2024 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

Promoting the conservation and protection of ecosystems that should be protected through the system of conservation areas in the province of Esmeraldas consisted of guaranteeing the conservation and recovery of the natural heritage of the province of Esmeraldas, through the application of environmental practices and policies for the sustainable use and management of ecosystems, in order to permanently establish the provision of ecosystem services that support human wellbeing and development.

The Province of Esmeraldas, with the presence of its forested areas, possesses an extraordinary biota, which to a large extent is not under any conservation status, so that for years it has suffered the indiscriminate extraction of its resources and the permanent change of land use, Therefore, it was decided to preserve the biodiversity of the province of Esmeraldas through the declaration of conservation and sustainable use areas (ACUS), in order to promote sustainability through management plans that promote sustainable use and exploitation practices.

The general population has been involved, but specifically all local and national nationalities, Chachis and Afro women's groups, LGBTIQ+ (External link) people, and we even worked at the local government level, including NGOs.

This resulted in the following: