Ecuador - Context and Land Governance

^{Photo: UNICEF Ecuador/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)}

Probably the only country where nature has constitutional rights, the state has the duty to protect the soil, water sources and natural resources, all of them fundamental components of the land, as well as to ensure food sovereignty and a holistic inclusive and equalitarian development model called Buen Vivir (good living). The constitutional recognition of the connection between what makes a healthy environment and human development reflects a progressive understanding about the relationship with the territory coming, first, from the experience of high inequality and, later, from the democratization of the rural discourse. Nevertheless, since this recognition in 2008, the implementation of those principles in public policies is not that clear and the concept of Buen Vivir is hardly used nowadays.  

The journey to this point includes three agrarian reforms (in 1964, 1973 and 1979) to eliminate the inequality produced by the latifundista (large-state) system and indigenous and social uprisings since the 1990s and 2000s¹. The agrarian reforms did not manage to eliminate the rural inequality because in the Andean region the land distributed was mostly not appropriate for agriculture, in the Amazon and the coast was mainly forest land, and the old haciendas kept the best land with the water sources². 

The world inspired by the Ecuadorian Constitution is still a work in progress. The reality so far is high number of too small parcels of land farming, especially in the Andean region, few larger parcels for industrial agriculture in the coast, and the struggle of the different cultural identities (indigenous, afro-Ecuadorian and montubio peoples) to materialize their recognized rights to land. Unequal land distribution remains.

Background context

Land demands in Ecuador are formulated in a long-lasting context of social and political instability. The most recent crisis took place in June 2022 when indigenous organizations led the demand of social and economic reforms from the government in the face of high inflation and unemployment³. The escalation of the conflict resulted in the deaths of five people and in the government declaring a state of emergency⁴. In addition, Ecuador faces structural problems such as chronic child malnutrition, precarious living conditions for peasants, and lack of opportunities for the youth⁵. Due to fiscal contractions and the economic slowdown because of the Covid pandemic, the Ecuadorian economy decreased 9.3% at the end of 2020, poverty increased 10% that same year affecting 1.8 million citizens reaching 37.6% poverty rate and extreme poverty of 19.2%⁶.  Another challenge is corruption. According to Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perception Index, Ecuador is perceived as significantly corrupt with a score of 36 (in a scale where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 very clean) showing a decrease tendency⁷.

Social upheavals led by indigenous movements are not new in Ecuador. From the occupation in 2000 of the Carondelet Palace (seat of the government) and their alliance with the military to overthrow president Jamil Mahuad⁸ to the protest in October 2019 against the austerity measures established by the government of Lenin Moreno⁹, the indigenous movement has voiced general concerns affecting the whole society. In this way the indigenous movement holds the government accountable for a discourse that integrates concepts such as the Buen Vivir (see next section), the wellbeing of the population and of the environment to guide public policies. According to some analysts, economic pragmatic measures have been instead imposed over the intention to ensure the wellbeing of the most vulnerable in rural areas and over specific projects targeted to peasants¹⁰.  

Land legislation and regulations

The 2008 Constitution recognises the right to property in all its forms and it is linked to having a responsible social and environmental function (Art. 66). The state is in charge of regulating the use and equitable access to land on the basis of its social and environmental functionality (Art. 282). Large-states (latifundio) and land concentration are prohibited by the Constitution (Art. 282). 

Besides the right to property, the 2008 Constitution includes several unique rights that affect land governance, such as food sovereignty as priority axis of public and agricultural policies¹¹, the rights of nature, and the rights to the Buen Vivir (good living). The state obligation to guarantee food sovereignty involves redistributive policies that facilitate peasants access to land, water and other resources (Art. 281). Part of the Buen Vivir is the preservation of the environment, recovery of damaged natural spaces and the right to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, which is linked to the way land is used. In turn, the Pacha Mama or Mother Earth, as nature is called by the indigenous cultures, is entitled to full respect for its existence and the maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes (Art. 71). Nature has also the right to be restored, which implies that, when there is a severe or permanent impact on the environment due, for example, to the exploitation of non-renewable natural resources, the state should establish appropriate mechanisms to prevent or mitigate a negative environmental impact and to restore the damage caused (Art. 72). A study about the implementation of the Buen Vivir until 2011, however, argues that the economic policy of the government at that time had inconsistencies with the Buen Vivir principles because of its commitment with an extractivist production model, giving little space to protect the environmental, to promote social economy and to sustain food sovereignty¹².  

Since 2008 there have been three main consecutive policies regarding land: the States Plan (Plan Haciendas) (2008), the Plan to promote access to land for family farmers in Ecuador (2009-2013), also known as Lands Plan (Plan Tierras), and the Plan for access to land for family farmers and mass legislation in Ecuadorian territory (ATLM). The Lands Plan addressed the land in connection with the economic situation of people in the rural areas. It tried to reduce rural poverty and make a more efficient use of the land by promoting an associative and cooperative model. But its impact was reduced considering that it managed to redistribute around 26,000 ha among 92 farmers associations representing 6,000 families out of the 2 million ha projected¹³. There were also shortcomings in the execution of the Plan. The associations were not always selected according to the criteria established, productive projects were not always pertinent or did not count with the necessary participation, the territory was not properly known, or viability studies or validation of the authorities were absent¹⁴. Other shortcomings highlighted in the literature are: the inaccurate calculation of the price per ha, the lack of assessment of beneficiaries’ capacity to pay their debts, the lack of a study of the inadequate determination of the surface area given to each family, which created smallholdings, the absence of a sustained productive accompaniment, and the lack of access to irrigation, market or credit¹⁵. Besides these implementation deficits, there is a lack of official evaluations of the impact of these land plans making it more difficult to improve their implementation.

This situation led to the presentation by peasant, indigenous, afro-ecuadorian and montubio organizations to the National Assembly of five different proposals for a new land law in an exercise of direct democracy in 2012¹⁶. The discussions around those proposals would end in the creation of the Law on Rural Land and Ancestral Territories in 2016. The law addresses key aspects such as the redistribution of land in article 15, which is oriented to alleviate poverty rather than simply ensure a fair system since it gives priority to the most vulnerable sectors, those without land or land of poor quality, and those organized around the solidary economy, all of them under the line of poverty.

Another aspect is financial assistance for land use. According to article 34 the credits are targeted at small and medium farmers, and rural women workers in family farming and in the popular and solidarity economy. The law also addresses the limits to the expansion of the agricultural frontier with a strong environmental protectionist interest in article 50. It sets the limit in fragile and threatened ecosystems, protected areas and in highly biodiverse areas. It also regulates substance and family farming activities in those areas and it involves the local communities in their protection. However, the implementation of this Law has been deficient. Hence, in May 2022, peasants and indigenous organizations from all over the country initiated a march to deliver a project to reform this law to the National Assembly¹⁷. The main demands in the reform are efficient policies to access the land (according to the marchers 450 thousand families do not have access to land or cannot live from their land), recognition of the decisions taken by community authorities, creation of new land and territory institutions, defence of ancestral territories, guarantee of land sovereignty, sustained productive accompaniment, irrigation and seeds, and support for commercialisation¹⁸.

Land tenure classifications

The Ecuadorian constitution recognizes the following types of tenure: public, private, communal, state, associative, cooperative and mixed. The difference between public and state land is that in the former the right to use the land belongs to the citizens whereas in the latter it belongs to government institutions¹⁹. To this date, the last data available on the land tenure type distribution is from the last agricultural census in 2000, according to which most of the land (94% ) is privately owned, 4.9% is communal and only 0.6% is state land²⁰.

^{Source: Own collaboration based on data from 2000 Agricultural Census}

Private property consists mainly of small parcels. The majority of private lots (63,96%) are smaller than 5 ha and they only represent 6,53% of the agricultural surface. On the other end of the spectrum, private parcels bigger than 500 ha are 0,16% but represent 16% of the agricultural surface. In the middle, private agricultural units are distributed as follows: 20,87% between 5 and 20 ha, 8,97% between 20 and 50 ha, 3,97% between 50 and 100 ha, and 2.08% between 100 and 500 ha²¹.

^{Source: Own elaboration based on data from the 2000 Agricultural Census.}

Private property is more present in the coast and the Andean region than in the Amazon. Nevertheless, the lack of updated data on land tenure in Ecuador prevents having an accurate overview of the topic as well as to create pertinent measures to make land governance more efficient.

These figures remind historical patterns of unequal distribution. In fact, Ecuador is considered to have a high level of inequality regarding access to land. In a scale of 0 (all agricultural holdings have the same amount of land) to 1 (a single agricultural holding holds all the farmland), the Gini coefficient on land for Ecuador is 0.81²². Nevertheless, there is a difference between land-area inequality and land-value inequality. A study shows that in Ecuador land-area inequality is higher than land-value inequality²³. This means that the largest holdings are substantially less productive than medium-to-low-sized holdings because they mostly consist of low-productive pastures. There is nonot consistency in the figures but, according to that study, the share of top 10% of land owners in Ecuador had around 77% of land area (including rural and urban areas) and 61% of land value based on survey data from 2014²⁴. Other sources state that 51% of the total land area is held by 6% of the country’s landowners²⁵.

According to the Rural and Ancestral Territories Law (2016), communal ownership of land consists of the collective right to use, enjoy and dispose of it, through the collective entity representing the members of the commune, community, people or nationality and the decisions of its governing body, in accordance with customary rules, laws and constitutional provisions (Art. 23). It is considered that communal property, as opposed to private property, generates a sense of identity and belonging and it is the foundation to the existence of indigenous, Afro-ecuadorian and montubio peoples and nationalities. According to data from the 2000 Agricultural Census, in the cantons with more communal properties, the latter can represent between 26% and 60% of the territory²⁶.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock provides in its webpage information on how to title rural state land by natural persons²⁷ and juridical persons²⁸, and enables the titling processing online. Transparency and online procedure is also available for the redistribution of statal rural land among family farming and popular and solidarity economy organisations that are legally constituted and do not have their own land to manage²⁹.

The digitalisation of spatial planning and land registration in the National System for Land Administration (SINAT) has been done through the National Information System on Rural Land and Technological Infrastructure (SIGTIERRAS) carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock³⁰. SINAT has been adapted to the needs of the decentralized municipal autonomous governments and provides information on the characteristics of rural and urban properties, delimitations, ownership, constructions, and valuations, among other aspects. Example of that adaption is making the software capable of registering information on the different characteristics of properties, buildings and owners/possessors and the determination of valuations according to the definitions of the municipal governments, as well as allowing tax bands, rates, contributions, exemptions, deductions, discounts, surcharges and electronic invoicing to be set³¹.  The SIGTIERRAS program made land measurements in 57 cantons to conform a rural cadastre given to the decentralized autonomous governments (GAD)³².

Community land rights issues

Initially, the recognition of collective land rights in Ecuador came associated to being part of a collective unit called comunas (communes)³³ under the Law on the Organization of Communes from 

1937 and codified in 2004 (Art. 6)³⁴. The law also refers to cultural and racial identities in the recognition of collective rights by explicitly guaranteeing the collective rights of indigenous self-identified as nationalities with ancestral origins and of black and afro Ecuadorian peoples. This law played an important function in allowing indigenous and peasants to constitute themselves as legal organizations, in acknowledging historical ancestral community land, and in containing fighting over land. However, some voices pointed out the need to adapt the law to the 2008 Constitution³⁵.

^{Landscapes Ecuador, photo by A Davey,2009, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0}

The 2008 Constitution presents a more complex picture of the diversity of groups in Ecuador, and it continues including cultural identities and forms of organization as conditions to be entitled to collective rights over land. In particular, the constitution distinguishes between indigenous communities, peoples and nationalities; the afro-Ecuadorian people; the montubio people (mestizo people of the countryside of coastal Ecuador); and the communes.

Nevertheless, there are differences in the recognition of each of these groups’ rights over land adding to the complexity. The Constitution recognizes to indigenous communes, communities, peoples and nationalities the collective rights of retaining the imprescriptible ownership of their community lands, which shall be inalienable, unseizable and indivisible; maintaining possession of their ancestral lands and territories and obtaining their free allocation; and participating in the use, usufruct, administration and conservation of the renewable natural resources found on their lands (Art. 57). They also have the right not to be displaced from their ancestral land, though to guarantee this right they encounter some challenges because they do not have ownership over the non-renewable resources potentially located in their territory. Regarding the exploitation of those resources, following the ILO 169 Convention ratified by Ecuador in 1998³⁶, indigenous groups indigenous  have the right to free, prior and informed consultation; to participate in the benefits of their extraction and to be compensated for the social, cultural and environmental damage caused by it. The Constitution also recognizes the territories of peoples in voluntary isolation as irreducible and intangible ancestral possession, and any type of extractive activity shall be prohibited in them.

More succinct and ambiguous is the recognition of montubio and afro-Ecuadorian peoples to collective land rights. Article 59 guarantees montubio people integral and sustainable human development and their forms of administration, but there is no explicit reference to land (Art. 59). Nevertheless, Article 60 entitles ancestral, indigenous, afro-Ecuadorian and montubios peoples to constitute territorial circumscriptions to preserve their culture, which gives room for interpretation regarding the survival of a culture linked to a land. In the same article, communes with collective property of the land are recognized as a form of ancestral territorial organization.

This mosaic of identities and mixing cultural identities and forms of organization in the recognition of collective rights bring opportunities and especially challenges. In some cases, it has involved a struggle to defend or adopt the identity or definition that entitles a group to have collective rights over land. The montubio people has been specially affected by this because they do not fit in the definitions of the ILO 169 Convention, and it is difficult to demonstrate their ancestral character, being the latter an argument used by private companies interested in acquiring their land³⁷. In other cases the struggle has been to prevent being defined as neighbourhood instead of a commune, which would take away their collective rights³⁸.

The complexity in the Constitution is partly simplified in the Law on Rural Land and Ancestral Territories from 2016³⁹. The law explicitly gives the right to indigenous, afro-Ecuadorian and montubio communes, communities, peoples and nationalities the right to retain communal ownership and possession of their ancestral and communal lands and territories that are awarded to them in perpetuity free of charge, in accordance with Constitution and other international instruments of collective rights (Art. 23). The law adds that the ownership of community lands and lands and territories in ancestral possession is imprescriptible, inalienable, unseizable and indivisible, and shall be exempt from the payment of fees and taxes.

Another challenge is the coexistence of collective land rights with municipal regulations. For example, in Cayambe municipality, in the province of Pichincha, the legislation on indigenous rights clashed with the local government regulations regarding taxes on land. According to the national legislation, collective indigenous land is exempt from taxes, but in Cayambe municipality there was a confusion between what is private and communal property when it comes to charging taxes⁴⁰. 

Land use trends

In 2021, around 5.28 million ha were used for agricultural purposes, showing a slight increase from 2019 (5.11 million ha) and reaching the same surface as in 2018⁴¹. The province with the biggest agricultural surface is Guayas (309,999 ha) followed by Los Ríos (258,873 ha)⁴². That year, the crops with the highest production at the national level were sugar cane, banana and oil palm. But the crops that occupy the largest surface areaare cacao (627,000 ha), dried durum maize (374,000 ha) and rice (343,000 ha)⁴³.

Regarding livestock, the most numerous is the cattle with over 4 million heads followed by slightly more than one million pigs⁴⁴. 

The forest area in 2020 in Ecuador was half of its territory⁴⁵. From 2000 to 2020, Ecuador had a 4.6% decrease in tree cover⁴⁶. Other studies argue that in the last 26 years Ecuador has lost 39.4% of its tropical forest being the province of Esmeraldas de most affected, and in the Amazon provinces (Napo, Orellana and Pastaza) 15,13% of the forest was lost⁴⁷. The main reason for deforestation is the expansion of the agricultural frontier⁴⁸, as well as the extraction of natural resources, considered by some as the foundation of the Ecuadorian economic model⁴⁹.

Ecuador is the second country in South America with more protected areas.  The number of protected areas in Ecuador has followed an increasing tendency from 35 in 2007⁵⁰ to 66 in 2021 covering more than 18.5 million ha⁵¹.

Regarding the urban area, the migration to urban centres in the last decades resulted in 64% of the population living in the cities in 2020⁵². A study shows that from 2001 to 2010, out of the 19 cities studied, the expansion of 11 of them was bigger than the increase of their population⁵³. That means that the cities are growing on the periphery (‘urban sprawl’) following low-density and unsustainable urban development patterns since rural areas or natural reserves are urbanized and greenhouse gases increase in those areas. This pattern was present mainly in the cities of Loja (82%), Esmeraldas and La Libertad (51%), Quevedo (45%) and Guayaquil (40%)⁵⁴. Studies show that urban land is subject to speculation facilitated by the lack of coordination and capacity of municipal authorities to plan and manage the urban territory⁵⁵.

^{Iguana in Galapagos Islands, photo by Jay Grandin, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0}

Land investments

The government of Ecuador is promoting investments in the agricultural sector with the objectives of boosting rural economies, guaranteeing food security and becoming independent from imported products, increasing rural employment and preventing the migration to the urban areas⁵⁶. Of special interest are investments in industrial hemp, flowers, cacao and banana.

