A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

Change and the Kyoto Protocol. There are many dimensions to the problematic
and to deal with modern problems requires ‘non-modern solutions’,
as Boaventura dos Santos suggests, or to dis-occidentalize, ethically
and fairly, “all that which has previously been known as ‘barbarism’, ‘exoticism’,
‘popular wisdom’, ‘[haceres]’ and ‘folklore’ ”(Albán, 2006: 71).
New relationships with nature will help us listen to the calls by the indigenous
and Afro-descendant peoples who oppose oil exploitation, the
cutting down of mangrove trees as is happening in the northern zone of
Esmeraldas, the indiscriminate and inhuman encroachment of mining,
the indiscriminate production of hydrocarbons – all of which adds to
global warming.
Mangroves are an example of the ecological, climatic, alimentary and
work crisis that directly affects the Afro-Ecuadorian communities and
others too. They are wetlands that are invaded by salty and brackish
water from the sea and consist of mangrove trees, beaches, tidal waters
and other habitats associated with tropical and subtropical latitudes.
These swamps form an eco-system, a fount of life which facilitates the
reproduction of various marine species that spawn in the estuaries of
the rivers and in some cases spend part of their development within
these eco-systems, seeking food and protection. Some 80 per cent of
these marine species depend on this eco-system to survive. They produce
a large quantity of fauna because of their rich organic material,
which feeds molluscs and crustaceans, from micro-organisms to mammals,
including shell-fish, birds, amphibians, chelonians, reptiles and insects
that form part of a complex chain that culminates with the human
being, as many riverside communities survive on these species.
In Ecuador, out of a total of 1,229 kilometres of open rivers, 533 were
originally bordered by mangroves (Vivanco, 2010: 271). The provinces
of Oro, Guayas, Manabí and Esmeraldas benefited greatly from this system
until, in the 1970s, the shrimp boom had an increasingly [negative]
impact on them.
“The mangrove is a natural undertaking which does not require paper,
does not ask for a C.V.: you come and go whenever you want. Through
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