Nearly 38 thousand hectares of protected areasforests and grasslands have been devastated by the forest fires that Ecuador experienced, during the last five weeks, throughout its territory.
According to the criteria of
Nearly a thousand victims, more than 45 thousand dead animals and at least others 5 thousand affected by fire and smokeare the hard figures that leave 3,360 fires registered by the National Risk Secretariat since January 2024, in 21 of the 24 provinces of the country.
Quito, the Ecuadorian capital, was declared “under attack” by the city’s mayor, Pabel Muñoz, due to seven simultaneous forest fires that raised suspicions of “criminal and terrorist acts.”
The flames reached several homes in peripheral neighborhoods, the scene was dantesque while some two thousand troops, including firefighters, military, police and paramedics managed to put out the burning that destroyed some 120 hectares of forest and affected 23 wild species.
After five years there will be vegetation again and for these areas to fully recover it will take between 10 and 100 years.
“After the covid-19 pandemic, this is the worst thing that has happened to Ecuador, one more blow that overwhelms this country that already faces a high unemployment rate, the escalation of drug violence, urban crime and economic paralysis that is forcing massive migration, all at the doorstep of a presidential campaign in which the same problems from a decade ago are being debated,” he told The Time the psychologist Enrique Samaniego.
Three months must pass for the soil to cool and begin a hydration stage and sow again. “After five years there will be vegetation again and for these areas to fully recover, it will take between 10 and 100 years,” says technician Sebastián Pillajo.
According to the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Danilo Palaciosthe fires and drought have affected more than 35,000 hectares, leaving a complex scenario for agriculture and food for productive animals, which is already wreaking havoc on the supply chain for the population and increasing prices.
In this scenario, more than 70 days so that the first rains of a delayed winter appear, putting out the fires and giving a respite to the agonizing hydroelectric production that has forced energy rationing throughout the territory of up to 14 hours a day.
But The forecasts are not encouraging. The rains failed to considerably increase river flows and isolated rains are expected until mid-October. Thus, blackouts will continue at 10-hour times throughout Ecuador, although there are areas where only 4 hours of energy is received or the cuts last more than 14 hours, according to a report from the Ecuavisa network.
The reservoirs of the hydroelectric plants, which cover up to 95 percent of the national demand of between 4,600 and 4,800 megawattsreached critical levels while the thermal generators are paralyzed due to lack of maintenance.
Although the energy crisis had been a public warning for more than four years, amidst confusing and contradictory information about energy cuts, the government brandished conspiracy theories that even, last April, led the president, Daniel Noboato fire its Minister of Energy, Daniela Arrobo, and report her to the Prosecutor’s Office for alleged “sabotage.”
Now he describes the situation as a “water and non-electric crisis” and according to the president we are experiencing the worst drought in 61 years. “It is chaos and it is much worse than expected,” Noboa pointed out after ensuring that previous governments “left us screwed.”
We reject the lack of information and the lack of predictability of the Government in the face of this crisis. It is time for a change in the energy model
“We reject the lack of information and the lack of predictability of the Government in the face of this crisis. “It is time for a change in the energy model,” he said. Maria Paz Jervispresident of the Chamber of Industries and Production. According to the unions, every hour of blackout means 12 million losses for the country.
The president of the Assembly, Henry Kronfle, considered that “the inexperience, inability and improvisation of this Government are the only ones responsible for this blackout crisis.”
The truth is that “Ecuador has a totally weakened electrical system,” according to the president of the College of Electrical Engineers, Marco Acuña. In dialogue with Time, he highlighted that there is a thermal park without preventive maintenance and 30 percent of this equipment have exceeded 30 years of useful life. “Nothing has been done to plan and provide continuity to the electrification master plan that outlined a route for 50 years,” he said.
To overcome the deficit of 1,080 megawatts that has reached 1,500According to experts, the government has called for emerging tenders. In June, 341 megawatts were contracted for the value of 352 million dollars. It rented, for 18 months, a barge from the Turkish company Karpowership for a value of 114 million and began the process to contract 100 thermal megawatts. But nothing will be enough, according to the union representative.
Unexpected blackouts have been recorded and one was even global throughout the country
For the expert, this is the most serious energy crisis that has been experienced in Ecuador. The difficulties had been going on for several years with cyclic blackoutsbut they had never affected 10, 12 and even 14 hours in certain sectors.
“There have been unexpected blackouts and one was even global throughout the country,” he says, predicting that the situation could continue until the month of December, depending on the rains and that Colombia do not reduce 300 megawatts that it currently sells to Ecuador.
Since 2019, the entire legal structure was reconfigured so that the private sector incorporates energy and develops transmission and distribution projects. 11 concessions granted during Guillermo Lasso’s government have not contributed any kilowatts and, last January, Noboa promoted the approval of the Law emerging “no more blackouts”, but in practice there are no results, according to Acuña.
For the economic analyst Alberto Acosta Bermeo, Ecuador will need an investment of 17 billion over the next decade to avoid the electricity crisis
ANA LUCÍA ROMÁN – FOR TIME – QUITO
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