BOGOTA, Colombia — When Ecuadorians voted two years ago to block oil drilling in Yasuni National Park, it was a triumph for environmentalists seeking to protect one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. And it was in character for a country that was first to enshrine the “rights of nature” in its constitution and is home to parts of the Amazon rain forest and the Galápagos Islands.

But recent moves by President Daniel Noboa have alarmed environmentalists and Indigenous leaders who say the country’s green reputation — and its protections for civil society — are unraveling.

Noboa’s administration has moved to scrap the country’s independent Environment Ministry. It’s pushing legislation ostensibly aimed at choking off illegal mining, but which critics fear will devastate nonprofits. The National Assembly — pressed by Noboa — approved a law last month allowing private and foreign entities to co‒manage conservation zones that critics say weakens protections and threatens Indigenous land rights. And Ecuador just signed a new oil deal with Peru that could accelerate drilling in sensitive areas.

Natalia Greene, an environmental advocate with the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, said Noboa’s decision to fold the Environment Ministry into the Ministry of Energy and Mines will speed up mining just as Ecuador is grappling with a surge in illegal gold mining tied to organized crime. She called it “like putting the wolf in charge of the sheep.”

“The government’s intention is very clear — to be a machine gun of extractivism,” she said.

Noboa has defended the ministry moves and other changes as necessary to cut costs, reduce bureaucracy and address Ecuador’s financial crisis. Officials argue that consolidating ministries will make decision‒making more efficient.

Neither the Ministry of Energy and Mines nor Noboa’s office responded to questions from The Associated Press.

Indigenous rights at risk

In July, Peru and Ecuador signed a deal for Ecuador’s state oil company to sell crude directly to Petroperu and link its southern Amazon reserves to Peru’s Norperuano pipeline, with drilling eyed for January 2026. Environmental groups say it could fast‒track drilling in sensitive areas while skirting safeguards and Indigenous consultation.

Peru’s Achuar, Wampis and Chapra nations denounced the plan in a public letter, saying it would gut long-standing protections that require communities be consulted before projects move forward on their lands. They warned the pipeline already averages 146 spills a year and that expanding it would be “a grave threat to the Amazon and to Indigenous livelihoods.”