‘El Agua es Vida/Water Is Life’: Community Watershed Reserves in Intag, Ecuador, and Emerging Ecological Identities

Abstract

Intag, Ecuador, is a unique area for its biodiversity, international attempts to extract resources, and the local mobilization against mining. Its inhabitants, known as Inteños, live in scattered communities, hamlets, and farms, and have indigenous, African, and mixed – mestizo – origins. For the most part, Inteños depend upon the natural world for their livelihoods and have developed a unique culture that stresses values of mutual interdependence that complement collective and individual rights. The northwestern subtropical Andes Mountains are steep, rugged, and interspersed with abundant rivers and streams. The sound of flowing water is always near. When local interests clashed with attempts to extract mineral by powerful transnational mining companies, a culture of political ecology emerged. ‘We can’t sell our children’s future by letting a ­mining company come in and contaminate our beautiful river’, Carmen Proaño, community president of Río Verde, proclaimed on August 14, 2009.