (name changed) aunt held her hand and took her to the basement of her empty house one Sunday evening promising to play a game with her. Little did Munira know the prize of this game, where she was asked to lie on a table with her underpants down and her lips sealed by her aunt to prevent her screams being heard, would end in her being scarred for life. She was ‘cut’ by a member of her family. This memory resonates with most survivors of the practice.

“It is never easy for anyone who has experienced some form of gender-based violence to share their story … My process took years, and it involved me first learning about it, then writing about it. The first thing I ever wrote was for the imagining equality project,” Taher says.

“It took many years after that project for me to get comfortable to share it on camera or to be interviewed by the media about my experience. But even as I grew comfortable, I experienced multiple forms of backlash.”

The impact on her immediate community meant that some of her relatives stopped speaking to her.

“Our movement (to end FGM/C) itself has faced backlash both publicly and privately from the community – we are trolled a lot online, there are attempts to constantly discredit the stories of survivors and silence those who speak up,” says Johari.

The trolling has not stopped the campaign to end FGM/C.

“It is important to emphasise that this is a sign of the importance of our work, and we get as much (or more) positive support from community members as we get negative brickbats,” Johari adds.

Many women and some community members against FGM/C sadly choose to remain silent in the interest of the ‘larger cause’, given the Islamophobic climate that exists.

Taher says that it is difficult not to see the intersection of oppressions when working on FGM/C, Islamophobia, unfortunately, being one of them.

“Particularly with the false assumption that only Muslims practice FGM/C. FGM/C is global … occurs in every continent in the world except Antarctica. And where FGM/C does occur in Islamic communities, it is a very small minority,” Taher says.

“The truth is FGM/C is a social norm justified in all sorts of ways – religion, health, social status, marriageability, tradition, culture, etc. This social norm was started before the advent of Islam and Christianity – meaning it pre-dates those religions. Yet, in doing this work today, speaking out against Islamophobia as well as xenophobia is vital when working on FGM/C.”

Ranalvi said the decision to turn to legal action only happened when all else had failed.

“We knocked at the doors of the courts when all attempts at dialogue with the clergy and leadership within the community failed. The support of enacted laws and of institutional bodies to give power to our resistance and enable us to take control over our bodies and help end this violation, is imperative,” adds Ranalvi.

As the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on February 6th nears, it can only be hoped that FGM/C, a widely prevalent but dark secret that violates women’s human rights and practised by various communities across the world, ends.

Mariya Salim is a fellow at IPS UN Bureau

 

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The post The Struggle to End Female Genital Mutilation: A Dark Secret No More appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Today, Jan. 6 marks the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. In commemoration IPS has reissued our piece on FGM/C in India. The story was originally published on Jan. 28

The post The Struggle to End Female Genital Mutilation: A Dark Secret No More appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Tanzania is promoting herbal treatments while denying that there are any coronavirus cases.

Yolanda, 17, is campaigning for better education and more resources for schools in South Africa.

The former Nigerian finance minister will be the first woman, and the first African, head of the WTO.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had been frontrunner for the role but was opposed by the Trump administration.

By External Source
Feb 5 2021 (IPS-Partners)

Education Cannot Wait’s interview with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, focused on the crucial role of education in the lives of crisis-affected children and youth, follows below.

ECW: Why is education a priority in emergencies and protracted crises?

António Guterres: The COVID-19 pandemic has upended societies and created the largest-ever disruption of education systems, affecting more than 1.5 billion students. While remote solutions were rolled out, 1 in 3 children missed out on such opportunities, exposing and exacerbating inequalities and vulnerabilities, especially for those in crisis situations. In such circumstances, education protects girls and boys from sexual violence and exploitation, trafficking, early pregnancy and child marriage, forced recruitment into armed groups and child labour. It also ensures that they continue learning, offering them hope for the future. As we enter 2021, education must be at the core of pandemic response and recovery efforts. Without resolute political commitment by global leaders, as well as additional resources for Education Cannot Wait, and its UN and civil society partners, millions of girls and boys may never return to school. Investing in the education of these vulnerable children and youth is an investment in peace, prosperity and resilience for generations to come – and a priority for the United Nations.

ECW: Why is it important to facilitate more collaboration between humanitarian and development actors in crisis contexts?

António Guterres: With the intensification of conflicts, climate change-related disasters, forced displacement reaching record levels and crises lasting longer than ever, humanitarian needs keep outpacing the response despite the generosity of aid donors. Partnerships are crucial to transform the aid system, end silos and ensure that aid is more efficient and cost-effective. Whole-of-child education programmes offer a proven pathway for stakeholders to collaborate in enabling vulnerable children and youth to access quality education in safe learning environments so they can achieve their full potential.

ECW: What message would you like to share with crisis-affected girls and boys whose right to education is not yet being realized?

António Guterres: Above all, I pay tribute to their resilience and I commit to working with governments, civil society and all partners to overcome both the pandemic and the crises that have been such profound setbacks in their lives. We must also step up our efforts to reimagine education – training teachers, bridging the digital divide and rethinking curricula to equip learners with the skills and knowledge to flourish in our rapidly changing world.

ECW: As a secondary student in Portugal, you won the ‘Prémio Nacional dos Liceus’ as the best student in the country. After completing your university studies in engineering, you started a career as a teacher. Can you tell us what education personally means to you?

António Guterres: Long before I served at the United Nations or held public office, I was a teacher. In the slums of Lisbon, I saw that education is an engine for poverty eradication and a force for peace. Today, education is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals. We need education to reduce inequalities, achieve gender equality, protect our planet, fight hate speech and nurture global citizenship. Upholding our pledge to leave no one behind starts with education.

ECW: Following the turbulence of 2020, what is your message to the world as we enter 2021?

António Guterres: 2020 brought us tragedy and peril. 2021 must be the year to change gear and put the world on track. The pandemic has brought us to a pivotal moment. We can move from an annus horribilis to make 2021 an “annus possibilitatis” – a year of possibility and hope. We must make it happen — together.

Background on UN Secretary-General António Guterres
António Guterres, the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, took office on 1st January 2017.

Having witnessed the suffering of the most vulnerable people on earth, in refugee camps and in war zones, the Secretary-General is determined to make human dignity the core of his work, and to serve as a peace broker, a bridge-builder and a promoter of reform and innovation.

Prior to his appointment as Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015, heading one of the world’s foremost humanitarian organizations during some of the most serious displacement crises in decades. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the crises in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Yemen, led to a huge rise in UNHCR’s activities as the number of people displaced by conflict and persecution rose from 38 million in 2005 to over 60 million in 2015.

Before joining UNHCR, Mr. Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, during which time he was heavily involved in the international effort to resolve the crisis in East Timor.

As president of the European Council in early 2000, he led the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda for growth and jobs, and co-chaired the first European Union-Africa summit. He was a member of the Portuguese Council of State from 1991 to 2002. Learn more about Mr. Guterres.

 

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A group of youths in Machinga, Malawi. During the COVID-19 pandemic, young people, especially young girls, are facing many challenges regarding their sexual and reproductive health. The world’s population of young people between the ages of 10 and 24 is at a historic high, with the majority — nearly 90 percent — living in the developing world. Credit: Charles Mpaka/IPS

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 5 2021 (IPS)

With the COVID-19 pandemic adding complex layers of challenges to the issue of sexual and reproductive health for the youth, governments should prioritise documenting these effects for data collection purposes, co-founder and team leader of the Youth Alliance for Reproductive Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told IPS in an interview.

“There is a need for countries to document how COVID19 is affecting adolescent and young people for the time they have been out of school, which increases their risk for pre-marital sexual activities and sexual violence as they have less protection in community than in school,” Mambo said. “With data-based evidence, countries will be able to make a right plan and respond to this risk which is irreversible if not mitigating.”

Mambo spoke with IPS following the two-day virtual forum “Not Without FP”, organised by the International Conference on Family Planning. The forum hosted a wide array of panels with sessions on family planning, Universal Health Coverage and the coronavirus pandemic.

But there are challenges beyond the data collection, Sophia Sadinsky, of the Guttmacher Institute, told IPS. Sadinsky also spoke on the same panel with Mambo.

