Dominique le Roux
By Peter Cronkleton, Natalia Cisneros, Valentina Robiglio and Dominique le Roux (CIFOR-ICRAF); Néstor Santiago Luzón, Hilda Sofía Ayala, Pablo Moncayo Silva and Javier Jiménez Carrera (FAO Ecuador)
By framing conservation around water security – vital for households, agriculture, and food security – the Paisajes Andinos project was able to transform conservation from a source of resistance into a rallying point for cooperation. Water governance became the axis that connected Indigenous communities, water boards, local governments, and national ministries, embedding Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) in everyday decision-making.
This case is not only about protecting páramo ecosystems that regulate water for thousands downstream. It shows how ILM can work in practice by aligning conservation with livelihoods, creating governance spaces where community voices carry weight, and institutionalising agreements so they endure
beyond project cycles. It highlights how technical solutions – such as a new Water Protection Area –
were co-created with local stakeholders and backed by legal frameworks, ensuring both legitimacy and
long-term viability.
For practitioners, the lessons are clear: start from a shared priority, adapt plans to community realities,
and use governance spaces people already trust. For donors, the message is equally powerful: investing in
participatory water governance strengthens resilience far beyond conservation, advancing gender equity,
improving local economies, and building institutions that can sustain outcomes long after projects close.
About the landscape
Simiátug is a parish located in Ecuador’s Bolívar Province, which contains a high-altitude páramo ecosystem located between 3,200 and 4,200 m above sea level, is valued for the vital ecosystem services it delivers. This páramo plays a fundamental role in water regulation, including water retention and filtration, which is critical for both human consumption and agricultural activities in surrounding communities and the lower part of the watershed.
The watersheds in Simiátug are, however, fragile socio-ecological systems under increasing pressure due to unsustainable land-use practices and governance challenges. Overgrazing and the use of fire to convert native vegetation into pasture or farmland have led to soil compaction, erosion, and native vegetation loss, reducing the ability of these watersheds to effectively regulate water flows. These hydrological functions have been weakened by deforestation and burning for land clearing, further reducing water availability for downstream communities.
In this context, water governance emerged as a bridging force for conservation and sustainable management efforts in Simiátug. While previous conservation initiatives faced resistance due to competing land-use priorities, aligning local and government stakeholders around water security fostered collaboration across different governance levels and community stakeholders.
Recognizing the opportunity presented by this context, the Paisajes Andinos project – launched in 2020 and implemented by FAO Ecuador withfunding from the European Union – chose Simiátug as one of its priority landscapes to apply ILM in practice. By centering water in its territorial work, the project enabled a more cohesive, coordinated, and community-driven ILM approach, ensuring that conservation strategies were directly linked to local well-being. Active in 15 parishes across Bolívar, Azuay, Cañar, and Pichincha provinces, Paisajes Andinos worked to restore degraded areas, conserve páramo ecosystems, and strengthen community resilience. The project also sought to integrate sus- tainable practices into production systems.
In Simiátug, the project placed particular emphasis on fostering collaboration among a wide range of stakeholders – including government agencies, local communities, academia, and private sector representatives – to develop solutions that align productive activities with environmental conservation objectives, especially in relation to dairy production. This participatory effort resulted in the creation of the Simiátug Water Protection Area (APH1) aimed at conserving the páramo while ensuring that the quality and quantity of water required for human consumption and food security was available.
The Simiátug landscape has become both a space for learning and a reference point for the potential of ILM. The experience of joint work among territorial stakeholders provides an opportunity to explore how collaboration, innovation, and equitable governance contribute to shaping a resilient future for some of the most important Andean ecosystems.
ILM dimensions in the Simiátug landscape
In the Simiátug landscape, the Paisajes Andinos project applied ILM principles to reconcile conservation goals with sustainable production and local livelihoods. ILM is a process of using adaptive, inclusive and integrating strategies to shift landscape system behaviour. From the outset of the Landscapes For Our Future programme, the ‘Central Component’ team from CIFOR-ICRAF developed a typology of six ‘dimensions’ as an initial hypothesis about ILM, subject to change as learning progressed together with the programme’s projects:
- identification and engagement of stakeholders
- promotion of multi-stakeholder processes
- building a common vision for the landscape
- institutionalization of governance mechanisms
- adaptive and iterative management
- development of context-specific technical and policy solutions
This case study examines each of these dimensions, although the sixth one – tailoring solutions to local needs – is not addressed separately, as it is embedded throughout the description of the project’s actions and strategies. The following sections illustrate how each of these dimensions took shape in Simiátug, based on participatory governance, intercultural collaboration, and a shared commitment to restoring and protecting the páramo ecosystem.
