Ecuador’s new free trade agreement with China is getting backlash from critics worried about public health risks and potential damage to the environment. The agreement, which was signed last May but still needs approval in Ecuador’s National Assembly, has come under fire for policies that could overwhelm the country’s waste disposal systems, increase deforestation and let polluting companies off the hook, among other issues. “This is one of the smallest economies in South America starting to negotiate with the largest economy in the world,” said Diana Castro, a researcher with Latinoamérica Sustentable, an environmental NGO. “The situation is completely unequal and is going to translate into impacts on Ecuador’s ecosystems.” The agreement covers virtually all of Ecuador’s exports and is expected to boost non-oil exports by several billion dollars over the next decade. But it also allows Chinese waste to enter the country that will be difficult to process, including pharmaceutical products, electrical parts, batteries, scrap metal, plastics, glass and contaminated liquids. Ecuador barely has the adequate infrastructure for processing its own waste, let alone the waste of other countries, WWF-Ecuador said in a statement. It’s especially unprepared for processing the waste of products not made in Ecuador, like single-use plastics and certain industrial chemicals. “With this free trade agreement, Ecuador is going to turn into a garbage dump,” said Esther Cuesta, a member of the National Assembly, during a debate earlier this month. “…The people who negotiate on behalf of Ecuador are people who don’t love this country.” Chinese…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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