“Even with robust data, meeting sexual and reproductive health needs has been stymied by unrealised innovations in health care technologies and service delivery methods, including telehealth; the importance of these innovations has become far more pronounced in the context of the pandemic,” she told IPS.

“While digital tools and remote service delivery can overcome some barriers to high-quality care encountered in traditional health service settings — such as a perceived or real absence of privacy or confidentiality, stigma and provider biases — there remains a significant divide in online access, especially by gender and geography,” she added.

She was echoing an insight shared by Mambo at the panel where he pointed out that when the youth don’t have access to information on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), the results can slow the path towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

For example, Mambo said that a many young girls in refugee camps have very little information about menstrual health. “We may not achieve the SDGs if we do not support the powerhouse of young people,” he said.

Excerpts of his interview with IPS follow: 

Inter Press Service (IPS): You mentioned the mental health concerns that can arise from the issue of unwanted pregnancy. Can you share how that could have been affected further by COVID-19?

Simon Binezero Mambo (SBM): During the COVID-19 pandemic, young people — especially young girls — are facing many challenges regarding their sexual and reproductive health, including risky behaviour, sexual activity, drug use and alcoholism, sexual violence and unwanted pregnancies.

On top of that, add the significant levels of stress from the pandemic that led to increased mental health concerns. During this time, teenage mothers are facing any number of challenges, like no source of revenue, not being able to get a good job, not getting respect or support from friends and family members. Teen mothers often struggle with significant emotional trauma, with higher rates of suicidal ideation. COVID-19 is adding more pressure and stress to an already stressful situation. We must put in place more support mechanisms to avoid even more deaths during this pandemic.

IPS: In your panel, unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion came up quite often. Sophia Sadinsky from the Guttmacher Institute brought up there’s 10 million unintended pregnancies each year because of the lack of use of modern contraceptives. How are unintended pregnancies an issue for youth SRHR?

SBM: For one thing, the world’s population of young people (between the ages of 10 and 24) is at a historic high, with the majority — nearly 90 percent — living in the developing world. We know that approximately 16 million adolescent girls (15-19 years old), mostly in low and middle income countries, give birth each year. Complications during pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death for girls in this age range and all are unwanted pregnancies due to lack of contraceptives information and services. It is an issue because when adolescent girls become pregnant, they often drop out of school and lose the chance to develop marketable skills and obtain good employment. This impacts the economic growth of girls and their families, their communities and their countries.

IPS: Can you share how family planning in your current city has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic?

SBM: Family planning services have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Goma in Eastern DRC. This is not new; we faced similar challenges during the 10th Outbreak of Ebola, when sexual activities among young people increased due to school closures and lack of socioeconomic support. When there is no support, youth are more likely to engage in risky sexual activities and family planning is not prioritised since there is more focus on the pandemic itself. This exposes adolescents and young people to high risk of getting HIV and now we are seeing increased unplanned pregnancy among young girls who may miss the chance to go back to school after the COVID-19.

Young people need contraceptives services today more than ever but they are increasingly hard to access due to lockdowns, COVID-19 fear, distance, costs, poor service, and lack of support from governments and partners.

IPS: How can involvement of the youth be important in addressing these issues with sexual and reproductive health?

SBM: Youth participation means better decisions and increased efficiency. Evidence shows that policies and programmes designed after consultations with users are more likely to be effective. By using youth participation, you are more likely to get it right the first time and avoid wasting time and money on services young people don’t want to use.

Youth participation contributes to positive youth development and research shows that young people who are supported to participate in decision-making are more likely to have increased confidence, make positive career choices and have greater involvement and responsibility in the future.

Youth involvement not only enables individuals to thrive, it also brings economic and social benefits for countries, because a healthy population is more likely to be productive and prosperous. This cohort represents a powerhouse of human potential that could transform health and sustainable development.

 

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Forensic science laboratory expert Rawan Tomalieh conducts a microscopic examination in Ramallah, West Bank 2019. Credit: HAYA Joint Programme/Samar Hazboun

By External Source
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 5 2021 (IPS)

Violence, especially against women and girls, is a worldwide systematic human rights violation that has only increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, 243 million women and girls aged 15 to 49 have suffered sexual and/or physical violence by an intimate partner in the last year.

