Areas of work
ENVIRONMENT
FIDES carry out the main bulk of its work in two of the ecosystems present on the Ecuadorian coast: the mangroves and the dry forest.
Socio - ecological and cultural landscapes
The communities and organizations that FIDES accompanies are mainly concerned with family farming, characterized by low production due to poor access to agricultural technology and irrigation, high production costs, poor training and technical assistance, and little access to credit.
Associative marketing
The economies of rural families have serious structural problems.
Micro-finance
Access to formal credit is a very strong limitation for families and community organizations, as they often do not qualify as credit subjects.
Democracy, Social Organization and Citizen Engagement
The Political Constitution of Ecuador guarantees Ecuadorians to participate in the construction of a more inclusive, equitable society that respects both social and cultural diversity, as well as recognizing the natural environment as a subject of such rights.
Risk Management
Due to its geographical location, Ecuador is under a series of natural, hydro-meteorological, geological and other mixed threats.
Humanitarian Aid
Although states are obliged to guarantee the human rights of people affected by humanitarian crises, FIDES, as an NGO working within the framework of these rights, will directly and indirectly support the assistance to the affected communities, in coordination with the relevant parties.
Environment
FIDES carry out the main bulk of its work in two of the ecosystems present on the Ecuadorian coast: the mangroves and the dry forest.
The mangrove ecosystem is one of the five most productive in the world, with multiple functions: it generates desalination barriers; supports the reproduction of innumerable marine species; produces a wide variety of foods widely used in coastal populations’ daily diet; offers several alternative job opportunities in the collection and capture of species of mollusks, crustaceans, fish, among others, and also in the use and extraction of wood. Ancestral communities that live in and around the mangroves have organized their lives and culture around the goods and services provided by this ecosystem.
The dry forest is home to flora and fauna that have adapted their survival techniques to extreme conditions of temperature and dryness. It can be considered an area of low biodiversity but has been recognized for its high levels of local and regional endemism. The vegetation forms part of an ecological function which constitutes a source of environmental services, such as carbon capture and storage, contributing to the fertility of the soil. It also provides important resources for the forest’s inhabitants, among which are firewood, wood for building houses, fences, forage for domestic animals, medicines and tools such as rope.
The two ecosystems are threatened by different factors. The mangrove suffers in particular from the loss of space due to the installation of industrial shrimp aquaculture, and from contamination, as the pollution from the basins of the Portoviejo and Chone rivers collects there. This is either from discharge of sewage, or pollution produced by inadequate agricultural practices and the offloading of water filled with high concentrations of chemicals from the shrimping industry. As for the dry forest, the main threats are the expansion of the agricultural frontier, the expansion of urban areas, and selective logging.
Socio - ecological and cultural landscapes
The communities and organizations that FIDES accompanies are mainly concerned with family farming, characterized by low production due to poor access to agricultural technology and irrigation, high production costs, poor training and technical assistance, and little access to credit. In addition to this, it should be noted that limited access to end markets means that family production essentially remains in the parish centers having a clear command over negotiations.
The mangrove communities catch fish and harvest in the traditional way, one of the ancestral activities in the estuaries. This activity has been losing its significance due to contamination and the loss of certain species’ habitats. It makes the number of this type of product scarce, as the community tourism industry takes advantage of the scenic beauty of the area.
The communities within the dry forest, in addition to family farming, harvest and process products from the forest, such as honey from bees, derivatives of palo santo, and barbasco (a vegetable used for fishing) amongst other things.
Associative marketing
The economies of rural families have serious structural problems: land tenure and the capacity to regenerate the productive system, aggravated by an inadequate government policy framework, inability to access the market and accelerated depredation of natural resources that have put its sustainability at risk.
In this context, associative marketing is a legitimate strategy to improve access to markets by rural families and artisanal fishing, which promote sustainable agriculture and traditional harvesters, as well as organizations linked to community tourism.
Micro-finance
Access to formal credit is a very strong limitation for families and community organizations, as they often do not qualify as credit subjects. This is down to two aspects: they do not meet all the necessary requirements, and their weak access to productive services and access to markets where margins generated in the production process are captured by intermediaries.
Democracy, Social Organization and Citizen Engagement
The Political Constitution of Ecuador guarantees Ecuadorians to participate in the construction of a more inclusive, equitable society that respects both social and cultural diversity, as well as recognizing the natural environment as a subject of such rights.
To achieve this new inclusive society, one such way that is promoted is participation and social organization, as well as dialogue between society and state institutions that allow the strengthening of ideas, experiences and approaches to carry out actions in favor of the Ecuadorian population.
Despite this, there are moments of weakening of organized civil society, due to implementation of a political model which tries to control the participation of citizens through decrees and policies.
Risk Management
The volcanic and geological activity is explained by the interaction that develops between the tectonic plates of Nazca and South America, which generate high temperatures transforming the material into magma that seeks its exit through the earth’s crust. This is generally through volcanoes that, in the case of Ecuador, at least seven are still active and/or in the process of reactivation, namely Reventador, Cotopaxi, Juanoy-Doña Juana Sumaco Complex, Antisana Patascoy, Quilindaña and Sincholagua. The most serious threats are generated by the fall of pyroclastic materials (ash, lapilli, bombs), circulation of lava flows, seismovolcanic activity, slip generation, obstruction of river channels, emission of toxic gases, acid rain, etc.
Equally, this same interaction of the aforementioned plates produces significant seismic activity.
Floods and mudslides are another of the increasingly recurring phenomena, especially on the country’s coast.
Finally, there is an imbalance of water resources that, in the future, can manifest more acutely, causing droughts. This is accentuated by the evident increase in temperature and the presence of longer summers, especially on the coast.
Humanitarian Aid
Although states are obliged to guarantee the human rights of people affected by humanitarian crises, FIDES, as an NGO working within the framework of these rights, will directly and indirectly support the assistance to the affected communities, in coordination with the relevant parties.