| dc.description.abstract | This project aims to understand how the actors in the Ecuadorian environmental movement experience the cooperation with the international development aid industry. The environmental movement is defined here as those working with environmental issues, not pertaining to the government, be it national or international organizations, academics, grassroots movements, activists, or others. It is a qualitative study, and has applied the use of in-depth interviews to understand how the informants make sense of their worlds. The informants are 20 actors from the Ecuadorian environmental movement, and one actor from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment. The actors interviewed from the environmental movement work in national and international NGOs, the UN, grassroots organizations, are environmental lawyers, and academics. Ecuador is one of the megadiverse countries in the world, and protecting the Amazon rainforest is crucial in fighting climate change. The aid industry aims to help the world’s poor and vulnerable, and climate change affects people living in poverty in the global South especially. With this as a backdrop, the objective of this study is to understand how the relationship between Ecuadorian actors and the international development aid agencies works, as seen from the Ecuadorian perspective, and whether it is possible to identify ways of improving the cooperation. The most important findings are related to the importance of local and cultural knowledge in the aid relationship, the necessity in building horizontal alliances, and the role of the government in hindering development aid cooperation in Ecuador | eng |