In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, one in three women experienced violence by their husbands, and 44 per cent of girls aged 12 to 17 years old have been subjected to physical violence, according to a study by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) through the HAYA Joint Programme is seeking to change these statistics through forensic science.

Funded by the Government of Canada and jointly implemented by UN Women, UNFPA, UN-Habitat, and UNODC, the HAYA Joint Programme seeks to eliminate violence against women and girls in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In this context, UNODC is working with justice institutions to enhance forensic capacity when investigating cases of violence and improve forensic services to its survivors.

Investigative teams in different governorates throughout the West Bank collect, classify, preserve, and then transfer evidence to the Palestinian forensic science laboratory.

Launched in 2016, the lab uses modern technology and science in criminal investigations to impartially examine evidence collected from crime scenes or bodies violence survivors.

This evidence is then presented to courts to establish the crime and help identify the perpetrator. As the only forensic science laboratory in the West Bank, its work will be crucial in criminal cases, such as sexual assaults or homicides.

All forensic lab staff are members of the Palestinian Police, which is part of the Ministry of Interior. The lab works together with the investigative departments, the Public Prosecution, and the courts in pursuit of justice.

Twenty-nine-year-old forensic science laboratory expert Rawan Tomalieh works in the laboratory which she says plays a crucial role for achieving justice for survivors of violence.

In the past year alone, the forensic science laboratory has received over 1,690 cases. “Working in the forensic laboratory has increased my confidence in the Palestinian judiciary and justice system,” states Rawan.

In the case of one woman killed in a shooting incident between her family and the Palestinian police, the forensic lab proved the bullet originated from a gun belonging to a family member, allowing the perpetrators to be caught and justice be found for the victim.

Rawan says this is just one example of many stories demonstrating how important the lab’s work is. “Without the forensic lab, all cases against perpetrators of violence would be dropped,” says Rawan. “They would escape punishment, and the rights of the survivors would be lost.”

Since 2019, the UNODC, through the HAYA Joint Programme, has supervised the establishment of a forensic biological examinations section within the forensic science lab.

Through specialized training started in July 2020, its forensic science laboratory experts are now better skilled in biological evidence examinations and formulating opinion evidence to the justice sector.

Twenty-five Palestinian police first responders and crime scene and family protection officers were also trained in forensic evidence handling and management.

“Forensic Medicine plays a significant role in documenting and reporting on cases related to violence against women, supporting victims/survivors’ access to justice.

To that end, it is essential that we build the capacities of all workers in that field,” said Maryse Guimond, UN Women Special Representative for Palestine.

The training will continue in 2021, and Rawan says it has helped her and the other four forensic science laboratory experts at the lab to utilize its equipment and properly preserve biological evidence.

This will serve to further enhance the capacity of the Palestinian police and judiciary to hold perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence crimes in the West Bank to account.

“The training has helped us be able to support survivors of violence, including women and children, and investigate cases with biological aspects to get justice for them,” says Rawan.

For Rawan, violence will end when the prevalent social norms preserve human dignity and respect human rights without discrimination. Ending violence is not merely a group effort, but also an individual one, explains Rawan and what motivates her in her work.

“Individual efforts can be used as a tool for collective change, to push for legal and constitutional amendments to ensure safety, security, and self-determination for society.” Rawan’s hope for the future is one where there are no more cases of violence in her country and around the world.

Originally published on UN Women’s regional website for Arab States and North Africa

 

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The post Helping Survivors of Violence Seek Justice through Forensic Science in the West Bank appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

A vital pillar in the justice and security system, the sole forensic science laboratory in the West Bank seeks justice for survivors of violence. UNODC through the HAYA Joint Programme, is training laboratory technicians to help increase the likelihood of identifying perpetrators of violence and holding them accountable.

The post Helping Survivors of Violence Seek Justice through Forensic Science in the West Bank appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent and beyond.

