External publications

Navigating the tides of conservation and conflict: The political ecology of Mangrove Ecosystem Sustainable Use and Custody Agreements in the Gulf of Guayaquil, Ecuador

Chávez-Páez, Wendy / Jean Carlo Rodríguez-de-Francisco / Federico Koelle / Anna-Katharina Hornidge
External Publications (2025)

in: Maritime Studies 24 (3), article 50

DOI: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-025-00444-x
Open access

Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURFs) are a rights-based management strategy that grants area-based fishing rights to specific community groups. In Ecuador, following immense mangrove deforestation caused by industrial shrimp farming, TURFs have been implemented through Mangrove Sustainable Use and Custody Agreements (AUSCEMs, for its Spanish acronym), driven by grassroots demands to conserve remaining mangroves and recognize ancestral territorial rights. This article examines the power-laden dynamics of these agreements in the Gulf of Guayaquil, Ecuador through ethnographic research in two fishing communities. We analyze historical and ongoing conflicts and reveal how multi-scalar power—across visible, hidden, and invisible forms—shapes access to and control over mangrove resources, often reinforcing inequalities and epistemic injustices. Our findings highlight how funding inequities, limited tenure security, and rising threats from organized crime compromise community-led conservation. For this management approach to succeed, it is essential to close funding gaps for stewardship and innovation, address security and service disparities, recognize local ecological knowledge, and fully honor ancestral territorial rights to promote equitable, sustainable governance.

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