The mining sector is also a target of government investments for the near future as part of the expansion of an economic model where the extraction of natural resources is a key pillar. By 2022 it was planned to invest USD 519 millions in infrastructure and exploration purposes in the mines of Curipamba in Bolivar and Loma Larga in Azuay. Moreover, there are projects to construct the Cascabel mine in Imbabura in 2024, and El Oro in 2026, with a committed investment of USD 466 millions⁵⁷. For the moment, Ecuador has only two mines of large production: the copper mine Mirador and the gold mine Fruta del Norte⁵⁸.

The extraction of natural resources is especially attractive to foreign investors in Ecuador. Between 2000 and 2017, 38,6% of direct foreign investments in Ecuador was for the exploitation of mines being the main investors from Brazil, China, Canada, The Netherlands and Spain⁵⁹. China occupies a special place as a strategic investor partner⁶⁰. The Asian country has significantly increased its presence in Ecuador since the beginning of the 2000s as a commercial partner, creditor and investor, particularly in the oil and mining sectors⁶¹. One example is the Chinese company Andes Petroleum operates in Tarapoa and Pastaza in the Amazon region, which has provoked the reaction against of the Kichwa, Zapara and Shiwiar communities in the region for not respecting the rights of the indigenous communities to be consulted and participate in the benefits recognized in the ILO 169 Convention⁶².

Well known are the environmental and social impact of extractive activities, but less known are successful local resistance to them such as the case of the Cofan people where the Court from Sucumbios recognized their right to be consulted and ordered the mining company to repair the damage caused. In 2018, the Court ordered to revert the mining concession in operation and cancel the ones in process in an unknown precedent of judicial action in favour of local communities⁶³. Another successful consultation experience took place in Cuenca in 2021. Two metal mining projects -Loma Larga (8,030 ha to extract 31.2 tonnes of gold) and Río Blanco (5,700 ha to extract 18,71 tonnes of gold)-, located in the Cajas massif, declared by the UNESCO biosphere reserve in 2013, triggered social mobilizations demanding a popular consultation in September 2020⁶⁴. The Constitutional Court approved the consultation and, in February 2021, 80% of the voters agreed to ban metal mining in the water recharge areas of the Tarqui, Tomebamba, Yanuncay, Machángara and Norcay rivers⁶⁵.

Land acquisitions

The expansion of agriculture is one of the reasons behind private large acquisitions in Ecuador. From 2000 to 2016, for example, oil palm plantation expanded from 146,314 ha to 319,602 ha, and corn from 240,201 ha to 341,254 ha. The province of Esmeraldas has been specially affected by the expansion of palm oil and livestock. The oil extracting and processing company EPACEM, for instance, acquired 6,000 ha in 2004 and 6,500 ha more through the acquisition of Palmar del Rio company in 2012⁶⁶. In some cases, that expansion involved violent experiences. Land Matrix reports that in the communities of Buena Vista and Palma Real families were displaced for opposing the sale of their land to the expansion of agriculture⁶⁷.

Other purposes of large-scale land acquisitions have been tourism and preservation. That is the case of the private reserve Mashpi located in the Metropolitan District of Quito. In 2002, Fundación Futuro bought 1,300 ha of the tropical forest to expand the reserve⁶⁸. With this operation the reserve increased to 2.500 ha. Through the ministerial resolution No. 88., published in 2018, it was declared part of the Mashpi-Guaycuyacu y Saguangal Natural Protected Area⁶⁹.

The entitlement of foreigners to acquire land and the risks for land grabbing has been subject of debate in Ecuador. The draft of the Law on Rural Land and Ancestral Territories included article 20 prohibiting foreign investment in land. In the version of the law that passed, however, the article states that foreign public companies may acquire, lease or usufruct rural land in the national territory for agricultural production projects⁷⁰. Despite the provision included in the law that foreign land investment will be done in land that cannot be concentrated or speculated, this article raised concerns for opening the door to land grabbing⁷¹.

Land governance innovations

The Ñukanchik Urko Moors Committee (CPÑU), in Cayambe, is an example of how communal systems of land governance work to address some of the challenges that rural communities face⁷². The seven communities that form CPÑU have been working for more than 10 years to stop the expansion of the agricultural frontier and protect and reclaim their access to water. Decisions on how best achieving that goal are made collectively. One of them was to develop collectively an internal regulation that includes the application of sanctions, mechanisms of conflict resolution and inter-institutional work to legitimise the resolutions. Specially interesting is the recovery of the role of the urcucama, which is the person that looks after the moor. Each community chooses an urcucama, can be male or female, that goes one day per week to walk the moor and watch out for burning and grazing. On a daily basis, before leaving and on return, urcucamas report the situation to the committee president and the community authorities.

Another positive experience related to land governance in Ecuador took place in the city of Guayaquil, located in the coastal region and the economic centre of the country. A program by UNDP and UN-Habitat undertook the demarcation of the limits between public and private property, which facilitated the installation of basic social infrastructures in marginal urban areas. In addition, connecting the land survey maps and the land register in a single integrated information system contributed to increasing revenue from property taxes. In fact, from 2000 to 2007 the property tax collection efficiency was between 91% and 99%⁷³.

Women’s land rights

Land rights for women are explicitly recognised in the 2008 Constitution as follows: the state will guarantee equal rights and opportunities for women and men to property access (Art. 324), the state will regulate the equal access to land for female and male peasants (Art. 282), and policies will be designed to eradicate inequality and gender discrimination in the access to agricultural production (Art. 334). The link made in the Constitution between food sovereignty, Buen Vivir, environmental protection, equal access to land and land use to fulfil a social and environmental function could also imply an indirect recognition of the role of women in land management and use, whose presence is higher in family farms and smallholdings as shown below. It also reminds the role of women in protecting the environment, as it was reported by Amnesty International demanding justice and protection for Amazonian Women defenders of the land, territory and environment who were being attacked and threatened because of their opposition to extractive activities in the Ecuadorian Amazon⁷⁴.