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Panorama of the port city of Manta, in Ecuador, close to where the El Aromo project is planned to be built. Photo: Diego Lizcano / Flick-CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

By Tristan Partridge
MANTA, Ecuador, Feb 4 2021 (IPS)

In December 2020, the “El Aromo” solar energy project was approved in coastal Manabí province, Ecuador. Operated by the Spanish company Solarpack, the project is expected to transform national solar output. El Aromo will occupy 2.9km2 of land that was previously cleared to build a multi-billion dollar oil refinery, plans that have since been abandoned.  While El Aromo holds symbolic significance, it remains uncertain whether the project will mark a significant step toward more environmentally sustainable energy development in Ecuador.

The recent history of energy in Ecuador is dominated by oil–its central role in the country’s export economy as well as its devastating environmental impacts in Amazon regions, suffered by Indigenous groups in particular. While the country hosts high hydropower capacity and continues to build new hydroelectric plants, only recently has the government significantly expanded support for other low-carbon energy sources.

El Aromo is set to boost Ecuador’s solar capacity almost tenfold, adding 258MW to the current output of 27MW. While this reflects a dramatic increase, it represents only a very small part of the national energy mix

The country is poised to elect a new president next month, each candidate holding different views on energy development and globalized neoliberal economics. The history and potential future of El Aromo will set an important precedent within the context of Ecuador’s apparent turn toward increased renewable generation. The lasting impacts of El Aromo will also depend on whether the development is successful enough to encourage government, industry, and society actors to support further national solar expansion.

 

Ecuador’s Energy Makeup

El Aromo is set to boost Ecuador’s solar capacity almost tenfold, adding 258MW to the current output of 27MW. While this reflects a dramatic increase, it represents only a very small part of the national energy mix. The most recent government figures from 2018 show total capacity from all energy sources in Ecuador was 8677MW, drawing primarily from hydropower (58.4 percent), fossil fuels (39.1 percent), biomass (1.7 percent), and solar, wind, and biogas, which are less than 1 percent each.

But forecasts anticipate change of a greater magnitude. Data analysis company GlobalData recently plotted an optimistic scenario for solar growth of 15 percent over the decade, taking the country’s PV generation from just 26.7MW in 2019 to 450MW by 2030, or more than 4GW if the global rate of solar growth continues to increase. These reports have fueled hope in the government and among international energy companies keen to capitalize on Ecuador’s solar potential. That would have the potential to radically alter Ecuador’s energy mix.

Ecuador’s Master Plan for Electricity (PME) 2018-2027 outlines energy initiatives led by the Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources (MERNNR). Despite some setbacks due to Covid-19, governmental support for new solar projects increased during 2020. In June, the Galapagos Conolophus project was launched, proposing 14.8MW of solar generation and 40.9MWh battery storage capacity to replace the use of diesel fuel for power generation on the Baltra and Santa Cruz islands.

By August, five interested companies had been invited to submit bids. In September, MERNNR announced a further slate of 24 renewable energy projects totaling 200MW, two of which would be solar (each 30 MW in size) to be constructed in either Santa Elena or Guayas province. A range of six small-scale hydro plans between 3.4MW and 30MW in size were also included, with final selection decisions due by August 2021.

This means that many renewable energy projects are scheduled to come online under the next administration. Both Moreno and Solarpack executives have expressed confidence in the future of El Aromo. But analysts question how foreign investors will respond to potentially a changed relationship with the IMF following February’s election and how the new president will manage Ecuador’s fraught relationship with the Fund.

A previous IMF deal in March 2019 led Moreno to introduce austerity measures in October that year, including the elimination of long-standing gasoline subsidies. Overnight, the price of diesel more than doubled and the price of petrol increased by 30 percent. This resulted in weeks of protests that were met with police violence, including evidence of excessive force, killings, and arrests.

Ahead of the August 2020 IMF deal, Moreno’s government introduced new fuel subsidy reform in May. Hailed as historic by some analysts, the measures introduced monthly caps to prevent shock increases in retail prices. Met with less resistance than previous reforms, the cuts have been praised by the IMF for improving the “reliability and efficiency“ of the energy sector. But opponents of the August 2020 IMF deal point to its similarity to past deals, requiring Ecuador to introduce austerity measures, cuts in public investment and wages, and new privatizations—all in the hope of attracting more foreign investment.

