- For their part, the rangers say the change creates instability and deprives them of job security.
- Park rangers have been working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, even handing out assistance kits to communities.
- Protected areas account for a fifth of Ecuador’s territory, and include ecologically important areas like the Galápagos Islands and Yasuní National Park.
* This story is a journalistic collaboration between Mongabay Latam and GK of Ecuador.
Instability and financial crisis wrought by COVID-19 have reached the national parks of Ecuador. On June 20, the Association of Park Rangers of Ecuador (AGE) sent a letter to the minister of environment and water, Paulo Arturo Proaño, asking him to reinstate 193 rangers, specialists and area chiefs who were dismissed the day before. The workers, from the National System of Protected Areas (SNAP), are considered essential for the conservation of the most biodiverse terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems in the country. Without them, national parks and marine reserves — including iconic sites like Yasuní National Park or Galápagos Marine Reserve — would be left without specialized keepers.
Ecuador has 56 protected areas that constitute 20% of its territory. The park rangers are responsible, 365 days a year, for conserving the biological diversity of these places and also providing alternatives for the sustainable development of their natural resources. Without them, the constitutional right to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environment cannot be guaranteed, nor can the conservation of the country’s natural and biodiverse resources be guaranteed, according to AGE. “This is not a labor law fight,” says Augusto Granda, president of AGE, “but a fight for the right of nature.”
During the pandemic they have continued their work as normal. They have received biosafety supplies — masks and antiseptic gels — to do so. This is important as they remain in constant contact with the communities. Some have even been involved in tasks that go above and beyond their duties, including helping distribute food kits to vulnerable populations in the provinces of Napo, Carchi, Chimborazo and Guayas, Granda says.
The park rangers’ contracts were terminated by means of a memorandum from the Ministry of Environment and Water dated June 19. The reason given for terminating them was that their provisional appointments had expired. In Ecuador, a provisional appointment is a form of public procurement. There is no limit on its duration and the position is available until someone else wins a public merit-based competition to fill it or until the Ministry of Finance eliminates the position. However, the park rangers were not called to any merit-based competition, which is why they are contesting their dismissal.
The fine print
Three days after AGE sent its letter requesting the reinstatement of the officials, the Minister Proaño responded. On his Twitter account, he said the dismissal of the officials was “fake news.” Proaño said he “would never leave the country’s protected areas without their guardians.” That same day, he met with a group from AGE and, according to Granda, promised not to dismiss any of the park rangers.
In a response letter that the park rangers received on June 23, there is no mention of definitive terminations. However, a change of work modality is established: from a provisional appointment to an occasional contract.
This change contains some fine print. Luis Suárez, executive director of Conservation International in Ecuador, says the new type of contract is unstable. “The ranger career particularly demands stability,” he says. Ecuador’s Organic Law of Public Service says these contracts, due to their legal nature, do not provide stability. Those who are hired in this way, unlike those who are appointed, do not have the right to severance pay or retirement incentives.
In addition, the Plan for the Optimization of the Executive Function, ordered by President Lenín Moreno in August 2019 to cut 10% of the workforce of public companies, also limits the duration of these contracts to one year. When that term expires, they are automatically terminated.
The letter, sent by the financial coordinator of the Ministry of Environment and Water, also says the park rangers must go through a process of “human talent evaluation” by June 30. If in that process it is determined that their positions are not necessary, the roles will not be approved by the Ministry of Labor Relations and the Ministry of Finance. In other words, those positions will cease to exist.
Tarcisio Granizo, a former environment minister, says he believes the change in work modality is a smoke screen. “They are giving the park rangers a false expectation so that they do not believe that they are going to be permanently dismissed, although in the future, the nature of the occasional contracts means that is what will happen,” he says. Granizo adds that even the provisional appointment they had before was not satisfactory, because more park rangers with job security are needed. Now the situation will be worse because, he says, the new form of contracting is absurd and harmful not only for park rangers but also for protected areas in Ecuador.
Twice the expense
Not creating new appointments could be the aim of the measure. Gabriela Obando, an administrative law expert, says he believes it is most likely that new rangers will be hired every year, because in some ways that would represent a saving to the state. However, in the long term, Obando says, “there would be no savings, but twice the expense because new rangers would have to be trained every year.” This, in addition to not being financially wasteful, would also be a setback in terms of environmental conservation.
Suárez from Conservation International says he is very concerned about what the park rangers are going through. He says that “without park rangers, there is no conservation, and without conservation there is no development.” In addition, he calls for a switch from viewing the care of protected areas as an expense to seeing it as an investment.
This is not the first time that state cuts have affected the agencies in charge of environmental issues in Ecuador. On March 4 this year, President Moreno merged the Ministry of the Environment with the Secretariat of Water (SENAGUA), sparking controversy because it could mean the reduction of resources destined for the environment.
In 2019, the Ministry of Environment’s budget was more than $24 million, while SENAGUA’s budget was a little more than $19 million. However, in 2020 the environmental budget was reduced by around $2 million and that for water by half. Now, the newly merged ministry will have to handle a greater number of projects with less money, which would put the conservation and protection of the environment in the country at risk.
When asked about the situation of the park rangers, the ministry responded with an official statement sent on June 23 via WhatsApp. In it, Minister Proaño reiterated his position that “at no time have technical staff who add value been dismissed, so this maintains continuity.” The statement repeats what Proaño said on social media: “protected areas are the heart of the country’s natural heritage” and “the Ministry of Environment and Water would never leave them without their guardians.” However, the contractual instability and evaluation processes could, in just one year, mean that is exactly what happens.
Banner image: Park rangers are the guardians of the natural resources of the 56 protected areas of Ecuador. Image by Augusto Granda.
This story was first reported by Mongabay’s Latam team and published here on our Latam site on June 25, 2020.
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