Conserving Mangroves with ICTs and Community Production - Ecuador

The national network for the defence of the mangrove area, C-CONDEM (Coordinadora Nacional para la Defensa del Ecosistema del Manglar), aims at defending the Ecuadorian mangrove swamp area in Ecuador through exchanging knowledge and experiences and through lobbying and advocacy at national policy level. In the ‘Mangrove ICT’ project C-CONDEM promotes community production initiatives in the mangrove ecosystem for increased economic sustainability of the marginalised population of the mangrove swamp, in a setting of competition for scarce resources with commercial shrimp producers. The project focuses on the use of ICT in initiatives among poor fishermen’s communities dealing with ecotourism in Muisne and repopulation of fish and shellfish in Limones, both in the coastal province of Esmeraldas. The overall goal of the Mangrove ICT project is to strengthen local knowledge and capacities of organisations and local communities and to improve their management of production initiatives related to conserving the ecosystem through the use of ICT. The past project phase has focused on producing three environmental management plans proposal to recover, conserve, and defend the mangrove ecosystem, while ensuring the rights of the ancestral communities in the mangrove swamp area. Two out of the three plans have been accepted by the Ministry of Environment for implementation until present. In these plans, heavy use is made of a GIS application. The project currently is in independent continuation. At present, a GIS application of the mangrove swamp area is under preparation and a commercial centre on culture and traditional dishes of the mangrove swamp area has been opened up in Quito.

Ecuador's economic policies are geared toward extracting natural resources to repay the foreign debt, which entails destruction of Amazon and other tropical forests, land suited to farming, and mangrove ecosystem areas along the Ecuadorian coast. Accordingly, the National Coordinating Corporation to Defend the Mangrove (C-CONDEM) has created initiatives in provinces of the Ecuadorian Coastal Region, working with grassroots communities and organisations to recover, conserve, and defend the mangrove ecosystem, which is a natural heritage of the Coast, considered among the five most productive ecological units in the world.

Read more about IICD's Ecuador Country Programme.

The past project phase has focused on producing three environmental management plans proposal to recover, conserve, and defend the mangrove ecosystem, while ensuring the rights of the ancestral communities in the mangrove swamp area. Two out of the three plans have been accepted by the Ministry of Environment for implementation until present. In these plans, heavy use is made of a GIS application.

The project currently is in independent continuation.

With the help of Italian bilateral funding a commercial centre has been opened in Quito which serves to promote culture and traditional dishes from the mangrove swamp area of Ecuador. Together with the FUNDECOL organisation, a GIS is being developed which will go public in 2009. Various maps will be included, such as locations of commercial shrimp growers, deforestation areas, community tourism activities and shellfish collecting areas in the mangrove swamp.

Most ICT is now being developed through C-CONDEM's sister organisation FUNDECOL, particularly the SIGEMA GIS application, mapping various resources in the mangrove swamp. This application is not yet available on the Web, however. C-CONDEM is no longer a member of Infodesarrollo; there is no longer any capacity development in ICT taking place; there is no M&E being done anymore. End-users have virtually no access to computers (as these are being used by the organisations) so they will forget their training fast. ICT has helped the institutional development of C-CONDEM and has streamlined operations. In November 2009 a Focus Group meeting has taken place.

Results achieved were:

• Systematisation and reflection on community tourism processes in the canton of Muisne and repopulation of shellfish in the canton of Limones.
• Support for research and community strategic planning processes to support the project.
• Production of PowerPoint multimedia presentations by C-CONDEM promoters to reproduce knowledge acquired through technical research, systematization and experience exchange.
• Validation of communication products with the community.
• Publishing and disseminating communication and information products to inform and train communities around Muisne and Limones to handle production initiatives regarding ecosystem conservation.
• Exchanging alternative community production experiences as a feedback process for local population groups and to incorporate production alternatives in the mangrove ecosystem environment.
• ICT training for the project team is a major thrust, emphasizing not only the technical part but also construction of the communication message.
• Institutional capacity-building within C-CONDEM to promote sharing of information and knowledge among its members, other institutions and organisations through its Website www.ccondem.org.ec, a bulletin board and electronic newsletters.

The development goal is to construct a community management proposal to recover, conserve, and defend the mangrove ecosystem on the Ecuadorian Coast, while ensuring the human rights of communities who are ancestral users of this ecosystem. The overall goal of the Mangrove ICT project is to strengthen local knowledge and capacities of organizations and communities who are ancestral users of the mangrove system, to improve their management of production initiatives related to conserving the ecosystem by using ICT. The project focuses on the use of ICTs to exchange knowledge on income provision through ecotourism in Muisne and repopulation of fish and shellfish in Limones both in the province of Esmeraldas.

Incorporation of production alternatives in the mangrove ecosystem, and audiovisual and print records of activities done with the communities, promoters, leaders, technicians and coordinators, will aim to construct - with community participation - a model for recovery, conservation and management of the mangrove ecosystem as a protected area favouring sustainable local development. All actions to defend, conserve and recover the mangrove ecosystem on the Ecuadorian coast began with a local community proposal, which has gradually and increasingly influenced broader mangrove management policies. There has only recently been any public recognition and among authorities of the seriousness of coastline destruction.

Read more about IICD's Ecuador Country Programme.

• It is necessary to strengthen production initiatives in local organizations and communities in mangrove ecosystem areas on the Ecuadorian Coast, through information and communication processes grounded in their own knowledge, with scientific and technical information inputs.
• Producing material is highly important for the project, since the material must be responsive to the needs of population groups involved, enabling them to build their capacity to handle resources, and provoking reflection and experience exchange.
• ICT training for the project team is a major thrust, emphasizing not only the technical part but also construction of the communication message.
• Exchanging alternative community production experiences as a feedback process for local population groups and to incorporate production alternatives in the mangrove ecosystem environment.
• Institutional capacity-building for C-CONDEM to promote sharing of information and knowledge among its members, other institutions and organizations through its Website www.ccondem.org.ec, a bulletin board and electronic newsletters.

The national network for the defence of the mangrove, C-CONDEM (Coordinadora Nacional para la Defensa del Ecosistema de Manglar)), aims at defending the mangrove swamp area in Ecuador through exchanging knowledge and experiences and through lobbying and advocacy at national policy level.