The Law on Rural Land and Ancestral Territories echoes the constitutional equality in land access but some voices point out the limits of the law in properly understanding the actual role of women in agriculture. In particular, they criticize that women are considered beneficiaries of land redistribution policies as long as they are vulnerable, highly poor and in the absence of a spouse⁷⁵. Another challenge is the difficulties for women to get credits to buy land, since often the way to access land is by buying it. To alleviate this challenge the government created a special credit line for women called Super Mujer Rural with BanEcuador. By March 2021 they gave USD 4.5 million with a goal of reaching USD 6 million in credit for women⁷⁶.

In 2011, 28% of land titles were given to women. That figure increased in 2013 to 42%. While in 2011, the average titled land surface area for women was 3.47 ha (4.97 ha for men), in 2013 it was 1.09 ha (1.9 ha for men) showing the tendency to create smallholdings⁷⁷. Data from 2011 to 2018, show that in all the regions the titling surface for women has been less than 50%, being Galapagos the region with more titling for women with slightly over 40%, followed by the coast with almost 40%, the Andean region with around 35% and the Amazon with close to 30%⁷⁸. According to some studies, one of the reasons that explain this is the fact that in marriages and de facto unions land is titled under the male as administrators or head of household⁷⁹, and land property falls into women's hands in the absence of a more prominent male figure in the household (husband, father, brother)⁸⁰. In 2013, only 12,71% of land was owned by women⁸¹.

Regarding the role of women in agriculture, according to data from 2018 for the agricultural area and production survey (ESPAC), 22% of the producers were female and 78% male⁸². Following the last National Agricultural Census, from 2000 (there is no updated data), out of the 842,882 registered agricultural production units, 213,731 are managed by women, which represents around 25% of the agricultural surface in Ecuador⁸³.

Data from 2018 indicates that the female presence is higher in small or family farms (25%) than in medium farming (23%) and industrial agriculture (14%)⁸⁴. When it comes to ownership the picture is similar, 15,83% of smallholdings are owned by women, as compared with 12,35% of medium agriculture and 9.22% of industrial agriculture⁸⁵. Particularly, the Andes is the region with more farms led by women, followed by the coast and the Amazon. Another characteristic of female land access in Ecuador, is the correlation between gender and land surface. For example, looking at the extremes, 34.31% of less than one ha parcels are owned by women (65.69% by men) and only 7,86% women own 200 ha or bigger parcels (92,14% men)⁸⁶.

Timeline - milestones in land governance

1830 – Birth of the Republic of Ecuador

The first national Constitution was created after a period of political instability caused, among other aspects, by the revolts against a system built on the power of large-state owners and the exploitation of the peasants, indigenous and afro-descendant population. This brought some changes in the relationship between peasants and indigenous with the land owners, for example by the creation of hausipungos (small parcels lent to peasants families) and concertajes (contracts where peasants lived in the haciendas, but large states continued to exist.

1908 – Dead Hand Law (Ley de Manos Muertas)

This law ordered that the clergy’s idle lands should pass to charitable institutions. The law passed by the liberal government of Eloy Alfaro Delgado, who concretized the project of a laic state shaking the old structures of the clerical-landlord state.

1960s-1970s – Agrarian reforms

The first agrarian reform started in 1964 with the aim of improving the agrarian structure, promoting a more equal distribution of land and securing land use. Part of the reform was also to abolish precarious labour conditions in agriculture through a Decree from 1970. In 1973 a new Agrarian Reform Law radicalized the reform by including more factors justifying the expropriation of the land such as less than 80% of efficient exploitation, non-wage relationships, and demographic pressure.

1990 – Indigenous mobilizations

The Inti Raymi indigenous uprising involved breaking into Ecuadorian political life as an organized movement united in the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE). Land has been a constant demand for the indigenous movement, though its articulation evolved from land as economic resource to land as in the foundation of indigenous cultures, and land and territory as the basis to be considered as nationalities, which involves a recognition of indigenous as political actors.

1994 – Agrarian Development Law

This law reverted the agrarian reform legislation by minimising the reasons to expropriate land, authorised the division of communal land, and liberalized the land market. It substituted the Ecuadorian Institute of Agrarian Reform (IERAC) by the Agrarian Development Institute (INDA), which put an end to the expropriation of land.

2008 – National Constitution and Buen Vivir development model

The Constitution presents a holistic understanding of nature and the connection between land, environment and development, to the point of recognizing that nature has rights and a development model consisting in the Buen Vivir (good living). Two land policies were designed: 1) Plan Tierras (Lands Plan), to redistribute the land, and 2) Access to Land for Family Farmers and Mass Legalisation in the Ecuadorian Territory (ATLM) to regularize land ownership.

2016 – Law on Land and Ancestral Territories

This law addresses the distribution of land in terms of alleviation of poverty in rural areas and includes provisions for the protection of the environment by setting limits to the expansion of agriculture.

Where to go next?

The author's suggestion for further reading

As all countries sharing the Amazon basin, Ecuador suffers an increased deforestation of its tropical forest. A recent scientific collaboration between the Statal Amazon University from Ecuador and the Thünen Institute of International Forestry and Forest Economics offers a recent study on the problem with the view of being helpful for the design of policies to solve it entitled Deforestación en paisajes forestales tropicales del Ecuador. Bases científicas para perspectivas políticas.

To dig deeper in land governance policies and their impact in land access in Ecuador we recommend last year’s study Acceso a la tierra en el Ecuador a partir de sus políticas públicas más recientes authored by Diana Montesdoeca y Melissa Ramos. Equality in land rights is, in general, present in constitutional texts and laws. Ecuador is not the exception. However, reality is in most cases a different story. To know more about the challenges that rural women face in Ecuador to make their rights over land effective, we recommend the report Mujeres Rurales y Tierra en Ecuador. ¡Es hora de cerrar las brechas de género en el campo!, by the organization FIAN International. 

