Ecuador officializes the National Bioeconomy Strategy 2026-2036 as public policy

The Ministry of Environment and Energy approved and officialized the National Bioeconomy Strategy of Ecuador 2026-2036 as an environmental public policy of national scope, through Ministerial Agreement MAE-MAE-2026-0099-AM, signed on October 13, 2026, and published in the Official Registry No. 400 on Thursday, October 29, 2026, in its section I (Executive Branch, Agreements), page 11. The instrument establishes a ten-year horizon based on the sustainable use and exploitation of terrestrial, aquatic, and marine biological resources, including native biodiversity and its ecosystem services. Furthermore, it orders the Natural Heritage Committee to establish a tracking, monitoring, and evaluation mechanism within 180 days.

The agreement bears the signature of Minister Juan Carlos Damián Blum Baquero, appointed via Executive Decree No. 376 on May 7, 2026, and was certified on October 16, 2026, by Secretary General Luis Carlos Artieda Carrera as a true copy of the original electronically signed in the Quipux system. It consists of six pages and enters into force upon its publication in the Official Registry.

The regulation is based on articles 14, 71, 313, and 400 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, which declare the conservation of biodiversity to be of public interest and reserve its administration and management to the State; and on articles 23, 24, 80, and 81 of the Organic Environmental Code, which regulate bio-trade and the leadership of the National Environmental Authority. The file also invokes two current international commitments: the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, ratified via Executive Decree No. 2 published in the Official Registry No. 148 on March 16, 1993, and the Nagoya Protocol, ratified by Executive Decree No. 157 in the Official Registry No. 86 on September 25, 2017.

Four declared purposes

Article 2 of the agreement lists the goals with which the Strategy must guide public policy:

• Integrate bioeconomy into public management and productive processes, articulating science, technology, innovation, and traditional knowledge, with added value and scientific sovereignty.
• Promote productive transformation and value chains, with bio-entrepreneurships, bio-industries, and sustainable and circular production models, access to markets, and specialized financing.
• Contribute to human well-being, food sovereignty, and quality employment, with inclusive local economies and the participation of peoples, nationalities, and communities.
• Consolidate intersectoral and participatory governance that positions Ecuador as a regional and international benchmark in bioeconomy.

Mandatory for the Executive and under the leadership of the MAE

Article 3 provides that the Strategy shall be of mandatory application for the dependencies of the Ministry of Environment and Energy and shall serve as a reference framework for other Executive entities, decentralized autonomous governments, academia, the productive sector, community organizations, and civil society. The dissemination, coordination of implementation, and reporting are the responsibility of that ministry, through the Undersecretariat of Natural Heritage and its Biodiversity Directorate (Article 4).

The text also incorporates three operational mandates:

• The Vice Ministry of Environment and Marine-Coastal Affairs must coordinate so that the Single Environmental Authority issues technical standards, guidelines, guides, and complementary instruments for implementation.
• The Natural Heritage Committee will manage the tracking, monitoring, and evaluation mechanism within one hundred and eighty days from publication, a deadline that expires at the end of April 2027.
• The General Secretariat is in charge of publication in the Official Registry and the Social Communication Directorate is in charge of its dissemination on the institutional website.

Inter-institutional Validations and Regulatory Procedure Exemption

The file includes favorable pronouncements from three ministries during the construction of the document:

• Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade and Investments, official letter MPCEI-SAI-2026-0057-O dated May 11, 2026, which expressed technical conformity with the final version.
• Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture, official letter MINEDEC-SIITT-2026-0186-O dated May 12, 2026, which validated strategic line 2 on science, technology, and innovation.
• Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, official letter MAGP-SRIA-2026-0100-O dated July 30, 2026, which approved the final version after verifying the agreed adjustments.

Report No. MAE-DBI-2026-0071 of July 2026 declared the non-applicability of the Regulatory Impact Analysis, and Technical Report No. MAE-DBI-2026-0086 of August 26, 2026, concluded that the Strategy does not affect collective rights nor requires pre-legislative consultation. The General Legal Coordination issued a pronouncement of admissibility.

Sectoral Impact

With its officialization, bioeconomy becomes a transversal axis of Ecuadorian environmental policy over the next decade and an explicit reference framework for the agricultural, fishing, tourism, and biotechnology sectors, as well as for decentralized governments seeking to articulate bio-trade initiatives. The critical point will be the tracking mechanism that the Natural Heritage Committee must define within 180 days: on this will depend whether the four declared purposes are translated into verifiable goals and do not remain as mere policy statements.

Source: Official Registry, No. 400, Thursday, October 29, 2026, section I (Executive Branch, Agreements), p. 11 (official reference: MAE-MAE-2026-0099-AM).