Stakeholder identification
In 2021, the Paisajes Andinos project identified a threatened páramo ecosystem in Simiátug as a priority for conservation and initiated a participatory consultative process with Indigenous communities in this area based on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) principles, through which their consent to collaborate in the project was obtained. From that point on, the project carried out a Participatory Rural Appraisal and stakeholder mapping exercises to better understand the context of the landscape. This process included consultations with Indigenous communities, producer associations, local water boards, NGOs, and government institutions. It revealed the existence of a complex network of interconnected stakeholders operating across multiple levels and sectors.
After identifying the main Indigenous communities as central actors in the landscape, Paisajes Andinos initially established contact with 11 Waranka Kichwa communities located around the prioritized páramo area. During implementation, the project reached additional communities in the parish, ultimately engaging with 16 of the 17 communities (one community declined to participate).
Families in these communities rely primarily on mixed farming systems, producing a variety of crops, including potatoes and garlic, as well as small herds of dairy cattle. Artisanal cheese production constitutes one of the main sources of income for these families. However, traditional production systems, which rely on free-range grazing, have contributed to soil degradation as grazing expanded into sensitive páramo ecosystems. This situation af- fects both the water availability and the ecosystem’s recovery capacity.
The project also identified increasing seasonal migration, as many men –particularly younger generations – migrate to urban centres or large agricultural estates for seasonal labour, leaving women with primary responsibility for livestock and water resource management. Despite their key role in sustaining agricultural production and conservation activities, women have often faced barriers that limit their participation in the decision-making processes, and their access to resources. Recognizing this imbalance, the project actively worked to promote women’s leadership and participation.
Each Kichwa Indigenous community holds title to communal lands and maintains traditional governance systems through elected community councils. These structures provide the foundation for community decision-making, but residents are also typically embedded within dense networks of grassroots organizations based on their economic activities and interests. There are approximately 35 grassroots organizations in the parish, including producer associations, community-run enterprises dedicated to artisanal cheese production, livestock and dairy associations, as well as specialized groups such as a women’s artisan association with their own credit unions to support their textile production. Two associations – Cruzpampa and Verdepampa – represent the economic interests of dairy producers from the communities.
The region’s Indigenous communities are politically active and successfully organize through political parties to defend their interests. For example, the current mayor of the Guaranda canton, which includes the parish of Simiátug, is affiliated with the national Indigenous political party, the Movimiento de Unidad Plurinacional Pachakutik. Additionally, the Runacunapac Yachana Foundation (FRY), a second-level Indigenous organization, plays a coordinating role with communities and their grassroots organizations.
The project identified two types of organization that play crucial roles in water governance and management in the landscape: the Drinking Water Management Boards known as JAAPs2 and the Irrigation and Drainage Boards (JRDs3). Simiátug has 46 JAAPs and 17 JRDs, each managed by leaders elected from amongst its members. These entities operate at the micro-watershed scale, and are responsible for managing water supply systems for both human consumption and irrigation, maintaining infrastructure, and mediating conflicts among users. To access water, members are required to contribute to communal labour, pay monthly fees, and participate in board meetings.
To secure their rights over water resources, these organizations request concessions from the state to prevent other stakeholders, such as mining companies, from claiming access. The water concession registration process is, however, complicated, and most remain in an informal status. This is, in part, due to bureaucracy and the fact that communities in Simiátug must travel to Guayaquil in Southern Ecuador to complete the procedures, which involve significant time and costs.
Governance in Simiátug is structured across three levels: parish, cantonal (municipal), and provincial, through Decentralized Autonomous Governments (GADs4). The GADs play key roles within a vertical governance hierarchy and inter-jurisdictional interactions. The parish-level GAD of Simátug – the level of government closest to the communities – holds monthly meetings with community representatives. The Municipal GAD of Guaranda – the jurisdictional level which oversees Simiátug – manages land titling, economic development, and environmental policy. At the provincial level, the Bolívar GAD is responsible for planning, production, and environmental policy. Given its commitment to conservation, the Bolívar GAD is considered a strong ally by the Paisajes Andinos project.
Multi-Stakeholder Processes
Diverse multi-stakeholder process- es support the implementation of ILM by facilitating dialogue, coordination, and decision-making among key actors. These processes and spaces are essential mechanisms to address governance gaps, resolve land-use conflicts, and integrate long-term sustainability criteria into the landscape. To develop an ILM strategy, the Paisajes Andinos project collaborated with government stakeholders across multiple levels, aligning actions with existing planning frameworks. These efforts are embedded within governance structures and contribute to achieving long-term conservation goals.
At the provincial level, the Bolívar GAD convenes the Intersectoral Roundtable on Water, Land, and Páramo5, created in 2022. This platform combined eight previously independent technical roundtables – each dedicated to specific themes like water, páramos, production and biological corridors – into a single, more integrated and operational structure. It brings together representatives from the Bolívar provincial GAD, as well as municipal and parish GADs, national ministries (particularly MAG and MAATE), international non-governmental cooperation organizations (such as CONDESAN, GIZ, FPH, and FEPP), universities, and Indigenous and campesino federations and organizations. The roundtable’s objective is to share information on projects or programs and to enhance synergies among stakeholders through improved coordination across the province of Bolívar.
