Ikiam plays a key role in the Ecuadorian government's strategy for 'structural change' towards a 'green and knowledge-based economy' as part of its overall 'post-neoliberal' modernization project.

The proposed project sets out to understand Ikiam's effects as well as its origins. In particular, I will investigate the socio-ecological relations that are produced or reconfigured by Ikiam, as well as the national and international discourses and policies on a transition to a 'green economy', which underpin Ikiam's development through valorisation and justification.

With a cross-cutting focus on people's lived experiences, including the heterogeneity of their interpretations and valuations of socio-ecological change, I will use ethnographic and participatory research methods to inquire into the complexities of this change 'on site', addressing (a) access to resources, (b) processes of accumulation, dispossession and marginalisation, (c) social metabolism (use of energy and materials, and disposal of waste). Critical discourse analysis will be used to approach the question of Ikiam's value in and to national and international political-economic projects and their articulation into wider global processes.

With an unusual combination of theories, and the mixed method approach which I developed in my doctoral research, the project will transcend the economistic understandings of socio-ecological conflicts, as well as the understandings of global connections as uni-directional, which are predominant in 'political ecology'. The project will also contribute to the discussions in Ecuador on how to further develop Ikiam and realise its intentions – equitably.