Methodology for the sustainable management of ecosystem resources towards livelihoods in the Andean area, through ecosystem-based adaptation

Development approaches and models aimed at ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA), improve the management of resources in rural territories with a perception of worldview and ancestral knowledge of the different age-generational groups. This allows building relationships of trust and reciprocity in the socio-environmental setting, translated into scientific knowledge in action plans with a focus on mitigation and adaptation to climate change. As a proposal for this trend, the EbA-PACHA methodology arises, which analyzes vulnerability to risks changes in the life strategies of rural communities, through a process that uses an alternative solution with the EbA approach. This methodology was implemented in rural communities in the province of Chimborazo in central Andean Ecuador. A graph of the relationships with development actors in their territories was generated, establishing that the institutions that have a hierarchy in decision-making are NGOs, while government actors related to the environment have a negative pressure against the generation of alternatives and lack to contribute to a sustainable proposal. With the application of this tool, it is observed that it is necessary to influence development by identifying their life strategies, since there is a strong connection to the use of natural resources and the interaction with human resources meaning people with knowledge. Nonetheless, without the nexus of interscientific knowledge people are increasingly disconnected from their ancestral wisdom. These results confirm the worldwide indigenous world view that "all is one" as affirmed by the "Nuu-Chah-Nulth" philosophy of Canadian indigenous populations, as also increasingly seen by scientists, citizens, as the only way to a sustainable future.