input–output matrix ranks best in terms of comparability and external validity.
Aware that other countries in the region are also interested in implementing
similar efforts, we have completed this exercise prioritizing the comparability
(across and within countries) and external validity aspects. Thus, this work may
aid in the elaboration of future evaluation approaches in other Latin American
countries.
Keywords
Bioeconomy · Bioindustry · Input–Output model · Sustainable Development
Goals · Latin America
3.1
Introduction
The Ecuadorian economy is highly vulnerable to external factors. The oil sector
represents more than 40% of total exports and 20% of the public sector income (BCE
2018). Since the dollarization in 2000, the country has experienced an average
growth rate of 3.7% but also negative growth (around À1.23%) in 2016, due to a
fall in international oil prices and an earthquake in the northern coast of the country
(BCE 2018). The dollarization of the Ecuadorian economy marks a turning point in
the country’s economic history, in which the loss of monetary policy, dependence on
foreign currency, competitiveness, and other factors investigated by local authors
(Acosta 2004; Correa 2004; Falconí 2004) are characteristics to consider when
executing public policies. The national and international scientific community,
bearing in mind that Ecuador is a megadiverse country, considers biodiversity as a
comparative advantage (even competitive) of a new development paradigm that may
contribute to the construction of a post-oil Ecuador (MAE 2016).
The bioeconomy has the potential to coherently address the complex challenge of
generating from agricultural production, new sustainable sources of economic and
social growth that contribute to the achievement of most Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). In fact, promoting the bioeconomy and its subsectors in Ecuador
allows the country to avail itself of a strategic resource that has been neglected so far,
biodiversity and its genetic wealth. Despite the local interest awakened by the
bioeconomy (Ortega-Pacheco et al. 2018), its understanding and the development
of policies that could exploit its potential continue in an incipient stage.
In this context, the increasing exhaustion of natural stocks and volatility in prices
of raw material (e.g. oil prices) raises the need to promote public policies towards a
socio-economic transition that guarantees the environmental, social, and economic
sustainability of the country, particularly the rural sector. This context provides an
opportunity for the bioeconomy. In the same vein, the fall in prices of raw materials
has an impact on agriculture, generating a crisis of alternatives for the rural sector
and an opportunity for biodiversity-based production schemes that reduce vulnerability to external shocks. Indeed, the National Biodiversity Strategy (NBS)
2015–2030 has been designed to give way to the industrialization of biodiversity
36
D. Ortega-Pacheco et al.
Aware that other countries in the region are also interested in implementing
similar efforts, we have completed this exercise prioritizing the comparability
(across and within countries) and external validity aspects. Thus, this work may
aid in the elaboration of future evaluation approaches in other Latin American
countries.
Keywords
Bioeconomy · Bioindustry · Input–Output model · Sustainable Development
Goals · Latin America
3.1
Introduction
The Ecuadorian economy is highly vulnerable to external factors. The oil sector
represents more than 40% of total exports and 20% of the public sector income (BCE
2018). Since the dollarization in 2000, the country has experienced an average
growth rate of 3.7% but also negative growth (around À1.23%) in 2016, due to a
fall in international oil prices and an earthquake in the northern coast of the country
(BCE 2018). The dollarization of the Ecuadorian economy marks a turning point in
the country’s economic history, in which the loss of monetary policy, dependence on
foreign currency, competitiveness, and other factors investigated by local authors
(Acosta 2004; Correa 2004; Falconí 2004) are characteristics to consider when
executing public policies. The national and international scientific community,
bearing in mind that Ecuador is a megadiverse country, considers biodiversity as a
comparative advantage (even competitive) of a new development paradigm that may
contribute to the construction of a post-oil Ecuador (MAE 2016).
The bioeconomy has the potential to coherently address the complex challenge of
generating from agricultural production, new sustainable sources of economic and
social growth that contribute to the achievement of most Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). In fact, promoting the bioeconomy and its subsectors in Ecuador
allows the country to avail itself of a strategic resource that has been neglected so far,
biodiversity and its genetic wealth. Despite the local interest awakened by the
bioeconomy (Ortega-Pacheco et al. 2018), its understanding and the development
of policies that could exploit its potential continue in an incipient stage.
In this context, the increasing exhaustion of natural stocks and volatility in prices
of raw material (e.g. oil prices) raises the need to promote public policies towards a
socio-economic transition that guarantees the environmental, social, and economic
sustainability of the country, particularly the rural sector. This context provides an
opportunity for the bioeconomy. In the same vein, the fall in prices of raw materials
has an impact on agriculture, generating a crisis of alternatives for the rural sector
and an opportunity for biodiversity-based production schemes that reduce vulnerability to external shocks. Indeed, the National Biodiversity Strategy (NBS)
2015–2030 has been designed to give way to the industrialization of biodiversity
36
D. Ortega-Pacheco et al.