On February 26, Ecuador’s National Assembly passed the “Organic Law for the Strengthening of the Strategic Mining and Energy Sectors” by a narrow 77–70 vote. In force since March 2, the law fundamentally changes the environmental-licensing regime for mining projects, and environmental and Indigenous organizations are pushing back hard.
What changed
The central change ends the “environmental license” as the single entry point and sorts projects into risk-tiered “environmental authorizations” (autorización ambiental): high-impact projects still require a full environmental license, while lower-impact ones can proceed through lighter forms such as registration or certification. Within designated mining clusters, the environmental-impact-assessment window shrinks from 18–24 months to 12–15. The government stresses this is “not an abolition of licensing,” but critics argue the discretion over how projects are sorted itself hollows out environmental review. In an Ecuador whose confirmed potential centers on gold and copper — with silver and molybdenum also expected — the government’s aim to accelerate foreign investment is explicit: it labels mining a “strategic sector.”
An IMF arrangement in the background
What pushed the reform along is Ecuador’s arrangement with the IMF. To break excessive dependence on oil revenue, expanding mining investment and output is explicitly required. The clash between a government prioritizing fiscal stability and a civil society defending environmental protection and Indigenous rights surfaced all at once with this law. That the vote came down to just seven margin speaks to how divided the assembly is.
The cost the Galápagos and Indigenous peoples pay
The environmental NGO Amazon Frontlines warns the new law reaches Indigenous territories in the Amazon basin and the Galápagos. Simplifying the forms of environmental review, it argues, risks more permits issued without independent checks. On the Galápagos, the law explicitly bans extraction inside the national park, while a clause added at the last minute lets municipalities authorize the extraction of construction gravel and stone (áridos y pétreos) in “Sustainable Use Zones (ZAS)” outside the park. The government says this covers only about 3% of land outside the reserve, but voices within the Assembly called for its withdrawal, warning it invites private extraction and urban sprawl on the fragile islands. In neighboring Peru’s Madre de Dios, cumulative forest loss from gold mining had reached about 139,000 hectares by mid-2025 (MAAP). Whether review is being “made faster” or “neutralized” is a question decided less by the text than by how it is applied — and the answer is still to come.
Whether you “speed up” environmental review or “neutralize” it, the difference is razor-thin.
References
- Amazon Frontlines — amazonfrontlines.org
- Business & Human Rights Resource Centre — business-humanrights.org
- Peoples Dispatch — peoplesdispatch.org
- Ecuador Brief — ecuadorbrief.com
※ This article is the author’s commentary based on public information. Please confirm the latest figures, dates and procedures with governments and primary sources. Quotations are kept minimal and sources are cited.