Strengthening governance mechanisms and protection of the community conservation area in the Portoviejo River Estuary, Manabí, Ecuador

Overview

The organization "Coordinadora Comunitaria Ambiental", comprising four communities, has been conserving and restoring mangroves, salt flats, beaches, and dunes since 2011. However, they lack legal authority to control and penalize those who damage these ecosystems and their biodiversity. On April 28, 2022, the area was formally declared as "Community Conservation and Sustainable Use Areas (ACUS)" covering 238.89 hectares: 50.94 hectares of mangrove forest; 30.38 hectares of estuarine water bodies; 0.28 hectares of dry forest; and 156.91 hectares of beaches, dunes, and salt mines. This declaration was legally registered on March 27, 2024. Approximately 7,902 people live in the ACUS and its buffer zone, with over 3,000 depending on the ecosystem services of the mangroves, river, beaches, dunes, and salt mines for their livelihoods, which include fishing, tourism, artisanal salt production, and ecological agriculture. The Coordinadora Comunitaria Ambiental has a management plan for the ACUS Community, but since these community conservation areas lack state or local authority funding for managing protected areas, the communities must self-manage. They require initial support to implement a control and monitoring system and to widely disseminate land use regulations within the ACUS to authorities and the public, ensuring that community decisions for territory protection are recognized and respected. The project goal is to protect the 238.89 hectares within the ACUS Community area. This will be achieved by strengthening the community governance of the environmental community coordinator, implementing a control and surveillance system, raising awareness of the importance of the ACUS Community, and ensuring the livelihoods of 3,000 people who depend on the ecosystem services provided by the mangroves, river, beaches, dunes, and salt mines. Means of livelihoods will be improved by protecting ecosystem services and supporting sustainable production chains.

Planned activities:

• (1) Ongoing coordination for the implementation of the ACUS Community Management Plan and the strengthening of the environmental community coordinator.
• (2) Procedures to formalize the legal status of the Environmental Community Coordinator of the Portoviejo River Estuary.
• (3) Semi-annual meetings with public, private, and community stakeholders in the territory to coordinate the implementation of the management plan.
• (4) Process for obtaining registration as an other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM).
• (5) Participatory development of the Control and Surveillance Plan for the ACUS Community Portoviejo River Estuary.
• (6) Workshops to socialize the Control and Surveillance Plan for the ACUS Community Portoviejo River Estuary in the four involved communities and with local authorities.
• (7) Training of at least 4 candidates as community park rangers prior to the selection of the ACUS Community park ranger.
• (8) Implementation of the spatial monitoring and reporting tool (SMART) for monitoring, reporting, evaluating, and improving control and surveillance activities in the ACUS Community area.
• (9) Design and implementation of a social media campaign on the importance of the ACUS, the conservation of the ecosystems in the protected area, and the regulations that grant authority to the communities for its management.
• (10) Advisory and internal control of the ecological rice plots.
• (11) Promotion of community tourism in the ACUS through the 'Raíces' Tourism Operator, a social company created by the FIDES Foundation to support community tourism organizations in the province of Manabí.