The IPSI Secretariat recently received a case study from partner organization the Neotropical Montology Collaboratory at the Geography Department, University of Georgia in the United States of America, focusing on activities in Ecuador.

The case study describes the qualities of a cultural landscape kept within modernity by the local people of the Utawallu valley in Imbabura province of Northern Ecuador. Conservation efforts to incorporate cultural diversity alongside the biological diversity of the significant protected area in Western Ecuador are needed in order to improve protection of the traditional ancestral farmscape of the Imbakucha Basin. According to the authors, different characteristics of the socio-ecological production landscape present in the site should lead to a successful initiation of a new wave of conservation in which Andean cultures are prioritized and cultural ecosystem services (re)valued. A plea is presented to invigorate the conservation of sacred sites as a necessary step towards the Imbakucha watershed being declared the first candidate in a list of several prospective category V sites in Ecuador. UNESCO has recognized the area as a sacred site and there is a move from within the community to enlist it as a GeoPark, due to the impressive geological and morphological features of the watershed and the waves of tourists seeking adventure tourism, and not only recreation, but also ethnotourism from the indigenous market place. The authors discuss the dilemma of conservation and sustainable development within a syncretic mountainscape where European practices and indigenous traditions have melded, producing a uniquely Ecuadorian trademark attraction signalling a syncretic mountainscape. Accordingly, they confront the dilemma of conservation and development with the question: How can we measure the cultural value of the services provided by the Imbakucha mountainscape, and how would the perception of climate change make ethnotourism practices enhance nature conservation from an indigenous perspective?

This case study was originally published in the Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review vol. 5. For the full case study, please see either the volume or the full write-up of the case study on the IPSI website here.