Why don’t we practice Integrated Coastal Zone Management?

Let’s give it a try through Convivial Conservation.

Research and Narrative: Wendy Chávez
Illustration and AR: Freddy Barreiro

This poster offers a current vision and 3 alternative realities for the observers. The first part illustrates the current situation of some communities in the Gulf of Guayaquil on the Ecuadorian coast. It is an image of struggles, that shows the operation of shrimp farming extractive practices on the mangrove forest, and the fish industry illegally entering the interior waters. Although the remanent mangrove forest has been granted custody through community-based management, after a long struggle of the coastal communities, tensions are still present due to mangrove logging and the lack of public knowledge about water quality. Also, the deforestation has exacerbated conflicts among gatherers of the mangrove resources, which are their main source of income: fish, red crabs (Ucides occidentalis) and black cockles (Anadara tuberculosa). Another menace is the presence of “pirates”, who steal boats and belongings of people from the communities. And, additionally, some communities are deprived of essential services like drinking water, energy and waste collection.

Through the application of principles of convivial conservation, we present a shift in the medium and long-term future of the communities. We are aware that it can be naive to present one only and perfect future, so we developed 3 scenarios. Since the commodification of nature is not the ultimate paradigm anymore, in one of scenarios we see that the shrimp farms have reduced their size through the implementation of a project of “reverse colonization” (Sheikh, 2018) that had led to the recuperation of spaces for mangrove forest and, consequently to smaller shrimp ponds. From the understanding of the shift “from saving nature to celebrating human and nonhuman nature”, ancestral ans caring practices of fishing and gathering have been appraised and reintegrated to the way the estuary is harvested. Focused on social and ecological justice, communities count with essential services. The values identified by the custodian communities are finally understood by Ecuadorians, and go beyond the economic appreciation, including ‘social resilience’, ‘cultural identity’, ‘pride and community spirit’, ‘sovereignty’, and ‘links to community history’ (Büscher & Fletcher, 2019).

“Any act of change must  be a political struggle

(Büscher & Fletcher, 2019)

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