The Business Year Special Report
María Beatriz Eguiguren, Coordinator, Observatory of SocioEnvironmental Conflicts (OBSA), Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL)
For a controversial sector in its infancy, having the right up-to-date research methods for monitoring—and, more importantly, minimizing—conflict has never been more important.
• Interview
What factors and needs motivated the establishment of OBSA under the umbrella of UTPL?
In recent years, our country has undergone several changes that have modified the social, political, economic, and environmental scenarios, which are also subject to external forces at the regional and global levels. From a socio-environmental perspective, legal and institutional changes have occurred since the reform of the 2008 constitution. Its greatest achievement was the incorporation of the rights of nature, a situation that puts the country at the legal vanguard. However, at a global level, governments do not give it due importance. In the southern region of Ecuador, the central government had to generate a new mining policy that, on the one hand, regularizes informal ones and, on the other, activates foreign investment in projects. This situation has generated opposition from some indigenous sectors against companies and the government, especially in the provinces of Zamora-Chinchipe, Azuay, and Morona Santiago. In this context, UTPL in collaboration with the Arcoiris Foundation in the city of Loja and what used to be known as the DED German Cooperation (now the GIZ) created OBSA to become a center to analyze socio-environmental conflicts from a research perspective.
What are the main lines of research of the observatory?
The observatory focuses on socio-environmental and inter-ethnic conflicts, socio-environmental issues, indigenous justice, and interculturality. It also has an early warning system.
What research does the observatory carry out to specifically monitor the impact of mining activity in areas like Zamora-Chinchipe?
OBSA has been running the socio-environmental conflict monitoring model project with an early warning system (MMCSA+SAT) for several years in response to the growing socio-environmental conflict in the El Pangui canton, which was influenced by the arrival of the first large-scale mining project in Ecuador. This model is designed within the theoretical framework of conflict and peace studies. It is formed by indicators that are instruments for gathering information that synthesize important aspects of different phenomena directly or indirectly related to socio-environmental conflicts in the canton and their evolution over time. The indicators are periodically updated according to the evolution of the context following a participatory process. Those responsible for these different activities are the local actors, according to their legal, technical, and personal commitment on equal terms, to representatives of the government, community, business sector, and human rights and environmental NGOs. Direct work is carried out with the local population through a participatory community model to monitor social and environmental impacts, combining this collaborative method with mapping perceptions of change and socio-environmental impacts. It is based on transparent structural and cyclical processes and quantitative and qualitative data in high-risk areas, their multi-partial analysis, and their focused dissemination. It also helps facilitate human rights monitoring that guarantees compliance, thereby contributing to the peaceful management of socio-environmental conflicts. Through dialogue and participation, the aim is to reconstruct the social fabric to achieve community empowerment, an essential factor in the early response cycle. As such, the model contributes to greater efficiency in local decision-making and promotes collaborative work between local institutions, academia, and civil society. As a tool, there is a software that provides information on the problems and perceptions of socio-environmental conflict.
Applying socioenvironmental conflict monitoring model
The latest research, information, and training methods
How can a harmonization of mining activity, environmental protection, and the community development in the affected areas be achieved?
Harmonization between the actors in the mining conflict can be achieved by applying the early warning system, since it seeks to contribute to a conflict management mechanism that prevents escalation and reduces levels of violence. This system focuses on the relevant conflicts according to the perceptions of the different actors, so that early alerts are issued to both the involved actors and state institutions in order to avoid escalation. ✖