The three leading candidates have different views on the IMF. Pachakutik leader Yaku Pérez has refused to meet IMF officials, while conservative Guillermo Lasso is expected to comply with IMF loan conditions, despite his criticisms of the required tax increases. Meanwhile economist Andrés Arauz, chosen by Correa to lead the UNES political coalition and leading in some recent polls, is vocally opposed to the August 2020 IMF deal. He maintains Ecuador is not bound to the deal’s terms since it is not an international treaty, and proposes instead immediate increases in public spending, an end to privatization, and wealth tax reform.

A focus on economics in the run-up to the election has overshadowed discussion of related concerns such as candidate views on environmental policy and the protection of rights enshrined in the 2008 Constitution. On one issue, though, Arauz is alone–in his support for Correa-era plans for the fossil fuel industry, including at the El Aromo site.

 

A gathering of the Troja Manaba, a grassroots school that offers training in agricultural techniques for food sovereignty in Manabí, Ecuador (La Troja Manaba).

 

A Disputed Site, With a Future in Solar Energy?

First announced in August 2019 together with the 110MW Villonaco II/III wind projects, El Aromo attracted international attention with eight global companies submitting qualifying proposals by April 2020. Three finalists from Europe were announced in October and Solarpack’s successful bid–offering an energy price of US $69.35 / MWh on a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) contract–was confirmed in December. While some in the industry expect setbacks due to ongoing uncertainties around Covid-19, operations at El Aromo are set to begin by the end of 2022 and generate 340 GWh per year, or more than 22 percent of energy demand across the province and more than 60 percent of demand in Manta, Manabí’s largest city.

The future of solar energy in Ecuador, however, depends on more than merely increasing output and further policy changes are also required. Marcos Ponce Jara of the ULEAM University in Manta is a specialist on Ecuador’s electricity sector. He notes that Ecuador currently has only one energy policy related to photovoltaic solar energy: a net-metering policy introduced in October 2018 to promote distributed generation and to allow residential, commercial, and industrial operators to consume power generated using their own solar equipment. This policy has neither led to an increase in national solar capacity nor is it expected to significantly impact Ecuador’s energy output.

Ponce Jara says future solar growth faces obstacles including competitiveness (hampered in part by the difficulty of removing current subsidies for electricity generation from fossil fuels), financing, and the broader regulatory context. On this front, the Ecuadorian government is taking steps to incentivize investment in renewable energy development. Like other recently approved projects in Ecuador, El Aromo will be built according to the country’s private investment stimulus package which offers companies a wide range of tax benefits.

Current economic conditions and the government’s incentive package have been sufficient to support growing international interest in Ecuador’s energy sector, especially in wind and solar. But these projects also follow BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) contracts in which private investors are responsible for project construction and operation, before transferring infrastructure to the state at the end of the contract period. Due to its scale and location El Aromo remains a bellwether project for Ecuador’s solar future.

While Solarpack already has 15 solar generation projects in Spain, Chile, Peru, and India, El Aromo will be the company’s first power plant in Ecuador. The project will occupy a location 20km from Manta that has long been the subject of controversy and the solar development will mark a shift in land use from carbon-intensive to low-carbon energy production. This site is notorious for being where an international megaproject was proposed and ultimately abandoned: the “Refinería del Pacífico” (RDP) petrochemical plant.

In January 2008, Presidents Rafael Correa and Hugo Chávez signed a memorandum of understanding to create the RDP company. They hoped to use the RDP complex to process 300,000 barrels per day, increase domestic supplies of refined petrochemical products, and to continue work toward national “energy sovereignty.” Expected to cost $10 billion, the deal linked state companies Petroecuador and PDVSA of Venezuela with further financing from China’s National Petroleum Corporation and Industrial & Commercial Bank.

In 2018, Mongabay reported on environmental disruption within the nearby Pacoche Coastal Marine Wildlife Refuge caused by deforestation, road building, and the clearing of native trees for the RDP complex, at that time covering 1200 hectares (12 km2). Initial construction began, including work completed by Brazilian company Odebrecht, but the project languished without full and transparent funding for years and, by 2019, had become the focus of corruption investigations.