This roundtable has been critical in facilitating initiatives such as the formation of community fire brigades in Simiátug – a preventive strategy to reduce and respond to forest fires that threaten natural resources and local communities. This structure has also helped to reduce duplication of efforts at the community level by combining and aligning meetings and reducing the frequency of redundant gatherings.
At the parish level, the Simiátug Parish GAD convenes the Simiátug Intersectoral Roundtable.6 This platform includes representatives from municipal, provincial and national governments, but it primarily focuses
on amplifying local voices — particularly those of the JAAP representatives and community members. More than just a coordination space, this roundtable has become the principal mechanism for inter-community governance in the territory, where key decisions related to natural resource management and collective well-being are discussed and agreed upon. Meetings are held on the last Wednesday of each month to coincide with market day in the parish capital, which facilitates greater participation. While the platform is convened by the parish GAD, sessions are led by JAAPs and community delegates, who hold decision-making power over what happens in their territories.
Additionally, as part of the actions promoted under the Simiátug Water Protection Area (APH), a management committee was established to oversee the area and the implementation of its management plan. Each of the 11 communities in the páramo area, as well as the JAAPs and JRDs, has one voting representative on the committee. Other institutions, such as MAG, MAATE and FAO, participate as non-voting observers. This committee not only ensures broad representation but also leads the implementation of the APH’s Technical Management Plan, which was developed collectively through participatory rural diagnostics carried out with local communities to jointly analyse land use, social organization, and páramo management practices. The plan serves as a roadmap for prioritizing projects that address territorial challenges and guides strategic decisions made within this governance space.
These mechanisms have strengthened collaboration between local governments, communities, and private sector stakeholders, embedding ILM principles into long-term local governance structures.
Common vision
In Simiátug, secure access to water, both in terms of quality and quantity, emerged as a shared priority that connects the diverse stakeholders across the landscape. Water governance links stakeholders from multiple levels and has become a central axis of local multi-stakeholder dialogue, serving as the foundation for both conservation and sustainable production efforts.
In the past, water security was not necessarily linked to páramo conservation, as these highland ecosystems were often viewed as areas with potential for agricultural and livestock expansion. As water scarcity has increased over the past decade, however, perceptions have shifted. By focusing on water security, the project effectively integrated páramo conservation priorities into governance platforms, aligning them with local livelihoods.
Although this was not an explicitly shared vision from the beginning, the growing and commonly perceived problem of water scarcity acted as a structuring force that facilitated institutional coordination, enhanced stakeholder engagement, and enabled long-term sustainability planning. Through continued collaboration, this implicit alignment guided the practical implementation of ILM and helped shape ongoing governance processes.
Furthermore, FAO Ecuador articulated a broader vision for the recovery and protection of the páramos throughout the western Andes basin, centred on services such as water security, carbon sequestration, and food security. This vision also promotes the strengthening of agricultural production and value chains, in line with the interests of diverse stakeholder groups. For example, representatives from provincial and municipal GAD recognize páramos as important sources of drinking water for their urban centres.
As a result, water has served as a common thread, uniting members of local communities, government institutions, non-governmental organizations, and the productive sector. These shared interests have facilitated cross-sector and institutional collaboration, positioning ILM as a practical approach to inclusive and sustainable governance.
Institutionalization
One of the most important milestones in institutionalizing ILM in the Simiátug landscape was the creation of the APH-Simiátug – an achievement made possible through the project. Prior to the project, most of the communities around the páramo had already entered into individual conservation agreements with support from NGOs like FEPP and FPH. These informal conservation agreements helped initiate páramo protection at the community level, but official recognition through the APH was necessary to provide legal backing, unify fragmented efforts, strengthen institutional coordination, and ensure long-term, landscape-scale governance of water and páramo resources. The APH framework enabled the consolidation of a legally-recognized governance structure, the formal delimitation of a territorial boundary around the páramo, the establishment of a designated management committee for formal participatory governance, and the development of a management plan for the area.
Once approved by MAATE, this management plan will provide an additional layer of institutionalization to the Simiátug APH, as it will formally recognize the active role of the surrounding communities, the JAAPs and the JRDs in the co-management of the area. The plan also aligns community priorities with public investment and development plans, strength- ening the territory’s institutional capacity to sustain landscape restoration efforts in the long term.
