Paper short abstract:

Intag, a cloud forest region in northwest Ecuador, stands out for mega-biodiversity and the recent environmental movement. However, at the same time Rafael Correra’s government promotes extractive development as ‘sustainable’ and necessary to fund social transfers, which have large and popular support

Paper long abstract:

Intag, a cloud forest region in northwest Ecuador, stands out for mega-biodiversity and the recent environmental movement. However, at the same time Rafael Correra's government promotes extractive development as 'sustainable' and necessary to fund social transfers, which have large and popular support. Within the 1800 km2 area, lie magnificent forests, steep topography, six parish seats, multiple hamlets, homesteads and a few dirt roads. Multicultural residents make their livelihoods principally out of their surroundings, and are eager for income-generating activities. The majority is aligned with an ecological justice agenda and successfully organized to keep two transnational open-pit copper mining projects out of the community of Junín in the Toisán Range. Nevertheless, others illegally extract timber, and a gold mine exists adjacent to the community of Rió Verde that employs forty men. These seemingly incongruous discourses sometimes pit neighbors against neighbors, but also create opportunities for alternative political alliances and broadened imaginations about economic justice during Correra's post-neoliberal era.