Despite all this, presidential candidate Andrés Arauz has stirred controversy by echoing Correa’s insistence that the refinery should still be built. For environmental groups, pressing ahead with the RDP project amounts to a crime against nature and Indigenous peoples, as it would be used to process heavy crude extracted from the ITT sector of Yasuní National Park, one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet and home to Indigenous groups living in isolation. It remains to be seen whether construction of the El Aromo solar project rules out any further work on the RDP refinery, but any such support for the oil industry would be met with widespread opposition.

The RDP site has also become the focus of other investment plans, some still under negotiation, seeking to make use of this location prepared for industrial operations. The plans include an EU development grant for new agroindustrial maize, soy, and shrimp production and, in May 2019, proposals for a “Food City” processing and packaging complex. A more recent idea to use the site as an isolation center for patients infected with Covid-19 was derailed by local opposition.

A housing camp of 140 small dwellings built in 2011 for RDP workers was used sporadically by Odebrecht personnel and then later served as an emergency operations center after the April 2016 earthquake. The site lay largely abandoned till March 2020, when one of the dwellings was burnt in a suspected arson attack amid protests against the Covid-19 isolation plan.

Now, Solarpack has the green light to use the El Aromo site for solar generation, and the focus is, once again, on Ecuador’s energy matrix. Of the original 1,500 hectares cleared at the RDP site, El Aromo will cover 290 hectares. Ponce Jara suggests that government approval for the project has been driven, at least in part, by a desire to finally settle the question of what to do with (some of) this contentious plot of land.

 

Environmental Justice Goes Beyond Energy Generation

The local impacts of El Aromo are not limited to this site. On the positive side, as Ponce Jara notes, increased local solar generation at El Aromo could lead to reduced use of regional oil-powered power stations (particularly the 140MW Jaramijó plant) and related improvements in air quality and emissions reductions. On the other hand, the environmental impacts of constructing requisite power transmission lines have not yet been evaluated. And in an area where agriculture and aquaculture dominate, the question of land use remains paramount.

Carlos Quinto Cedeño Bermeo is an activist and permaculture practitioner who works in Manabí province to support small-scale agroecological farming and is a member of the Troja Manaba grassroots school that offers training in agricultural techniques for food sovereignty. While debates over energy generation have focused on Manabí, Cedeño Bermeo cautions that the province’s commercial shrimp farms, “camaroneros,” currently threaten small-scale farming and efforts toward food sovereignty on a scale beyond the risks created by the energy sector.

Shrimp farms continue to grow in number and scale, occupying ever larger tracts of land. These operations also put local water supplies at risk of contamination from chemical run-off. Cedeño Bermeo says that renewable energy projects will have to create many more jobs before they can have a significant impact on local labor markets, where many women move to the cities for domestic or retail work and men take up unskilled jobs in the shrimp or oil industries.

A shift toward less polluting modes of electricity generation is welcome and the idea of repurposing land away from polluting industries is popular. But some in the region remain unconvinced. A December editorial in the Manabí newspaper El Diario, for example, raised doubts about the project, questioning whether the price of energy from El Aromo will remain competitive against hydro and fossil fuel energy and seeking to clarify both how much of the abandoned RDP site will be covered with solar panels and how the remaining land will be used.

Furthermore, El Aromo alone does not create enough new employment opportunities to generate widespread socio-economic change in Manabí, nor does it protect small farmers against the encroachment of growing agro-industrial operations. The province is still dominated by export-oriented production just as the national economy still depends heavily on the oil sector, which accounts for more than 50 percent of Ecuador’s export earnings and around 25 percent of public sector revenues.

Creating a just energy transition in Ecuador–promoting solar and wind generation, reducing dependence on oil, and providing employment for those whose livelihoods are disrupted by such changes–will require policy and action that go beyond replacing oil refineries with solar panels, even while doing so is a crucial step in remaking the country’s energy matrix.

Only if El Aromo delivers on the promise often associated with solar power—specifically by reducing the amount of oil being extracted and burned, as well as providing tangible health and economic benefits for local residents—will it help Ecuador turn a corner toward a less destructive and more future-proof energy sector.

Tristan Partridge is a social anthropologist and Research Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research addresses Indigenous rights, collective action, and environmental justice.

 

This story was originally published by NACLA – The North American Congress on Latin America

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