References

[1] Pierre Gondard and Hubert Mazurek. (2001). ’30 Años de Reforma Agraria y Colonización en el Ecuador (1964-1994): dinámicas especiales´. In Pierre Gondard and Juan Bernardo León V. (eds.). Dinámicas Territoriales: Ecuador, Bolivia, Perú, Venezuela. Estudios de Geografía (10). https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02547417/document

[2] Michel Laforge. (no year). ‘La lucha por la tierra en el Ecuador y los límites de la Revolución Ciudadana´. http://economiassolidarias.unmsm.edu.pe/sites/default/files/Laforge_Lucha%20por%20la%20tierra%20Ecuador.pdf

[3] BBC. (2022). ‘Protestas en Ecuador: 3 claves para entender las manifestaciones de grupos indígenas y el estado de excepción decretado por el gobierno´. https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-61854940

[4] Infobae. (2022). ‘Ecuador: ya suman cinco los muertos en las protestas contra Guillermo Lasso y crecen los enfrentamientos en las calles’. https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2022/06/24/ecuador-ya-suman-cinco-lo-muertos-en-las-protestas-contra-guillermo-lasso-y-crecen-los-enfrentamientos-en-las-calles/

[5] María Sol Borja. (2022). ‘Lo que 18 días de protestas dejaron en Ecuador’. https://www.washingtonpost.com/es/post-opinion/2022/07/14/paro-nacional-protestas-en-ecuador-2022-guillermo-lasso/

[6] BTI Transformation Index. Ecuador Country Report 2022. https://bti-project.org/en/reports/country-report/ECU

[7] Transparency International. 2021 Corruption Perception Index. Ecuador. https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021/index/ecu

[8] Nieves Zúñiga. (2002). Ecuador. Observatorio de Conflictos. Serie Indigenismo. Centro de Investigación para la Paz (CIP-FUHEM).

[9] Francesco Manetto and Sara España. (2019). ‘Las protestas en Ecuador redoblan la presión contra el Gobierno´. El País. https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/10/09/actualidad/1570637220_024808.html

[10] Luciano Martínez Valle. (2020). ‘Presentación’. Políticas Públicas y Territorios Rurales. EUTOPÍA. Revista de Desarrollo Económico Territorial 17. FLACSO.

[11] Diana Montesdoeca Chulde y Melissa Ramos Bayas. (2021). Acceso a la tierra en el Ecuador a partir de sus políticas públicas más recientes. International Land Coalition.

[12] Santiago García Álvarez. (2013). Sumak Kawsay o buen vivir en Ecuador. Aplicación y resultados en el gobierno de Rafael Correa (2007-2011). (PhD Thesis). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261135152_Sumak_Kawsay_o_buen_vivir_en_Ecuador_Aplicacion_y_resultados_en_gobierno_de_Rafael_Correa_2007-2011

[13] Diana Montesdoeca Chulde y Melissa Ramos Bayas. (2021). Acceso a la tierra en el Ecuador a partir de sus políticas públicas más recientes. International Land Coalition. https://d3o3cb4w253x5q.cloudfront.net/media/documents/2020-sipae-land_inequality_solution_paper-_ecuador_low_res-ES.pdf

[14] Ibidem.

[15] Ibidem.

[16] International Land Coalition, SIPAE, Ecolex, Grupo Social Fepp. (2016). Monitoreo de la problemática sobre tierras y territorios en Ecuador. Bulletin No. 3. https://www.ipdrs.org/images/en_papel/archivos/Boletin-Monitoreo-tierras1.pdf

[17] Mishell Mantuano. (2022). ‘Reforma a la Ley de Tierras: propuesta ingresa a la Asamblea Nacional’. Wambra Medio Comunitario. https://wambra.ec/reforma-a-la-ley-de-tierras-propuesta-ingresa-a-la-asamblea-nacional/

[18] Ibidem.

[19] Sistema de Investigación sobre la Problemática Agraria en el Ecuador (SIPAE). (2011). Atlas sobre la Tenencia de la Tierra en el Ecuador. https://www.ipdrs.org/images/en_papel/archivos/Atlas-tenencia-de-la-tierra-Ecuador1.pdf

[20] Ibidem.

[21] Ibidem.

[22] Ibidem.

[23] Luis Bauluz, Yajna Govind and Filip Novokment. (2020). Global Land Inequality. International Land Coalition. World Inequality Database. https://d3o3cb4w253x5q.cloudfront.net/media/documents/2020_10_land_inequality_data_paper_global_en_spread.pdf

[24] Ibidem.

[25] USAID. (no year). Property rights and resource governance Ecuador. https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/USAID_Land_Tenure_Ecuador_Profile.pdf

[26] Sistema de Investigación sobre la Problemática Agraria en el Ecuador (SIPAE). (2011). Atlas sobre la Tenencia de la Tierra en el Ecuador. Sistema de Investigación sobre la Problemática Agraria en el Ecuador (SIPAE).

[27] Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería. ‘Titulación de tierras rurales estatales presentada por personas naturales´. https://www.gob.ec/mag/tramites/titulacion-tierras-rurales-estatales-presentada-personas-naturales

[28] Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería. ‘Titulación de tierras rurales estatales presentada por personas jurídicas´. https://www.gob.ec/mag/tramites/titulacion-tierras-rurales-estatales-presentada-personas-juridicas

[29] Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería. ´Redistribución de tierras rurales estatales´. https://www.gob.ec/mag/tramites/redistribucion-tierras-rurales-estatales

[30] http://geoportal.agricultura.gob.ec/index.php

[31] Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería, Acuacultura y Pesca. SINAT. Sistema Nacional para la Administración de Tierras. Catastro rural y urbano adaptado a sus necesidades. https://fliphtml5.com/wtae/akxf/basic

[32] Catastro. http://www.sigtierras.gob.ec/catastro-rural/

[33] The Law on the Organization of Communes defines communes as population centre with at least 50 inhabitants and which is not a parroquia (the smallest political-territorial division).

