The Yasuní-ITT Initiative: an analysis based on the Multiple Stream Model

Abstract

This paper analyzes the Yasuní-ITT Initiative, a proposed environmental and natural resources policy, by which the Ecuadorian government would renounce the exploitation of major oil reserves. It aims at discussing the Initiative as an innovation on the political agenda based on the social construction of oil exploitation in the Ecuadorian Amazon as a public problem, the development of alternative solutions and their government recognition. The research is grounded on the Kingdon's Multiple Streams Model (MSM) in the agenda setting process, from an extensive literature review. The data concerning the Initiative was collected primarily on scientific literature, as well as documents of institutions and organizations involved in its formulation. Although the Initiative has not been implemented, its evolution in the agenda has highlighted the links between local, territorial disputes and national economic issues, the possibility of economic compensation and a moratorium on exploitation, as well as raising questions concerning political legitimacy. These flows’ linkage was possible through a political window centered on climate change and varied agents such as the Presidency, oil companies, NGOs and social movements, as well as international institutions and other governments. The main contributions to the discussion of public policy and agenda setting concern: the relevance of the combination of discourses, moral (biodiversity, human rights and climate change) and economic in this case; the strong correlation between different scales (national and international) in understanding the political flow; and the procedural view of agents in leading flows and policy windows, by changing their relative capabilities of exercising power.

KEYWORDS:
public policy; Multiple Streams Model; oil; Ecuador; Yasuní