Ecuador

Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse countries on Earth. This makes the country an important strategic partner for global efforts to protect the climate and conserve biodiversity. Ecuador can only achieve its ambitious environmental policy goals – such as extending protected areas and reducing deforestation – with the help of international support.

Ecuador’s economy continues to depend on exploiting its mineral resources (especially oil, gold and copper) and on exporting agricultural products (bananas and cocoa) and seafood.

Its government faces the task of improving the security situation and building an environmentally viable, socially just economic model.

German development cooperation with Ecuador

Germany is one of Ecuador’s most important bilateral development cooperation partners. At the government negotiations held in October 2024, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) committed 93.5 million euros in new funding for Ecuador.

Germany’s development cooperation with Ecuador focuses on three core areas:

Conserving nature and natural resources, protecting life on Earth
Areas of intervention: biodiversity and forests
Peaceful and inclusive societies
Areas of intervention: good governance, and displacement and migration
Climate and energy, just transition
Area of intervention: sustainable urban development

In addition, Ecuador benefits from several projects with which the BMZ supports the region through a cross-border approach, and from two Team Europe Initiatives of the European Union.

Mountain toucan in Yasuní National Park, Ecuador

The protection of the environment and natural resources is the main focus of Germany’s development cooperation with Ecuador. The German Development Ministry (BMZ) assists its partners in conserving Ecuador’s extraordinary biodiversity and using it in a sustainable way.

Because of the tense security situation, public security, prospects for young people and employment opportunities are all the more important for a peaceful and inclusive society in Ecuador. The German Development Ministry (BMZ) supports the efforts of the Ecuadorian government to implement reforms with the goal of increasing people’s trust in public institutions and preventing corruption.

The percentage of the population living in urban areas has continuously grown over the past few decades. Around two thirds of Ecuador’s people now live in towns and cities. Germany is supporting Ecuador’s efforts to implement strategies for sustainable urban development and urban mobility, and draw on international climate finance.