[34] Congreso Nacional. (2004). Codificación de la Ley de Organización y Régimen de las Comunas. https://vlex.ec/vid/codificacion-4-ley-organizacion-643461297

[35] Tito Villacreses Pincay. (2013). ‘Nueva ley de comunas, una normativa urgente’. América Latina en movimiento. https://www.alainet.org/es/active/66581

[36] International Labour Organization (ILO). (1989). Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention No. 169. https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:55:0::NO::P55_TYPE,P55_LANG,P55_DOCUMENT,P55_NODE:REV,en,C169,/Document

[37] Silvia Álvarez Litben. (2016). ´La importancia de tener nombre: Identidad y derechos territoriales para las comunas de Santa Elena, Ecuador´. Revista de Antropología Experimental. No. 16.

[38] Monitoreo de la Problemática sobre Tierras y Territorios en Ecuador. (2017). Boletín Especial No. 4. Tierra, Territorio y Comunidades. Sipae, Fepp, Ecolex. https://monitoreodelatierra.com/pdfs/boletin-4.pdf 

[39] Asamblea Nacional. (2016). Ley Orgánica de Tierras Rurales y Territorios Ancestrales. https://www.ambiente.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2018/09/Ley-Organica-de-Tierras-Rurales-y-Territorios-Ancestrales.pdf

[40] Monitoreo de la Problemática sobre Tierras y Territorios en Ecuador. (2017). Boletín Especial No. 4. Tierra, Territorio y Comunidades. Sipae, Fepp, Ecolex. https://monitoreodelatierra.com/pdfs/boletin-4.pdf 

[41] Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. Encuesta de Superficie y Producción Agropecuaria Continua 2021. https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiNjk1M2M4Y2UtNmYwOS00MDk1LWIxYzgtNmVkMzM5ODMzODNlIiwidCI6ImYxNThhMmU4LWNhZWMtNDQwNi1iMGFiLWY1ZTI1OWJkYTExMiJ9&pageName=ReportSection5b660c865b9de068070e

[42] Ibidem.

[43] Ibidem.

[44] Ibidem.

[45] World Bank. Área selvática Ecuador. https://datos.bancomundial.org/indicator/AG.LND.FRST.ZS?locations=EC

[46] Global Forest Watch. Ecuador. https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/ECU

[47] Doménica Montaño. (2021). ´Nuevo estudio: en los últimos 26 años Ecuador ha perdido más de 2 millones de hectáreas de bosque´. Mongabay. https://es.mongabay.com/2021/03/nuevo-estudio-en-los-ultimos-26-anos-ecuador-ha-perdido-mas-de-2-millones-de-hectareas-de-bosque/

[48] Bolier Torres, et. al. (2020). Deforestación en paisajes forestales tropicales del Ecuador: Bases científicas para perspectivas políticas. Universidad Estatal Amazónica.

[49] Doménica Montaño. (2021). ´Nuevo estudio: en los últimos 26 años Ecuador ha perdido más de 2 millones de hectáreas de bosque´. Mongabay. https://es.mongabay.com/2021/03/nuevo-estudio-en-los-ultimos-26-anos-ecuador-ha-perdido-mas-de-2-millones-de-hectareas-de-bosque/

[50] Santiago Kingman. (2007). Áreas protegidas y pueblos indígenas. Un estudio de caso en Ecuador. Red Latinoamericana de Cooperación Técnica en Parques Nacionales, Otras Áreas Protegidas, Flora y Fauna Silvestres. https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/parques-nacionales-oapn/proyectos-de-cooperacion/8caso-ecuador_tcm30-287863.pdf 

[51] Ministerio del Ambiente, Agua y Transición Ecológica. (2021). Reporte Sistema Nacional de Áreas Protegidas.

[52] World Bank. Población urbana Ecuador: https://datos.bancomundial.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=EC

[53] Ministerio de Desarrollo Urbano y Vivienda. (2015). Informe Nacional del Ecuador. Tercera Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre la Vivienda y el Desarrollo Urbano Sostenible Habitat III. https://www.habitatyvivienda.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2017/05/Informe-Pais-Ecuador-Enero-2016_vf.pdf

[54] Ibidem.

[55] Ibidem.

[56] Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería. (2021). ‘Ecuador promueve inversiones en sector agropecuario.’ https://www.agricultura.gob.ec/ecuador-promueve-inversiones-en-sector-agropecuario/

[57] Lucía Vásconez. (2021). ‘USD 519 millones se invertirán en 2022 en proyectos mineros.’ El Comercio. https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/negocios/proyectos-mineros-inversion-ecuador-desarrollo.html

[58] Bnamericas. (2021). ‘Ecuador apuesta por la minería para reactivar la economía y enfrentar la pobreza´. https://www.bnamericas.com/es/reportajes/ecuador-apuesta-por-la-mineria-para-reactivar-la-economia-y-enfrentar-la-pobreza#:~:text=Ecuador%20tiene%20al%20momento%20solo,en%20la%20etapa%20de%20producci%C3%B3n.

[59] Marcela Alvarado. (2019). ‘Grandes transacciones de tierras en el Ecuador en el contexto de acaparamiento global de tierras’ in International Land Coalition, Land Matrix. Grandes Transacciones de Tierra en América Latina. Sus Efectos Sociales y Ambientales. Land Grabbing. https://d3o3cb4w253x5q.cloudfront.net/media/documents/dossier_landmatrix-lac_.pdf

[60] Swissinfo. (2022). ‘El presidente de Ecuador presenta proyectos de inversión a empresarios chinos.´ https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/china-ecuador_el-presidente-de-ecuador-presenta-proyectos-de-inversi%C3%B3n-a-empresarios-chinos/47322424

[61] Diana Morán y Charles Lozano. (2017). ‘El ascenso de China como socio estratégico del Ecuador.’ Yura: Relaciones internacionales. http://world_business.espe.edu.ec/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/10.7-El-ascenso-de-China-como-socio-estrat%C3%A9gico-del-Ecuador.-Ok-Diana-Mor%C3%A1n.pdf

