Risk management in rural development and land use planning: the case of San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas – Ecuador

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out with the objective of evaluating the risk management strategies established by the decentralized autonomous parish governments, through the development and territorial planning plans, considering the objectives of sustainable development. For this case, nine rural parishes in the canton of San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas, Ecuador were taken as the territorial scope of the analysis. A review of the Ecuadorian legislation that regulates rural territorial planning was carried out, as well as interviews with key actors of the communities located in the parish capitals, to evaluate their knowledge of strategies, programs and projects focused on disaster risk management and citizen contribution in the construction of development plans and land use planning. One of the findings found in this study is that the participation of the community in the construction of development plans and land use planning is very low, since only 32.22% of them state that they have contributed to the development of these tools of planning of the parochial decentralized autonomous governments.