The purpose of this research was to critically analyze the social license to operate (SLO) for an oil company operating in Block 10, an oil concession located in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The specific study area is an important biodiversity hotspot, inhabited by indigenous villages. A mixed-methods approach was used to support a deeper understanding of SLO, grounded in participants’ direct experience. Semi-structured interviews (N = 53) were conducted with village leaders and members, indigenous associations, State institutions, and oil company staff, while household surveys were conducted with village residents (N = 346). The qualitative data informed a modified version of Moffat and Zhang’s SLO model, which was tested through structural equation modelling (SEM) analyses. Compared to the reference model, our findings revealed a more crucial role of procedural fairness in building community trust, as well as acceptance and approval of the company. Procedural fairness was found to be central in mediating the relationship between trust and the effects of essential services provided by the company (medical assistance, education, house availability) and sources of livelihoods (i.e., fishing, hunting, harvesting, cultivating, and waterway quality). The main results suggested that the concept of SLO may not appropriately apply without taking into account a community’s autonomy to decline company operation. To enhance procedural fairness and respect for the right of community self-determination, companies may need to consider the following: Establishing a meaningful and transparent dialogue with the local community; engaging the community in decision-making processes; enhancing fair distribution of project benefits; and properly addressing community concerns, even in the form of protests. The respect of the free prior informed consent procedure is also needed, through the collaboration of both the State and companies. The reduction of community dependence on companies (e.g., through the presence of developmental alternatives to oil extraction) is another important requirement to support an authentic SLO in the study area.

In the Amazon Rainforest, a unique post-carbon plan to mitigate global warming and to protect the exceptional bio-cultural diversity was experimented in 2007–2013 by the Ecuadorian government. To preserve the rainforest ecosystems within the Yasuní-ITT oil block, the release of 410 million metric tons of CO₂ would have been avoided. The neologism “yasunization” emerged as an Amazonian narrative on “unburnable carbon” to be replicated worldwide. Considering the unburnable carbon, petroleum-associated gas flaring represents the unleakable part. Flaring is an irrational practice that consists of burning waste gases, representing not only a leak of energy but also a pollution source. The general aim of the paper is to monitor gas flaring as a tool, revealing, at the same time, the implementation of environmental technologies in the oil sector and the compliance of sustainable policies in the Amazon region and the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve. Specific objectives are: (i) identifying and estimating gas flaring over seven years (2012–2018); (ii) mapping new flaring sites; iii) estimating potentially affected areas among ecosystems and local communities. We processed National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Nightfire annual dataset, based on the elaboration of imagery from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and developed a GIS-based novel simple method to identify new flaring sites from daily detections. We found that 23.5% of gas flaring sites and 18.4% of volumes of all oil industries operating in Ecuador are located within the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve (YBR). Moreover, we detected 34 additional flaring sites not included in the NOAA dataset—12 in the YBR and one in Tiputini field, a key area for biological and cultural diversity conservation. We also found that at least 10 indigenous communities, 18 populated centers and 10 schools are located in the potentially affected area. Gas flaring can be used as a policy indicator to monitor the implementation of sustainable development practices in complex territories.

On 26 January 2021, the Court of Nueva Loja banned oil-related gas flaring (GF) activities in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region (EAR), establishing a term of 18 months for GF sites ‘near populated centres’ and until 2030 for those remaining. However, it is still unclear how the ruling will be applied. The present study investigates the impact of GF sites on Amazonian settlements to support the application of the ban. This research is part of the Extreme Citizen Science process carried out by the Apaguen los Mecheros campaign—one of the main claimants in the trial. To estimate the impacts on populated centres and four Amazonian cities, literature data on GF impacts were used to create three risk scenarios: very high-risk scenarios (VHR) within 0.65 km, high-risk scenarios (HR) within 2.25 km and moderate-risk scenarios (MR) within 5 km. The results highlighted that 294 of 295 GF sites affect at least one populated centre in the MR and should thus be shut off. Additionally, 92 populated centres are affected in the VHR, 318 populated centres are affected in the HR and 711 populated centres are affected in the MR, while 180 populated centres are affected simultaneously by 6–18 GF sites in the MR. The results also show that 99,918 people in Amazonian cities may be currently affected by the MR, and more than 12,000 are affected in VHR areas. By applying different metrics found in literature, the research provides the first assessment of the risk posed to the health of local communities for GF in the EAR. The results are being used from members of campaign in the trial, showing how participatory processes can support the grassroots and indigenous movements taking action to shape just futures.