Expansion of intensive shrimp farms in the Muisne Canton, Ecuador

Expansion of intensive shrimp farms in the Muisne Canton, Ecuador

1. Excessive propagation of uncontrolled shrimp farms or artificial farms generating legal and illegal actors.

   • Ilegal actors
     • False concessions for shrimp farming in the mangrove area
     • Illegal shrimp farmers not associated with local organizations
   • Legal actors
     • Shrimp industry
     • Central Government of Ecuador
     • Local Shrimp Associations
     • Temporary concessions for shrimp farming in the mangrove area
   • The mangroves fulfill two functions
     • Source of sustenance for the inhabitants of the region
     • Medium of protection of the coasts of marine erosion and source of birth and food for species of primary marine ecosystems of the region.

2. Dispute location

   • Ecuador, Province of Esmeraldas, Muisne Village

3. Cause of conflict

   • Ancestral right of the inhabitants to the development of artisanal fishing and exploitation of the mangrove.
     • By government dispense has been delivered in concession to large companies and some local for the development of artificial shrimp farming, a situation also exploited by illegal for the economic advantage.
   • Protection of the environment and primary marine ecosystem.
     • Environmentally, mangroves protect the coast from marine erosion
     • Ecosystem because the mangrove are source of birth of mollusks and shrimp, as well as this is a food for a native fish of the sea, and some inhabitants use their wood to build their houses and make any handicrafts

4. Parts of the conflict

   • Defenders of the mangrove
     • Fundación de Defensa Ecológica (FUNDECOL)
       • Small groups organized against the destruction and privatization of mangroves
       • Mangrove Users Group
       • Groups of women Concheras
     • VS.
       • Mangrove Exterminators
         • Central Goverment
         • Legal grants
         • Ilegal grants and shrimps fishers
         • Interestingly economic and voracious growth of the shrimp industry
     • Protection of the environment and the ecological chain of the region.
     • Guarantee their traditional methods of subsistence and self-sustainability.
     • Inclusion and vindication of women's rights.

5. Threats to the safety

   • In the environmental
     • Threats against biodiversity
     • Extinction of native marine species
     • Erosion of coastal zones
   • In the economics
     • Excessive privatization and deregulation of public property
     • Generalized economic uncertainty
   • Socially
     • Modification of the labor market
     • Social disintegration
     • Increase in poverty in the region