[62] Miguel Luzuriaga. (no year). Inversiones chinas en Ecuador: Andes Petroleum y los Bloques 79 y 83. CDES, DAR, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. https://www.redalc-china.org/monitor/images/pais/Ecuador/investigacion/197_Ecuador_2006_China_Petroleum__chemical_Corp.pdf

[63] Marcela Alvarado. (2019). ‘Grandes transacciones de tierras en el Ecuador en el contexto de acaparamiento global de tierras’ in International Land Coalition, Land Matrix. Grandes Transacciones de Tierra en América Latina. Sus Efectos Sociales y Ambientales. Land Grabbing. https://d3o3cb4w253x5q.cloudfront.net/media/documents/dossier_landmatrix-lac_.pdf 

[64] Cecilia Molina , Luis René Ávila and Carlos Valverde. (2022). ‘Los medios de comunicación social y la consulta por el agua en Cuenca’, Revista Killkana Sociales (6) 2. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=8476712

[65] Ibidem.

[66] Marcela Alvarado. (2019). ‘Grandes transacciones de tierras en el Ecuador en el contexto de acaparamiento global de tierras’ in International Land Coalition, Land Matrix. Grandes Transacciones de Tierra en América Latina. Sus Efectos Sociales y Ambientales. Land Grabbing. https://d3o3cb4w253x5q.cloudfront.net/media/documents/dossier_landmatrix-lac_.pdf

[67] International Land Coalition. (2019). ‘Land Matrix ofrece nuevos datos sobre grandes transacciones de tierra en América Latina.’ https://lac.landcoalition.org/fr/noticias/land-matrix-ofrece-nuevos-datos-sobre-grandes-transacciones-de-ti/

[68] Fundación Futuro. Mashpi se expande hacia el futuro. https://www.fundacionfuturo.org.ec/mashpi-se-expande-hacia-el-futuro/ 

[69] Ferrere. (2018). ‘Ecuador crea el área protegida denominada “Mashpi, Guaycuyacu y Sahuangal.” https://www.ferrere.com/es/novedades/ecuador-crea-el-area-protegida-denominada-mashpi-guaycuyacu-y-sahuangal/

[70] Asamblea Nacional. (2016). Ley Orgánica de Tierras Rurales y Territorios Ancestrales. https://www.ambiente.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2018/09/Ley-Organica-de-Tierras-Rurales-y-Territorios-Ancestrales.pdf

[71] Marcela Alvarado. (2019). ‘Grandes transacciones de tierras en el Ecuador en el contexto de acaparamiento global de tierras’ in International Land Coalition, Land Matrix. Grandes Transacciones de Tierra en América Latina. Sus Efectos Sociales y Ambientales. Land Grabbing. https://d3o3cb4w253x5q.cloudfront.net/media/documents/dossier_landmatrix-lac_.pdf

[72] Monitoreo de la Problemática sobre Tierras y Territorios en Ecuador. (2017). Boletín Especial No. 4. Tierra, Territorio y Comunidades. Sipae, Fepp, Ecolex. https://monitoreodelatierra.com/pdfs/boletin-4.pdf 

[73] UNDP. (2008). Assessment of Development Results. Evaluation of UNDP contributions. Ecuador. https://www.oecd.org/countries/ecuador/46810541.pdf

[74] Amnesty International. (2019). ‘They will not stop us’. Ecuador: Justice and protection for Amazonian Women, defenders of the land, territory and environment.’ https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AMR2800392019ENGLISH.pdf

[75] FIAN Ecuador. (2018). Mujeres Rurales y Tierra en Ecuador. ¡Es hora de cerrar las brechas de género en el campo!. https://fianecuador.org.ec/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Mujeres-Rurales-y-Tierra-en-Ecuador.pdf

[76] Ministerio de Agricultural y Ganadería. (2021). ´Línea de crédito para mujeres rurales alcanzó los 4.5 millones de dólares en colocaciones.´ https://www.agricultura.gob.ec/linea-de-credito-para-mujeres-rurales-alcanzo-los-4-5-millones-de-dolares-en-colocaciones/

[77] Diana Montesdoeca Chulde y Melissa Ramos Bayas. (2021). Acceso a la tierra en el Ecuador a partir de sus políticas públicas más recientes. International Land Coalition.

[78] Ibidem.

[79] Ibidem.

[80] FIAN Ecuador. (2018). Mujeres Rurales y Tierra en Ecuador. ¡Es hora de cerrar las brechas de género en el campo!. https://fianecuador.org.ec/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Mujeres-Rurales-y-Tierra-en-Ecuador.pdf

[81] Ibidem.

[82] Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería. (2020). Diagnóstico Territorial. Resumen Ejecutivo. https://www.agricultura.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Resumen-Ejecutivo-Diagn%C3%B3sticos-Territoriales-del-Sector-Agrario_14-08-2020-1_compressed.pdf

[83] Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo Rural (RIMISP). (2018). ‘Ecuador: Apenas el 25% de la tierra está en manos de mujeres rurales´. https://www.rimisp.org/noticia/ecuador-apenas-el-25-de-la-tierra-esta-en-manos-de-mujeres-rurales/#:~:text=de%20mujeres%20rurales-,Ecuador%3A%20Apenas%20el%2025%25%20de%20la%20tierra%20est%C3%A1,en%20manos%20de%20mujeres%20rurales

[84] FIAN Ecuador. (2018). Mujeres Rurales y Tierra en Ecuador. ¡Es hora de cerrar las brechas de género en el campo!. https://fianecuador.org.ec/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Mujeres-Rurales-y-Tierra-en-Ecuador.pdf

[85] Ibidem.

[86] FIAN Ecuador. (2018). Mujeres Rurales y Tierra en Ecuador. ¡Es hora de cerrar las brechas de género en el campo!