Several institutional and policy frameworks provide guidance and further buttress this initiative. MAATE ensures the safeguarding of water-related ecosystem services through instruments such as the Water Resources Law and the delineation of National Priority Areas for Water Protection. Additionally, the National Plan for Integrated and Comprehensive Management of Water Resources in Ecuador’s River Basins and Watersheds seeks to ensure the integrity of freshwater ecosystems for the populations that depend on them. Complementary to this, the National Plan for the Conservation, Restoration, and Sustainable Use of Páramos reinforces the country’s commitment to landscape resilience and the protection of high Andean ecosystems.
To embed ILM principles into governance structures, Paisajes Andinos signed formal letters of agreement with key partner institutions, including parish, municipal, and provincial GADs. These agreements laid the foundation for inter-institutional collaborative efforts and commitment beyond the project’s lifespan, ensuring that conservation and sustainable production efforts remain active beyond direct project implementation. This institutionalization of agreements, plans, and governance spaces has helped consolidate integrated landscape management as a valid, recognized, and replicable approach in the territory.
Iterative and adaptive learning
In Simiátug, participatory processes empowered local stakeholders, strengthened technical capacities and promoted sustainable alternatives to traditional practices. These processes enabled continuous adjustments to conservation and sustainable production strategies, ensuring that interventions evolved in response to community needs, contextual challenges, and emerging opportunities.
Initially, the Paisajes Andinos project arrived in Simiátug with an interest in conserving the páramo areas in the parish, but without a straightforward implementation model. Communities expressed their concerns over water availability, which facilitated an entry point for dialogue as well as the acceptance of conservation measures. To build trust and support community understanding of different conservation designations, the project introduced a technician from MAG, who was also an Indigenous leader, fostering closer ties.
Additionally, the project organized exchange visits with other communities that had already established Conservation and Sustainable Use Areas (ACUS7) or had experience with biological corridors, allowing the Simiátug communities to understand their water conservation options better. After facilitating exchanges and workshops to assess different legal and territorial mechanisms for conservation and connectivity, a collective decision was made to establish a Water Protection Area (APH), which was later formalized in a plan to establish the Simiátug APH.
As the project progressed, the role of women in conservation and production became increasingly evident, despite persistent imbalances in responsibilities and participation in decision-making – particularly in relation to household economies, livestock management, water governance, and value chains. Recognizing this reality, the project adjusted its approach by integrating gender-sensitive community financial initiatives that strengthen the economic autonomy of women. The full participation of women continued, however, to be affected by their caregiving duties.
While they attended capacity-building spaces, many were not capable of fully engaging, as they had to bring their children with them. In response, the project implemented “Children’s Corners” – safe spaces within each workshop where children could enjoy recreational activities under the supervision of trained adults, allowing their mothers to actively participate in trainings or meetings.
These adaptations enabled women to take on leadership roles and participate meaningfully without compromising their caregiving responsibilities. The project integrated a gender perspective into conservation governance through targeted interventions: training workshops adapted to women’s schedules and needs, community financial initiatives that strengthen women’s economic autonomy, and incentives and resources aimed at improving productivity and well-being. Today, women represent a significant portion of project participants (51%), reflecting their growing leadership role in production and local economies.
The experience also helped to reshape the concept of sustainable land-use interventions. Since the establishment of the APH required livestock producers to adopt more sustainable production practices to reduce pressure on the páramo, the project recognized the need for viable alternatives. As a result, it introduced community-managed “Service Centres” in Cruz de Ventanas, Verdepampa, and Natawa.
These centres provide basic technical assistance to local residents and sell supplies purchased in bulk for community needs, improving access to key resources. Additionally, the project contributed to the formation of community savings cooperatives, which provide small loans to their members and function as accessible financial tools in areas where conventional financial services are absent. Both the service centres and community savings cooperatives provided financial support and technical assistance, helping to overcome initial barriers and facilitating the adoption of sustainable practices. These examples illustrate how early learning – enabled by the identification of on-the-ground barriers, active community participation, and exchanges with other experiences – led to the design of tailored solutions that enhanced the uptake of sustainable practices.
Conclusions
The establishment of the Simiátug Water Protection Area (APH) represents a significant achievement, laying the foundation for water conservation to benefit both the local stakeholders in Simiátug and the broader Bolívar province. This process was developed through participatory governance, in which local communities played a central role in decision-making and in defining conservation priorities.
By applying an ILM approach, the initiative succeeded in balancing water conservation with sustainable land use, integrating productive and conservation activities to maintain essential ecosystem services. These include watershed protection, regulation of the hydrological cycle, and biodiversity conservation – ensuring water quality and availability for local communities.
The integration of a gender perspective into landscape management has strengthened both social equity and sustainability outcomes. Recognizing and enhancing the contribution of women in Simiátug has been key to the continued success of its APH.
The active participation of key partners, including FAO and the Bolívar Provincial GAD, has been crucial in supporting governance mechanisms that embed community leadership in natural resource management, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the process.
